Old But Gold win Fragadelphia 16: Fullerton

Old But Gold have been crowned victors of Fragadelphia 16: Fullerton, besting GameSense 2-1 in the grand final to take home the lion's share of the $1,350 prizepool.

The six-team event played out in a single round-robin format with all teams playing each other once to determine the top-four teams who would secure a spot in the playoffs.

The first matchups kicked off with a 16-0 trouncing of Deported from Irvine at the hands of GameSense on Overpass before ZIGGYWIDIT took down "jesus take the g pro" 16-7 on Vertigo.

The second round of play bore witness to a hard-fought affair between LAST MINUTE and jesus take the g pro, seeing the former side narrowly edge out their foes 16-14 on Overpass whilst Old But Gold overcame GameSense 16-7 on Nuke to lead in the groups.

The only tie of the event took place in round three, seeing ZIGGYWIDIT and LAST MINUTE unable to be separated on Overpass while Old But Gold continued their winning ways with a comfortable 16-5 victory on Dust2 versus Deported from Irvine.

The penultimate group stage matchups saw GameSense struggle against ZIGGYWIDIT on Dust2, just coming away with a 16-14 victory. Meanwhile, LAST MINUTE handed Deported from Irvine their fourth consecutive defeat after a relatively easy 16-9 victory on Inferno.

Looking to head into the playoffs undefeated, Old But Gold managed to take down ZIGGYWIDIT convincingly as they took Vertigo 16-8 whilst GameSense secured a second-place showing in the group stages as they moved past LAST MINUTE 16-10 after also paying a trip to Vertigo.

The full group-stage bracket can be viewed here.

The first semifinal of the event pitted Old But Gold against LAST MINUTE in what would prove to be quite the one-sided affair. A strong CT-side by Old But Gold on the opening map of Overpass allowed the team to build a 13-2 lead by the switch. This then quickly unfolded into a 16-2 domination after Brandon "Sharkie" Le's men bagged the three opening rounds of their T-side to lead 1-0 in the series.

Heading into Vertigo, things quickly went from bad to worse for Aidan "Godrod15" Armas and co. as the squad soon found themselves down 12-3 on their CT-side. From then on, Old But Gold wasted no time in securing the final four rounds of the map to take Vertigo 16-3 and net themselves a grand final appearance.

On the other side of the bracket, GameSense and ZIGGYWIDIT got the ball rolling on Dust2. A solid CT-side from Rylan "FE4R" Flynn's men enabled ZIGGYWIDIT to lead 9-6 at the half. From there, however, GameSense soon picked up the pace, claiming ten rounds to their foes' one to steal Dust2 16-10 to go 1-0 in the matchup.

The two teams then descended to Inferno with both sides being near inseparable at the switch, seeing ZIGGYWIDIT leading by one round as they headed to their offensive side. A strong showing thereafter allowed FE4R and company to replicate their first half scoreline, taking Inferno 16-12 to tie the series.

The deciding map would send the two teams to Overpass where GameSense started off strong, managing to run up a 9-6 T-side showing by the time the two swapped. From there, GameSense's CT-side proved too much for their opponents to overcome, as they quickly took seven rounds to ZIGGYWIDIT's four to book their spot in the grand final.

The grand final got underway on GameSense's pick of Dust2, but it would ultimately be Old But Gold who managed to cruise their way to a strong 11-4 lead on the back of a stalwart CT-side effort. After switching sides, GameSense did answer back, bagging eight rounds on their defensive side before Old But Gold were able to snatch the remaining rounds they needed to take the first map of the series 16-12.

Heading to Vertigo, GameSense hit the ground running, drumming up a 10-5 lead after a strong CT-side effort. Despite losing the pistol and following round, Stan "Stanley" Tran's boys continued to pile on the pressure, adding five consecutive T-side rounds to their tally to reach match point. After a brief reply by Old But Gold with three rounds of their own, GameSense put the map to bed, posting the lone round they needed to take Vertigo 16-10 and send the final to the deciding map.

The final map of the event saw the two sides square off on Inferno where GameSense looked poised to be crowned victors of the event after continuing their momentum from Vertigo with a dominant 10-5 showing on their T-side. At the swap, however, Old But Gold soon came alive, going on multiple round-winning sprees to chip away at the deficit. A sole CT-side round to tie the score at 14-14 would be GameSense's last say in the series, as Old But Gold managed to snag the final two rounds they needed to complete the comeback and win Inferno 16-14.

The final standings for the event were as follows:

1. Old But Gold (Dante, VulcaN, Sharkie, Strawberry, RsN) - $1,000 and 4,000 FRAG Points
2. GameSense (stanley, jakobi, munch, PandaTM, bird) - $350 and 2,000 FRAG Points
3-4. LAST MINUTE (freska, Banss, Godrod15, buklau, iN^SANE) 1,000 FRAG Points
3-4. ZIGGYWIDIT (Tweakkyy, awake, cook, Metin, FE4R) - 1,000 FRAG Points
5. jesus take the g pro (NiJ1, Jal, scoobs, WHEELER, gDP) - 500 FRAG Points
6. Deported from Irvine (amsmooth, intense, imaperson, suds, Zoot) - 500 FRAG Points

The next LAN tournament in the Fragadelphia circuit will be Fragadelphia 16: Last Chance Qualifier which is set to begin on March 3rd. The top eight teams of said event will qualify for Fragadelphia 16 which will begin shortly after the conclusion of the qualifier. Interested teams can register here.