ATK win ESEA Winter Cash Cup 5
The fifth ESEA Winter Cash Cup has come to a close, with ATK securing the grand prize of $9,000 following a grand final matchup against Party Astronauts. The concurrent third place decider match saw Strife take down Advanced side Vireo.pro for the $2,000 third place prize.
Day two kicked off with the semifinals, the first of which featured ATK tussling with Vireo.pro. The series began on the latter squad's choice of Dust2, where Erik "truth" Hansen Dyrnes set the tone for the first half by securing four kills on the first pistol round. truth kept this form going throughout the first half, joined by strong showings from teammates Jonathan "b0denmaster" Bodenmalm and Rhys "Fadey" Armstrong, leading to ATK taking a commanding 12-3 lead. A pistol round win in the second half was a nice consolation for Vireo.pro, but ATK reigned the map in shortly afterward with a 16-5 scoreline.
Vireo.pro fared far better on their opponent's pick of Inferno, finding themselves in the driver's seat for much of the first half. Although the size of their lead waned throughout the half, they headed into their T-side half with a slight 8-7 edge. ATK managed to take the lead for the first time in the match after securing the second pistol round, but Vireo.pro did their best to keep ATK honest, not letting them accrue a massive lead and keeping the score close.
ATK hit match point at 15-12, but their momentum was halted by a 1v3 from Steven "drayza" Wisemore, propelling the match into overtime. Vireo.pro looked like they were going to close it out in the first overtime, but a 2v4 from ATK's European imports dashed those chances, leading to ATK closing out the series in double overtime, 22-20.
ATKVireo.pro| ATK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jonathan 'b0denmaster' Bodenmalm |
59 - 37 | +22 | 98.2 | 76.2% | 1.42 |
 Rhys 'Fadey' Armstrong |
49 - 38 | +11 | 83.0 | 71.4% | 1.21 |
 Ian 'motm' Hardy |
45 - 47 | -2 | 81.0 | 73.0% | 1.11 |
 Erik 'truth' Hansen Dyrnes |
47 - 36 | +11 | 72.6 | 69.8% | 1.07 |
| Gareth 'MisteM' Ries |
39 - 38 | +1 | 69.3 | 68.3% | 1.00 |
| Vireo.pro |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Nickolas 'g0ne' Orescanin |
53 - 49 | +4 | 86.9 | 69.8% | 1.12 |
| Steven 'drayza' Wisemore |
46 - 45 | +1 | 78.3 | 65.1% | 1.10 |
 Sebastian 'cbass' Bentancor |
42 - 48 | -6 | 75.4 | 65.1% | 0.98 |
| Ian 'Fur_Daddy' McClive |
28 - 52 | -24 | 58.9 | 54.0% | 0.69 |
| Frankie 'Champ' Miranda |
26 - 49 | -23 | 49.3 | 58.7% | 0.63 |
On the opposite side of the bracket, Party Astronauts took on Strife for the other spot in the grand final. The series began on Strife's choice of Mirage, with that squad utilizing Reece "Wilky" Wilkerson as a stand-in for Paul "aris" Wilson. Party Astronauts began with a strong 6-2 start on their CT-side, however Strife recovered and narrowed the Astronaut's lead to only one round, as the half finished 8-7. Strife went on a tear throughout the second half thanks to a strong showing from Keller "SLIGHT" Nilan, leading to the team locking in their map pick 16-12.
Party Astronauts were able to regain their form on Inferno and quickly came out of the gates with a 9-6 half. An opening pistol round win after the side switch further launched the Astronauts towards victory, as they only dropped a single round in the second half, securing their map pick with a 16-7 scoreline.
The deciding map for the series was Overpass, which started quite similarly to the map before it, with many rounds traded back and forth early on before Party Astronauts wrested control of the game. Soon enough Party Astronauts began to run away with the half, leading by 9-4 at one point, before Strife snagged the last two rounds of the half to bring the score 9-6. Unfortunately for Strife, those last two rounds would be the last ones they won for the rest of the series, as Wesley "viz" Harris and Ben "ben1337" Smith powered the Astronauts to a second half sweep, locking in their grand final spot with a 16-6 scoreline.
Party AstronautsStrife| Party Astronauts |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey |
57 - 50 | +7 | 89.2 | 69.9% | 1.27 |
| Wesley 'viz' Harris |
56 - 39 | +17 | 75.5 | 83.6% | 1.26 |
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
50 - 39 | +11 | 69.4 | 86.3% | 1.23 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
53 - 46 | +7 | 79.5 | 76.7% | 1.21 |
| Jonathan 'djay' Dallal |
45 - 44 | +1 | 77.9 | 78.1% | 1.09 |
| Strife |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danny 'cxzi' Strzelczyk |
45 - 54 | -9 | 73.8 | 69.9% | 0.95 |
| Keller 'SLIGHT' Nilan |
46 - 47 | -1 | 65.4 | 63.0% | 0.93 |
| David 'J0LZ' Jolin |
47 - 53 | -6 | 70.5 | 67.1% | 0.90 |
| Bobby 'stamina' Eitrem |
44 - 57 | -13 | 69.0 | 64.4% | 0.84 |
| Reece 'Wilky' Wilkerson |
36 - 54 | -18 | 58.3 | 54.8% | 0.74 |
The third place decider map saw Strife duke it out against Vireo.pro for the chance to finish the Cash Cup with a $2,000 prize. Vireo.pro got off to an unfortunate start on their Nuke map pick, as Strife dominated the first half with a 12-3 CT-side. The second half saw the two squads trade rounds back and forth, but with Strife already having such a massive lead Vireo.pro could not do much to stop them, as Strife stole away their pick 16-8.
Strife's choice of Mirage was a far closer affair, as each side took turns stringing series of rounds together, until Strife narrowly took the lead at the end of the half with an 8-7 score. The second half was similarly full of many back and forth rounds, although towards the end Vireo.pro managed to compose themselves enough to take the lead, ultimately leading to them snatching away Mirage 16-13.
Early on in the decider map of Dust2, it looked like Strife was going to repeat the dominance the squad showcased on Nuke, with SLIGHT's men leading by six rounds at one point in the first half. Undeterred by this sizeable lead, Vireo.pro mounted a staunch comeback effort which saw them narrow Strife's lead to only one round as the half finished 8-7. Unfortunately for Nickolas "g0ne" Orescanin's squad, their comeback was swiftly stamped out by Strife, who dropped only one round of the nine played in the second half, ending the series with a 16-8 scoreline.
Vireo.proStrife| Vireo.pro |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickolas 'g0ne' Orescanin |
54 - 54 | +0 | 81.6 | 66.2% | 1.05 |
| Steven 'drayza' Wisemore |
53 - 56 | -3 | 73.4 | 72.7% | 1.02 |
| Frankie 'Champ' Miranda |
55 - 58 | -3 | 75.6 | 70.1% | 1.02 |
| Sebastian 'cbass' Bentancor |
44 - 57 | -13 | 59.3 | 62.3% | 0.80 |
| Ian 'Fur_Daddy' McClive |
44 - 65 | -21 | 68.7 | 59.7% | 0.79 |
| Strife |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keller 'SLIGHT' Nilan |
60 - 48 | +12 | 85.0 | 76.6% | 1.28 |
| Bobby 'stamina' Eitrem |
42 - 36 | +6 | 87.4 | 75.5% | 1.25 |
| David 'J0LZ' Jolin |
59 - 43 | +16 | 77.6 | 75.3% | 1.21 |
| Reece 'Wilky' Wilkerson |
60 - 54 | +6 | 81.9 | 74.0% | 1.10 |
| Danny 'cxzi' Strzelczyk |
55 - 57 | -2 | 79.0 | 71.4% | 1.07 |
| Justin 'jsfeltner' Feltner |
14 - 16 | -2 | 58.1 | 66.7% | 0.87 |
The grand final began on ATK's selection of Mirage, with a first half that can only be described as a slugfest. Neither squad was capable of piecing together more than two rounds in a row, leading to constant trading of rounds that saw Party Astronauts scrape by with an 8-7 lead at the half. Party Astronauts snatched the second pistol round and the subsequent two rounds, looking like they would be positioning themselves to steal away their opponent's pick. Alas, these three rounds would be all that the Astronauts were able to claim for themselves, as ATK swept the next nine rounds in a row to lock in a victory on their map pick 16-11.
ATK looked to carry the momentum from Mirage into Party Astronaut's pick of Inferno, with the former squad being up by 8-2 at one point in the first half. Party Astronauts were determined, however, seizing three of the next four rounds to narrow ATK's lead to a 9-6 scoreline at the half. Party Astronauts got a much-needed pistol round win to start the second half, but ATK kicked it back into gear, with b0denmaster powering the squad to a 14-8 lead. Party Astronauts started to piece together a comeback, but ATK finally scraped together the last two rounds they needed, finishing the map 16-14.
ATKParty Astronauts| ATK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erik 'truth' Hansen Dyrnes |
41 - 34 | +7 | 71.3 | 82.5% | 1.21 |
| Jonathan 'b0denmaster' Bodenmalm |
39 - 31 | +8 | 71.5 | 68.4% | 1.16 |
| Rhys 'Fadey' Armstrong |
42 - 37 | +5 | 76.7 | 66.7% | 1.00 |
| Gareth 'MisteM' Ries |
35 - 43 | -8 | 76.5 | 66.7% | 0.94 |
| Ian 'motm' Hardy |
35 - 40 | -5 | 69.5 | 66.7% | 0.93 |
| Party Astronauts |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
51 - 34 | +17 | 93.5 | 77.2% | 1.44 |
| Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey |
45 - 42 | +3 | 88.8 | 70.2% | 1.15 |
| Jonathan 'djay' Dallal |
37 - 42 | -5 | 72.1 | 63.2% | 0.95 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
27 - 38 | -11 | 58.8 | 73.7% | 0.84 |
| Wesley 'viz' Harris |
25 - 38 | -13 | 52.5 | 66.7% | 0.74 |
The final standings for the ESEA Winter Cash Cup 5 are:
1. 
ATK (MisteM, Fadey, motm, b0denmaster, truth, Coach: sprayxd) - $9,000
2. Party Astronauts (ben1337, djay, PwnAlone, Jonji, viz, Coach: Muenster) - $4,000
3. Strife (J0LZ, SLIGHT, stamina, cxzi, Wilky, Coach: crisby) - $2,000
4. Vireo.pro (g0ne, Champ, drayza, cbass, Fur_Daddy)
5-8. Carpe Diem (chop, HexT, jitter, Walco, wiz, Coach: Axed)
5-8. fl0m's Money Crew (fl0m, ptr, Swisher, ERIC, Calix)
5-8. Big Chillin (Xzen, Munk, JDubs, Umar, Retnuh, Coach: Aphotic)
5-8. Eros (freshie, JTMythic, omniscient, shutout, rezy1on, Coach: Noot)
