ECL playoffs teams succeed on day one of ESEA Spring Cash Cup 1

With the dust settled after the first day of the first ESEA Spring Cash Cup, four ECL teams, all of whom are slated to play in the league's playoffs, made their way to the second day. MIBR and Orgless, the finalists of the last Cash Cup, will be matching up in one semifinal, while paiN takes on Carpe Diem in the other for the chance to snag the $9,000 grand prize.

Very little of note happened as far as to match results in the early rounds of this Cash Cup, with only one very notable exception. Russian squad 1shot, ranked #44 in the world on the HLTV rankings, signed up for this North American Cash Cup and found themselves matched up against the Advanced side of Eros. Unfortunately for 1shot, the ESL rulebook stipulates that "online matches have to be played from the region of the competition", disqualifying the Russian side from participating, seeing Eros handed a free win in the second round.

Beyond this interesting occurrence, the early rounds played out with no major upsets, as ECL and Advanced teams alike thrashed their opponents. paiN obliterated h0es mad 16-2, Orgless dismantled goombastomp 16-1, and ONET4P swept aside 1 hitter quitters 16-3, among many other similar results.

The third round saw things get a bit closer for ECL teams, with ONET4P edging past Aquatic 16-13, and Strife taking down Furious Steel 16-11, but again there were no major upsets. The fourth round is where things really started to pick up, with Gaimin Gladiators squeaking past ONET4P 19-16, Bad News Bears barely surviving against UYU 22-19, and Carpe Diem moving past Eros 16-8.

Additional notable results include Strife beating Fourth Quarter 16-11, and paiN setting aside Infinity 16-10. ATK also put a stop to Carrying Grizz to Hltv with a 16-11 score, at the final hurdle before Grizz's eponymous team would have been recorded on HLTV.

Day one wrapped up with the quarterfinals, with some of the day's best matches saved for the very end. Coaches Tommy "Axed" Ryan and Daniel "sprayxd" Kogan, who were standing in for their squads Carpe Diem and ATK respectively, faced off in the quarterfinals to set up a battle of the coaches on the sever. This instance of coach-on-coach violence ended with Carpe Diem coming out on top 16-9, with Axed helping secure his team a spot in day two of the event. Elsewhere, paiN beat out Strife with ease, with the Brazilians stamping out their opponent 16-6 to lock in their semifinal spot.

MIBR matched up against Gaimin Gladiators, a game where Adriano "WOOD7" Cerato's men had little difficulty coming out on top, as they moved past the Gladiators with a 16-10 scoreline. The final quarterfinal game was a nailbiter, with Orgless narrowly taking down Bad News Bears with a 16-14 score to set up the MIBR rematch. Damian "daps" Steele led by example in this game, with the Canadian IGL posting a server-high 1.25 rating to help his team secure victory.

Today's semifinal matches are the following:

These semifinal matches will provide important practice for these teams before the ECL playoffs, especially for Orgless and MIBR, who are slated to face one another yet again in their upper-bracket quarterfinal game in ECL playoffs. The semifinals will start later today at 05:00PM.