MIBR sweep day two of ESEA Spring Cash Cup 1
The first ESEA Cash Cup of spring is all said and done, with MIBR securing themselves the grand prize of $9,000 after moving past fellow countrymen paiN with ease. In the third-place decider, Carpe Diem claimed the $2,000 consolation prize while utilizing coach Tommy "Axed" Ryan in their games against paiN and Orgless.
MIBR's run in the second day kicked off with an important semifinal series against Orgless. Not only was this a rematch of the grand final from the previous Cash Cup, but it's also a precursor to the upcoming ECL playoffs, where these two teams are slated to face off again in their upper bracket quarterfinal on March 29th at 08:00PM.
The semifinal kicked-off on Orgless' choice of Inferno, where they got off to a decent start, securing the first pistol round and the two subsequent rounds on the T-side. After the string of three rounds, Orgless would only find one more round throughout the rest of the half, as MIBR shoved them aside to post a dominant 11-4 lead at the half. MIBR kept the momentum up by snagging the first three rounds of the second half, but Orgless composed themselves to answer back with a streak of six rounds. Unfortunately for Damian "daps" Steele's crew, with MIBR already so far ahead there was little they could do as the Brazilians scraped together the two rounds they needed to finish the map 16-12.
MIBR's pick of Nuke played out similarly to the first map with the Brazilians posting another staggering lead in the first half, putting themselves firmly in charge with a 12-3 scoreline. Just like on Inferno, Orgless started to piece together a comeback in the second half, but by then it was simply too late. MIBR went on to close out the game 16-9, wrapping up the series to lock in the first spot in the grand final.
MIBROrgless| MIBR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jhonatan 'JOTA' Willian |
45 - 27 | +18 | 94.8 | 84.9% | 1.49 |
| Raphael 'exit' Lacerda |
45 - 28 | +17 | 88.3 | 81.1% | 1.31 |
| Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes |
37 - 28 | +9 | 80.6 | 79.2% | 1.30 |
| Adriano 'WOOD7' Cerato |
39 - 31 | +8 | 73.1 | 79.2% | 1.23 |
| Matheus 'Tuurtle' Anhaia |
28 - 32 | -4 | 56.0 | 79.2% | 0.96 |
| Orgless |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
38 - 36 | +2 | 81.0 | 77.4% | 1.15 |
| Marshall 'Minus' Sedowicz |
30 - 45 | -15 | 71.2 | 60.4% | 0.85 |
| Kenneth 'koosta' Suen |
28 - 34 | -6 | 49.5 | 66.0% | 0.81 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
24 - 41 | -17 | 58.2 | 58.5% | 0.71 |
 Damian 'daps' Steele |
24 - 40 | -16 | 48.4 | 69.8% | 0.71 |
The other semifinal saw Carpe Diem and paiN duke it out for the other spot in the grand final. With Carpe Diem utilizing coach Axed in place of Jerric "wiz" Jiang, it was going to be an uphill battle for the North American squad. That being said, Carpe Diem managed a solid start on their pick of Mirage, winning eight of the first nine rounds. paiN eventually brought it back towards the end of the half, whittling Carpe Diem's lead down to only three rounds. The Americans fared much better on their CT-side, powered by a 2.35 CT-side rating from Connor "chop" Sullivan, leading to them closing out their pick 16-9.
The first half of paiN's choice of Dust 2 was a streaky affair, with Carpe Diem claiming the first five rounds while paiN answered back with the next five. The last rounds of the half were split amongst the two squads, seeing Carpe Diem narrowly take the lead with an 8-7 scoreline. The second half was not nearly as close as the first though, as Rodrigo "biguzera" Bittencourt spearheaded a strong CT-side for paiN, seeing them close out the map 16-10 to take the series to the decider map.
Vertigo continued the back-and-forth nature of the previous maps, with the two teams taking turns stringing together rounds. In the end, Carpe Diem came out on top yet again, with another 8-7 lead at the half. Carpe Diem looked like they were set to run away with the game in the second half, securing five of the first six rounds to post a 13-8 lead. Unfortunately for the North Americans, biguzera continued his stellar form from the previous map to put together eight rounds straight, closing out the map and series with a 16-13 scoreline to set up their grand final match against MIBR.
paiNCarpe Diem| paiN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
69 - 52 | +17 | 86.7 | 70.0% | 1.26 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
59 - 54 | +5 | 78.5 | 73.8% | 1.15 |
| Gabriel 'nython' Lino |
59 - 48 | +11 | 73.8 | 68.8% | 1.12 |
| Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho |
45 - 52 | -7 | 65.9 | 68.8% | 0.95 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
37 - 50 | -13 | 57.9 | 63.7% | 0.83 |
| Carpe Diem |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
59 - 51 | +8 | 77.9 | 67.5% | 1.14 |
| Anthony 'CLASIA' Kearney |
62 - 55 | +7 | 77.1 | 68.8% | 1.09 |
| Colby 'Walco' Walsh |
53 - 55 | -2 | 79.7 | 63.7% | 1.04 |
| Jadan 'HexT' Postma |
44 - 51 | -7 | 62.4 | 67.5% | 0.90 |
| Tommy 'Axed' Ryan |
38 - 58 | -20 | 60.1 | 71.2% | 0.83 |
In the third-place decider, Carpe Diem got off to a flying start versus Orgless, claiming nine of the first eleven rounds on their pick of Inferno. Orgless did manage to compose themselves at the end of the half, snagging the last four rounds to bring the scoreline to 9-6. Orgless kept up their streak in the second half, taking the first three rounds to even up the scores 9-9. However, a switch flipped for Carpe Diem once the scores tied up, as they saw a return to their first-half form, snatching seven of the next eight rounds to secure their pick 16-10.
Carpe Diem found themselves in the driver's seat for much of the first half of Orgless' choice of Overpass, with Orgless eventually putting some rounds together in the latter portion to keep Carpe Diem honest with a 9-6 scoreline. The two teams traded streaks of rounds throughout the second half, with Orgless eventually evening things up 12-12. Again, once the game was tied up Carpe Diem kicked themselves back into gear, finishing the map 16-12. This saw the series come to a close, with Carpe Diem claiming the $2,000 third-place prize, a solid reward considering the team's use of a stand-in.
OrglessCarpe Diem| Orgless |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
41 - 42 | -1 | 83.9 | 72.2% | 1.07 |
| Damian 'daps' Steele |
39 - 34 | +5 | 72.0 | 68.5% | 1.06 |
| Marshall 'Minus' Sedowicz |
34 - 42 | -8 | 76.7 | 64.8% | 0.92 |
| Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
28 - 34 | -6 | 61.3 | 68.5% | 0.88 |
| Kenneth 'koosta' Suen |
26 - 41 | -15 | 54.1 | 57.4% | 0.78 |
| Carpe Diem |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony 'CLASIA' Kearney |
51 - 36 | +15 | 94.1 | 70.4% | 1.43 |
| Colby 'Walco' Walsh |
44 - 32 | +12 | 91.2 | 74.1% | 1.30 |
| Jadan 'HexT' Postma |
43 - 32 | +11 | 72.0 | 79.6% | 1.20 |
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
34 - 31 | +3 | 71.9 | 72.2% | 1.08 |
| Tommy 'Axed' Ryan |
21 - 38 | -17 | 53.8 | 61.1% | 0.67 |
MIBR found themselves in the grand final of a Cash Cup for the second time in a row, but this time they were determined to take home the grand prize. On paiN's pick of Nuke, MIBR showcased their determination by posting an overwhelming 12-3 lead over their compatriots on their CT-side. paiN managed the first two rounds of the second half, but that was little more than a slight bump in the road for MIBR, who quickly stole away paiN's pick with a 16-5 scoreline.
MIBR's dominance continued on their pick of Overpass with another phenomenal first half, this time finishing with an 11-4 lead over paiN. To their opponents credit, they put up a solid effort to piece things together in the second half, putting together five of the first six rounds, but with MIBR already having such a staggering lead, there was not much paiN could do to stop them. MIBR marched on to secure Overpass with a scoreline of 16-9, claiming the $9,000 grand prize after a dominant showing throughout the second day of the event.
MIBRpaiN| MIBR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matheus 'Tuurtle' Anhaia |
40 - 21 | +19 | 94.6 | 84.8% | 1.48 |
| Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes |
40 - 27 | +13 | 92.2 | 84.8% | 1.47 |
| Jhonatan 'JOTA' Willian |
34 - 21 | +13 | 91.2 | 89.1% | 1.46 |
| Adriano 'WOOD7' Cerato |
34 - 17 | +17 | 67.1 | 82.6% | 1.26 |
| Raphael 'exit' Lacerda |
31 - 16 | +15 | 65.7 | 82.6% | 1.23 |
| paiN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
19 - 32 | -13 | 64.8 | 67.4% | 0.83 |
| Gabriel 'nython' Lino |
27 - 38 | -11 | 62.2 | 63.0% | 0.74 |
| Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
20 - 37 | -17 | 60.1 | 58.7% | 0.71 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
20 - 37 | -17 | 45.7 | 56.5% | 0.61 |
| Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho |
14 - 36 | -22 | 37.9 | 56.5% | 0.48 |
The final standings for the ESEA Spring Cash Cup 1 are:
1. MIBR (chelo, exit, WOOD7, Tuurtle, JOTA) - $9,000
2. paiN (PKL, NEKIZ, hardzao, biguzera, nython, Coach: rikz) - $4,000
3. Carpe Diem (Walco, HexT, chop, CLASIA, Axed) - $2,000
4. Orgless (daps, Swisher, Bwills, Minus, koosta)
5-8. Gaimin Gladiators (JazzPimp, cynic, nosraC, jeorgesnorts, Reality, Coach: SEMPHIS)
5-8. Strife (aris, stamina, J0LZ, SLIGHT, D4rtyMontana, Coach: crisby)
5-8. Bad News Bears (Spongey, Shakezullah, Swahn, MoMo, Pluto, Coach: madcow)
5-8. 
ATK (Fadey, MisteM, motm, b0denmaster, truth, Coach: sprayxd)
Many of the teams above, barring the notable exception Bad News Bears, will be squaring off against one another soon in the ECL playoffs, set to start March 29th at 08:00PM with the upper bracket quarterfinals.
