Gaimin Gladiators win second consecutive ESEA Cash Cup
Gaimin Gladiators continue to roll within the confines of ESEA’s Cash Cups, after defeating Carpe Diem in the finals Sunday night. The series was hard-fought, with the two teams needing all three maps to decide a winner. When the smoke cleared, the Gladiators stood victorious over Carpe Diem. Coming back after losing their map pick to reverse sweep their opponents and secure their second Cash Cup in a row is a shining example of the growth happening within the Gaimin Gladiators lineup.
In pursuit of the lion’s share of the $15,000 prize pool, they bested the likes of Limitless, Luxe, and oNe before facing the big guns in BO3 action. To the surprise of many, Gaimin Gladiators took out the Party Astronauts with little resistance. The Gladiators went on multiple massive win streaks on both the Partynauts pick of Ancient and their own pick of Nuke to secure the 2-0 win in a rather impressive fashion. They tightened their game up when down 10-13 on Ancient, won six rounds straight, and went on to take the win 16-13, with Nuke next. Following a close 8-7 first half for Gaimin, the Gladiators took eight in a row in the second half to win 16-8 and the series 2-0. Despite being the favorites, the Party Astronauts had no answer for the streaky play of their opponents.
When it came to Carpe Diem, Gaimin Gladiators had their mettle tested following the close loss on the first map of Mirage. They answered with conviction on their map pick of Overpass, sending the game to a Dust2 decider after an impressive 16-7 showing. The Gladiators’ 7-0 start on the CT side gave them a massive cushion for the rest of the map. Despite their best efforts, Carpe Diem could not get the deficit below five rounds until the scoreline showed 10-14, with Gaimin Gladiators eventually able to seal the 2-1 series with a 16-12 win.
Gaimin GladiatorsCarpe Diem| Gaimin Gladiators |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jeorge 'Jeorge' Endicott |
73 - 50 | +23 | 99.4 | 81.2% | 1.43 |
| David 'cynic' Polster |
58 - 50 | +8 | 78.5 | 72.5% | 1.12 |
| Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
58 - 51 | +7 | 72.3 | 75.0% | 1.11 |
| Dominick 'JazzPimp' Dimpfel |
53 - 55 | -2 | 74.5 | 77.5% | 1.03 |
| Carson 'nosraC' O'Reilly |
54 - 58 | -4 | 73.4 | 70.0% | 0.98 |
| Carpe Diem |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony 'CLASIA' Kearney |
64 - 64 | +0 | 86.5 | 72.5% | 1.14 |
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
59 - 62 | -3 | 87.0 | 66.2% | 1.04 |
 Jadan 'HexT' Postma |
50 - 59 | -9 | 63.8 | 70.0% | 0.95 |
| Jerric 'wiz' Jiang |
48 - 56 | -8 | 60.7 | 66.2% | 0.91 |
| Colby 'Walco' Walsh |
39 - 55 | -16 | 58.2 | 61.3% | 0.77 |
Gaimin Gladiators’ talent Jeorge “jeorgesnorts” Endicott and Carson “nosraC” O’Reilly were both huge for their team in pursuit of the $9,000 grand prize. Both riflers ended the eight-team playoff bracket in the top four for overall rating, each posting over 1.30 ratings. The two teammates seemingly exchanged turns leading their teams to first place, with nosraC leading in performance against the Partynauts and jeorgesnorts returning the favor by leading the charge against Carpe Diem. The second Cash Cup victory comes as a byproduct of what appears to be a continued effort to improve within the camp since the arrival of coach Kory “SEMPHIS” Friesen. Since that time, they have beaten the likes of ATK, paiN, Party Astronauts, and Carpe Diem. Although the hot streak is nice, only time will tell just how far the Gladiators can take it.
The final standings for the ESEA Spring Cash Cup 3 are:
1. Gaimin Gladiators (JazzPimp, nosraC, jeorgesnorts, cynic, Bwills, Coach: SEMPHIS) - $9,000
3. Carpe Diem (Walco, HexT, wiz, chop, CLASIA, Coach: Axed) - $4,000
3. Party Astronauts (PwnAlone, Ben1337, djay, Jonji, viz, Coach: Muenster) - $2,000
4. 
ATK (Fadey, MisteM, motm, b0denmaster, Swisher, Coach: sprayxd)
The fourth ESEA Spring Cash Cup is not far off, starting this Saturday, May 8th. Interested teams can sign up for that event here.
