Party Astronauts win ESEA Spring Cash Cup 4
The fourth installment of ESEA's Spring Cash Cups has drawn to a close, seeing Party Astronauts take down Brazilian side Happy Mouse to earn themselves a $9,000 payday.
The Partynauts had a relatively straightforward path on their way to securing an appearance in day two of the event, cruising through the best-of-one stage with rather uneventful victories over vertiglobals, Axolotls, and ducksquad.
Ben "ben1337" Smith's men then faced off against BHOP in the semifinals, kicking things off on the latter's pick of Ancient. Once there, the Astronauts took advantage of the CT-sided nature of the map, drumming up a strong 10-5 lead on the back of a solid performance by Wesley "viz" Harris, who posted a 1.77 rating throughout the half. The Partynauts didn't let off the gas once their offense got going, either, adding a five-round streak to their tally to reach match point before brushing aside a brief BHOP round win to take Ancient 16-9.
The second map of Overpass wasn't nearly as one-sided, with a back-and-forth opening half eventually seeing BHOP pull ahead on the defense, ending the half with a 9-6 lead to their name. The scrappy nature of the map continued once the second half got underway, with neither side able to string together more than four rounds at a time. Fortunately for Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz and company, BHOP managed to find the final two rounds of the map to steal the Astronauts' pick of Overpass 16-14.
The two squads then paid a trip to Dust2 for the decider where you'd be forgiven for thinking that the map would play out in near-identical fashion to Overpass, with Party Astronauts just one round ahead by the end of their CT-side. Despite this, however, viz and Josh "PwnAlone" Pigue really came into their own on the attack, shoving BHOP aside for much of the half with the Partynauts eventually taking the map 16-11 to earn their spot in the grand final.
The grand final saw Party Astronauts take on a paiN squad who were seen playing without Vinicios "PKL" Coelho and under the moniker, Happy Mouse. The opening map of Dust2 was as close as it gets, with 8-7 halves from both sides ultimately paving the way for a trip to overtime. Once there, it was the North Americans who managed to find the fire in their bellies, adding four rounds to their opponent's two in overtime to steal the map 19-17.
From then on out, Rodrigo "biguzera" Bittencourt and co. barely put up a fight with an unrelenting T-side on Inferno by the North American squad seeing the Partynauts lead 12-3 by the turn of the half. While the Brazilians did look more alive at the swap, the deficit was far too much to overcome, and the Astronauts wasted no time in finding the remaining four rounds they needed to lock in a 16-8 victory and claim the first-place prize in the process.
Party AstronautsHappy Mouse| Party Astronauts |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
49 - 34 | +15 | 82.1 | 75.0% | 1.28 |
 Jonathan 'djay' Dallal |
53 - 38 | +15 | 86.1 | 66.7% | 1.26 |
| Wesley 'viz' Harris |
49 - 38 | +11 | 80.2 | 76.7% | 1.21 |
| Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey |
43 - 50 | -7 | 89.6 | 80.0% | 1.15 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
30 - 40 | -10 | 62.0 | 70.0% | 0.89 |
| Happy Mouse |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
53 - 41 | +12 | 88.5 | 76.7% | 1.19 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
40 - 44 | -4 | 79.2 | 66.7% | 1.11 |
| Gabriel 'nython' Lino |
43 - 47 | -4 | 80.4 | 61.7% | 1.04 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
36 - 46 | -10 | 62.9 | 58.3% | 0.83 |
| Gabriel 'kashz' Camarozano |
28 - 46 | -18 | 46.0 | 60.0% | 0.67 |
Party Astronauts' victory in this Cash Cup sees the squad take home their first gold since all the way back in January. Both PwnAlone and viz were instrumental in the Astronauts securing victory, leading the way with 1.35 and 1.34 ratings across the six maps played. The team will be looking to keep up this strong form when their ESL Challenger League campaign starts in the near future.
The final standings for the fourth ESEA Spring Cash Cup are:
1. Party Astronauts (ben1337, Jonji, PwnAlone, djay, viz, Coach: Muenster) - $9,000
2. Happy Mouse (hardzao, nython, NEKIZ, biguzera, kashz) - $4,000
3. BHOP (stanislaw, BeaKie, SPERMY, reck, silas) - $2,000
4. Carpe Diem (Walco, wiz, HexT, chop, CLASIA, Coach: Axed)
The next ESEA Spring Cash Cup isn't for another three weeks, getting started on May 28th. Interested teams can register here.
