SRC win ESEA Main Season 30; top sixteen teams qualify for Advanced
Season 30 of ESEA Main has come to an end with SRC pulling off a 2-1 victory over org less in the grand finals last night. SRC started their playoff run as the 19th seed with an 11-5 regular season record, whereas their grand final opponents org less started off as the 12th seed having picked up one additional victory for a 12-4 record.
SRC's path to the final saw them go undefeated until the semifinal stage, although two close series against Speechless and egirlhunters saw them narrowly scrape by with maps that went the distance. KRUSTY KRABS were the first team to steal away a map from the eventual champions, winning SRC's pick of Mirage 16-9 before falling on Inferno (16-11) and Nuke (19-17) in the semifinals.
org less dropped a single map on their own road to the final, falling on Dust2 in the round of 32 to the story ends. They were also contested in the two of the three series that followed, with Fusion and Hysteria both offering solid competition despite org less eventually taking 2-0 wins to earn their grand finals berth.
SRC initially had little to fear as the grand final got underway, with the team managing to put up an 11-4 T-side half on their own pick of Cache before dominantly closing out the map 16-5. org less began to fight back on Mirage, granting SRC only eight rounds on the CT-side before cruising to a 16-11 finish by winning nine rounds of their own after the side swap.
The series decider of Overpass saw SRC open up with another solid T-side showing, mustering nine rounds in the first half to keep org less at bay. Despite org less' attempts to fight back in the second half, SRC were able to prevail as they maintained form on the stronger side of the map, pulling off a 16-11 win to take the series for their own.
Notably, the top seeded team, Cyclone, and the second seed, Riot Squad, were unable to make their way through to the finals, with Cyclone falling to Hysteria in the quarterfinals whereas Riot Squad had their dreams crushed early on by Kinda Nutzzz in the round of 32. Despite the loss, Cyclone still earned a move-up to Advanced as they finished in the top sixteen teams overall.
The top eight teams for ESEA Main Season 30 are:
1. 
SRC (pwny, HexT-, gmanchew, aris, tbecarter) - $2,700
2. 
org less (castro, REDKILLER, kingston-, maazy, contii) - $1,800
3-4. KRUSTY KRABS (Attacker, woodyfly2, swifty-, Khayou, eric-1os-) - $1,350
3-4. Hysteria (Mundle, jitter, HIA, dangle, calamity) - $1,350
5-8. The Alizarin Crimsons (Newton, Sachburger, dragooon, Domorin, krotomo) - $450
5-8. egirlhunters (squidah, Kruggs, sinbad, Aim-, dee) - $450
5-8. SODMG (nosraC, peanut-, ramen, insane-ck, wrsrule) - $450
5-8. Cyclone (recky, clone, dVeeN, afghan, bul) - $450
ESEA Open is set to conclude later tonight as Alex "Mauisnake" Ellenberg's Aim High takes on Special Needs in the grand finals, with the winning team earning a spot in ESEA Advanced next season.
