Evil Geniuses beat out ATK in ESEA Autumn Cash Cup 6
Another ESEA Cash Cup has come to a close, this time seeing Evil Geniuses come out victorious over international side ATK. Featuring a core trio from the EG Black squad, the winning roster was also bolstered by the presence of Timothy "autimatic" Ta and Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte from the organization's main team.
After besting ECL side Strife 16-11 in the quarterfinals, Evil Geniuses squared off against the formidable Brazilian side MIBR in the semifinals. What would normally be considered a daunting matchup for the American side quickly became a simple affair, as MIBR forfeit the first map in the series due to a scheduling overlap with their match against paiN in the semifinals of the CCT North America Series 2.
With that in mind, the semifinal against MIBR kicked off on the Brazilian's pick of Ancient, starting with a hotly contested first half that saw MIBR lead at the half 8-7 on their T-side. A pistol-round win for MIBR on the defense propelled the squad to a 12-7 lead, putting the team in a strong position to even up the series.
Unfortunately for MIBR, EG found their stride on the offense, posting eight rounds in a row to be the first to reach match point. Although MIBR snatched a handful of rounds towards the end in an effort to force overtime, their efforts were not enough to halt EG from taking the map 16-14, and the series alongside it.
MIBREG Black| MIBR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Breno 'brnz4n' Poletto |
29 - 22 | +7 | 106.3 | 76.7% | 1.53 |
| Henrique 'HEN1' Teles |
21 - 19 | +2 | 84.3 | 76.7% | 1.22 |
| Matheus 'Tuurtle' Anhaia |
25 - 22 | +3 | 88.6 | 70.0% | 1.18 |
| Jhonatan 'JOTA' Willian |
18 - 20 | -2 | 59.3 | 83.3% | 0.95 |
| Raphael 'exit' Lacerda |
11 - 20 | -9 | 46.0 | 56.7% | 0.65 |
| EG Black |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
28 - 22 | +6 | 105.1 | 76.7% | 1.37 |
| Jeorge 'Jeorge' Endicott |
21 - 18 | +3 | 83.2 | 73.3% | 1.08 |
| Timothy 'autimatic' Ta |
19 - 21 | -2 | 70.4 | 63.3% | 0.95 |
| Jerric 'wiz' Jiang |
17 - 20 | -3 | 55.0 | 66.7% | 0.86 |
 Colby 'Walco' Walsh |
18 - 23 | -5 | 58.6 | 63.3% | 0.81 |
Although EG's match against MIBR ultimately did not prove to be as difficult as one may have expected, the squad's match in the final against ATK certainly delivered a close matchup. This series began on EG's pick of Overpass, where ATK got off to a phenomenal 8-1 start on the defense. Unphased by this dominant showing, EG rallied in the latter portion of the half to close the gap to 6-9 by the end of the half. A pistol-round win on the defense gave EG fuel to reclaim the lead, but the second half quickly devolved into a streaky back-and-forth affair. Ultimately, EG narrowly came out on top in the scrappy second half, securing a 16-14 win heading into ATK's pick of Mirage.
Evil Geniuses were unable to build a stable lead on the defense on Mirage, garnering a 4-1 lead that was quickly whittled away by ATK's T-side. Despite their inability to maintain the lead, EG still kept things close with a 7-8 scoreline at halftime. With the first four rounds of the second half going to EG, it seemed that ATK were once again going to let a map slip away from them. This time, however, Gareth "MisteM" Ries and his men held strong on the defense, dropping one of the next nine rounds to secure their pick with a 16-12, taking the series to Inferno.
Despite the impressive efforts of ATK on their pick of Mirage, Inferno proved to be an entirely different beast. ATK fought back against an early EG 5-1 lead, whittling it down to 5-4, before EG composed themselves to take the remaining six rounds of the half uncontested. Although ATK lost the second pistol round, the squad managed to snatch the following three rounds on their T-side, narrowing their deficit to five rounds. This lead proved to be too much for ATK to overcome, as EG closed out the map without much further trouble 16-7, securing themselves the Cash Cup victory.
EG BlackATK| EG Black |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeorge 'Jeorge' Endicott |
74 - 48 | +26 | 97.3 | 82.7% | 1.43 |
| Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
67 - 48 | +19 | 80.8 | 74.1% | 1.24 |
| Timothy 'autimatic' Ta |
55 - 53 | +2 | 77.0 | 72.8% | 1.15 |
| Jerric 'wiz' Jiang |
50 - 43 | +7 | 63.6 | 75.3% | 1.09 |
| Colby 'Walco' Walsh |
50 - 48 | +2 | 68.9 | 70.4% | 1.01 |
| ATK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Rhys 'Fadey' Armstrong |
65 - 59 | +6 | 79.2 | 67.9% | 1.12 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
49 - 57 | -8 | 70.8 | 61.7% | 0.92 |
| Gareth 'MisteM' Ries |
50 - 60 | -10 | 71.3 | 58.0% | 0.87 |
| Jonathan 'djay' Dallal |
40 - 58 | -18 | 61.9 | 69.1% | 0.78 |
 Jonathan 'b0denmaster' Bodenmalm |
36 - 63 | -27 | 53.0 | 55.6% | 0.68 |
The final standings for the ESEA Autumn Cash Cup 6 are:
1. EG Black - $9,000
2. 
ATK - $4,000
3. MIBR - $2,000
4. Iron Blood
5-8. Strife
5-8. paiN
5-8. Vendetta
5-8. fl0m's Money Crew
EG Black's next outing is set for tomorrow, when the squad is slated to face off against Vendetta in the quarterfinals of ECL Season 43 playoffs at 08:00PM. The next ESEA Cash Cup is scheduled for later this weekend, with those interested able to sign up for the event here
