Wildcard win ESEA Pre-Season Circuit finals
The ESEA Pre-Season Circuit came to a close last night, seeing Wildcard take down Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz's Forsaken squad in a 2-1 affair in the only BO3 in the event's single-elimination bracket. This victory pairs nicely with Wildcard's recent first-place showing at the Thunderpick World Championship North America Series, which secured them a showing at the main event in Europe, highlighting the squad's domestic success in the absence of Nouns.
After taking down Green Tea Party and PNEUMA on the first day of play, Wildcard were slated to play against a new-look variant of Bad News Bears, featuring Joshua "steel" Nissan, Jonathan "Jonji" Carey, and Aran "Sonic" Groesbeek, among others, in their semifinal matchup. A daunting matchup on paper, Wildcard made quick work of the squad, securing their spot in the finals after a 16-3 victory over the Bears.
Meanwhile, Forsaken kicked off their run with a forfeit victory over Melly Madness before narrowly beating out the recently-signed M80 16-13. Forsaken's subsequent semifinal matchup against Detonate proved to be even closer, with stanislaw's men ultimately coming out on top with a 19-16 scoreline to square off against Wildcard in the finals.
Wildcard got off to a flying start on Forsaken's pick of Inferno, propelling themselves to a 6- lead after a pistol round win on the defense. Forsaken soon responded with five of their own, putting them withing a stone's throw of claiming the lead themselves. In the end, Wildcard would come out victorious in the half with an 8-7 lead thanks to the work of Brett "brett" Rhein and Kellar "SL1GHT" Nilan on the defense. Forsaken snatched the second pistol round, allowing them to be the first to reach double digits, but the second half was dominated by Wildcard, who put together a streak of seven rounds to post match point on their opponent's pick, closing it out shortly thereafter with a 16-13 scoreline.
Despite dropping their map pick, Forsaken did not stumble out of the gates on Wildcard's pick of Ancient, racking up an early 5-1 lead as they aimed to drag the series to a third map. Unfortunately for Forsaken, Wildcard soon warmed up in the latter portion of the half, claiming an 8-7 lead despite the early start for Forsaken. A pistol round win for Wildcard in the second half made it seem like a 2-0 was in the cards, but Forsaken rallied nine of the subsequent twelve rounds to secure their opponent's pick 16-12, bringing the series to Nuke.
Forsaken opened up Nuke with a pistol round victory that proved to provide little value, as Wildcard went on a tear to post a 7-2 lead on the offense. The heroic efforts of Josh "JBa" Barutt allowed Forsaken to close the gap, but Wildcard still lead at halftime, albeit narrowly, with an 8-7 scoreline. This would be as close as it would get for the remainder of the map, as a streak of seven rounds straight on the defense for Wildcard quickly perched them on match point. Although Forsaken would halt the streak, Wildcard would instantly respond with another round to close out the map 16-8, taking the series 2-1.
WildcardForsaken| Wildcard |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Keller 'SLIGHT' Nilan |
58 - 47 | +11 | 75.4 | 75.3% | 1.17 |
| Brett 'brett' Rhein |
61 - 55 | +6 | 86.5 | 66.7% | 1.15 |
 Adam 'freshie' Paterson |
50 - 52 | -2 | 78.6 | 76.5% | 1.10 |
| Matthew 'd4rty' Paplawskas |
47 - 49 | -2 | 66.6 | 75.3% | 0.98 |
| Matthew 'Cryptic' Whitmore |
53 - 52 | +1 | 68.2 | 72.8% | 0.97 |
| Forsaken |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'JBa' Barutt |
63 - 52 | +11 | 81.8 | 74.1% | 1.15 |
| Danny 'cxzi' Strzelczyk |
50 - 62 | -12 | 79.5 | 63.0% | 0.99 |
| Gage 'Infinite' Green |
53 - 53 | +0 | 66.6 | 64.2% | 0.95 |
| Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz |
43 - 56 | -13 | 66.0 | 69.1% | 0.90 |
| Jerric 'wiz' Jiang |
44 - 50 | -6 | 60.1 | 63.0% | 0.84 |
The final standings of the ESEA Pre-Season Circuit are:
1. Wildcard - $10,000
2. Forsaekn - $5,000
3-4. 
Bad News Bears - $2,500
3-4. Detonate - $2,500
5-8. Reason
5-8. PNEUMA
5-8. M80
5-8. ex-Snakes Den
9-16. Fluffy Aimers
9-16. Hound
9-16. 
timbermen
9-16. OMiT
9-16. the jungle
9-16. Green Tea Party
9-16. Tempest
9-16. Melly Madness
