Bad News Bears win ESEA Winter Cash Cup 3 over Secret Club
ESEA Winter Cash Cup 3 concluded last night with Bad News Bears picking up a 2-0 victory over Secret Club. High Coast also swept their final opponent, Rebirth, to grab the final sliver of the event's $15,000 prize pool.
Rebirth, featuring Maxim "wippie" Shepelev, came out of the gates swinging on Inferno, jumping out to a slim 8-7 lead on their CT-side. That small victory would prove to be short lived as Bad News Bears seemed to have all of the answers on their defensive half, allowing just four bomb plants and two rounds to go the way of Rebirth. Michael "Swisher" Schmid led the entire server with 25 eliminations while Rahul "curry" Nemani led Rebirth with 22 kills.
Things only got better for Bad News Bears on Mirage since this time is was they who jumped out to an early lead on CT-side, eventually finishing the half with a 10-5 lead. Their T-side proved to be even more lethal, allowing Rebirth just a single round before they advanced to the grand final of the event. Jonathan "Jonji" Carey led all players with 28 kills and a 2.04 rating, while wippie managed to collect 22 frags in the loss for Rebirth.
RebirthBad News Bears| Rebirth |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Rahul 'curry' Nemani |
40 - 40 | +0 | 92.4 | 70.8% | 1.20 |
 Maxim 'wippie' Shepelev |
42 - 38 | +4 | 87.0 | 66.7% | 1.11 |
 Sebastian 'retchy' Tropiano |
23 - 40 | -17 | 69.5 | 56.2% | 0.77 |
| Carson 'nosraC' O'Reilly |
17 - 38 | -21 | 49.9 | 62.5% | 0.61 |
| Sean 'Inseaniac' Morrison |
17 - 38 | -21 | 36.4 | 56.2% | 0.52 |
| Bad News Bears |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey |
51 - 29 | +22 | 113.5 | 81.2% | 1.71 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
45 - 30 | +15 | 81.4 | 77.1% | 1.32 |
| Gabe 'Spongey' Greiner |
33 - 25 | +8 | 75.5 | 85.4% | 1.26 |
| Nick 'alter' Jackson |
33 - 32 | +1 | 80.6 | 81.2% | 1.17 |
| Peter 'ptr' Gurney |
31 - 24 | +7 | 75.1 | 75.0% | 1.15 |
The second semifinal was equally one-sided, though Secret Club didn't allow High Coast to reach double digits on either map in their series. Secret Club jumped out to an 11-4 lead on their T-side of Mirage and then traded rounds back and forth on their defensive half, closing the opener out before things got too close. Secret Club's young guns shone early, as Anthony "CLASIA" Kearney and Victor "v1c" T. finished with 21 and 20 kills, respectively. Josh "PwnAlone" Pigue led High Coast in that department with 19 frags.
High Coast picked up one extra first half round on Inferno, but couldn't avoid the same final scoreline. The freshly signed roster led 5-4 but then conceded six straight to Secret Club and found themselves down 10-5 at the half. They clawed back into the match and at one point trailed just 8-11, but then Secret Club won four rounds in a row to reach match point and High Coast could only manage to hold them off for one more round before they completed the series sweep. Adam "WolfY" Andersson led the way with 26 kills for Secret Club, closely followed by Jonathan "djay" Dallal who had 24 frags for High Coast in the loss.
High CoastSecret Club| High Coast |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
36 - 37 | -1 | 78.3 | 76.0% | 1.11 |
| Jonathan 'djay' Dallal |
34 - 33 | +1 | 73.0 | 70.0% | 1.06 |
| Brandon 'bew' Roberts |
28 - 43 | -15 | 68.2 | 68.0% | 0.77 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
24 - 39 | -15 | 47.9 | 60.0% | 0.67 |
 Rodrigo 'RCF' Figueiredo |
22 - 39 | -17 | 59.6 | 52.0% | 0.66 |
| Secret Club |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony 'CLASIA' Kearney |
39 - 29 | +10 | 84.0 | 72.0% | 1.32 |
| Adam 'WolfY' Andersson |
42 - 31 | +11 | 85.3 | 84.0% | 1.32 |
| Victor 'v1c' T. |
40 - 28 | +12 | 85.1 | 78.0% | 1.29 |
| Jordon 'jitter' Ruggiero |
37 - 28 | +9 | 83.0 | 80.0% | 1.19 |
| Keller 'SLIGHT' Nilan |
33 - 28 | +5 | 70.4 | 70.0% | 1.08 |
In the third place decider High Coast strung together five of the last six rounds on their T-side of Overpass to take a 10-5 lead into the half, but Rebirth managed to claw all the way back to a 10-11 deficit. That was as close as they would get however, as PwnAlone and friends won five consecutive rounds to take the series opener. Brandon "bew" Roberts and Ben "ben1337" Smith led High Coast with 23 and 22 kills, respectively, while wippie and Carson "nosraC" O'Reilly each tallied 19 eliminations for Rebirth.
High Coast used two separate streaks of five straight rounds and four straight rounds en route to doubling up Rebirth 10-5 on the CT-side of Mirage, then finished the map, series, and event with another five round flourish at the end of their second half to finish the sweep. Sebastian "retchy" Tropiano was a bright spot for Rebirth with 23 kills, but the trio of Rodrigo "RCF" Figueiredo, PwnAlone, and ben1337 all finished the map with 20 kills apiece to secure High Coast a $2,000 prize and send Rebirth home empty handed.
RebirthHigh Coast| Rebirth |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sebastian 'retchy' Tropiano |
40 - 39 | +1 | 86.2 | 70.6% | 1.05 |
| Maxim 'wippie' Shepelev |
34 - 32 | +2 | 66.0 | 66.7% | 0.95 |
| Carson 'nosraC' O'Reilly |
29 - 37 | -8 | 64.4 | 74.5% | 0.91 |
| Rahul 'curry' Nemani |
31 - 39 | -8 | 73.9 | 56.9% | 0.89 |
| Sean 'Inseaniac' Morrison |
27 - 39 | -12 | 64.9 | 58.8% | 0.80 |
| High Coast |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
42 - 34 | +8 | 83.8 | 78.4% | 1.31 |
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
37 - 31 | +6 | 85.1 | 72.5% | 1.24 |
| Brandon 'bew' Roberts |
42 - 32 | +10 | 83.6 | 78.4% | 1.22 |
| Rodrigo 'RCF' Figueiredo |
36 - 30 | +6 | 67.8 | 74.5% | 1.17 |
| Jonathan 'djay' Dallal |
29 - 34 | -5 | 74.7 | 68.6% | 0.99 |
The grand final was a much more one-sided affair than the third place match, as Bad News Bears jumping out to a 12-3 lead on Inferno turned out to set the tone for the whole series. Secret Club won four of the first five rounds of the second half but then watched their chances slip away as Bad News Bears closed the map with three straight rounds. CLASIA and v1c finished with 17 and 16 kills, respectively, but turned out to be no match for Peter "ptr" Gurney, who finished map one with 25 frags and just 8 deaths.
Secret Club managed an early 4-3 lead on their T-side of map two, but just like a Mirage, it quickly vanished. Bad News Bears won seven of the last eight rounds leading up to halftime, then only conceded the pistol round in the second half en route to the ESEA Winter Cash Cup 3 title. ptr led the way once again with 24 kills to secure the victory, while the best Secret Club could muster was Jordan "jitter" Rugiero's 15 frags.
Bad News BearsSecret Club| Bad News Bears |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter 'ptr' Gurney |
49 - 21 | +28 | 105.1 | 84.4% | 1.84 |
| Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey |
37 - 30 | +7 | 91.4 | 77.8% | 1.34 |
| Nick 'alter' Jackson |
30 - 28 | +2 | 81.0 | 80.0% | 1.26 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
33 - 24 | +9 | 73.4 | 68.9% | 1.17 |
| Gabe 'Spongey' Greiner |
26 - 24 | +2 | 58.5 | 73.3% | 1.05 |
| Secret Club |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony 'CLASIA' Kearney |
26 - 34 | -8 | 68.8 | 57.8% | 0.84 |
| Keller 'SLIGHT' Nilan |
23 - 36 | -13 | 62.9 | 62.2% | 0.82 |
| Jordon 'jitter' Ruggiero |
25 - 36 | -11 | 64.5 | 66.7% | 0.79 |
| Adam 'WolfY' Andersson |
26 - 35 | -9 | 72.0 | 55.6% | 0.79 |
| Victor 'v1c' T. |
27 - 34 | -7 | 54.3 | 51.1% | 0.75 |
The final results of ESEA Winter Cash Cup 3 are:
- 1st - Bad News Bears (ptr, Jonji, Swisher, Spongey, alter) - $9,000
- 2nd - Secret Club (WolfY, CLASIA, jitter, v1c, SLIGHT) - $4,000
- 3rd - High Coast (PwnAlone, djay, ben1337, bew, RCF) - $2,000
- 4th - Rebirth (retchy, curry, nosraC, Inseaniac, wippie)
ESEA Winter Cash Cup 4 is scheduled to take place this coming weekend, January 30-31st. The qualifier will begin at 2PM EST on Saturday.
