Bad News Bears go back-to-back and win ESEA Winter Cash Cup 4
After the second day of play Bad News Bears emerged victorious in ESEA Winter Cash Cup 4 following a decisive 2-0 victory over High Coast. This marks Bad News Bears' second victorious Cash Cup campaign in a row, making them undefeated in the series so far this year.
Bad News Bears made quick work of Oceanus in the first semifinal and doubled them up on both Inferno and Nuke. Oceanus won just three second half rounds across the two maps and were never able to capitalize on the manageable 7-8 and 6-9 deficits that they faced at halftime throughout the series. Nick "alter" Jackson led the way for Bad News Bears with 43 kills in the series, while Ezekiel "KmZ" Hughes finished with 39 eliminations for Oceanus.
OCGBad News Bears| OCG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ezekiel 'KmZ' Hughes |
39 - 36 | +3 | 84.6 | 75.0% | 1.18 |
 David 'J0LZ' Jolin |
29 - 34 | -5 | 66.0 | 60.4% | 0.91 |
| Alex 'vek' Voynov |
31 - 40 | -9 | 76.6 | 62.5% | 0.90 |
| Wayne 'castro' Einarsson |
29 - 36 | -7 | 66.6 | 58.3% | 0.80 |
| Cedric 'Melio' Perrault |
22 - 37 | -15 | 53.7 | 45.8% | 0.63 |
| Bad News Bears |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey |
39 - 34 | +5 | 90.4 | 72.9% | 1.31 |
| Nick 'alter' Jackson |
43 - 28 | +15 | 82.2 | 70.8% | 1.30 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
38 - 32 | +6 | 96.1 | 81.2% | 1.25 |
| Gabe 'Spongey' Greiner |
31 - 27 | +4 | 72.3 | 75.0% | 1.09 |
| Peter 'ptr' Gurney |
29 - 29 | +0 | 67.0 | 70.8% | 1.00 |
Recon 5 jumped out to a surprise 1-0 series lead in the other semifinal after Koby "kobruh" Higgs powered the side to a 16-12 victory with a 1.68 rating and 28 kills. That lead would be short-lived as High Coast successfully battled back on Nuke to even the scoreline on the backs of 26 frag performances from both Jonathan "djay" Dallal and Rodrigo "RCF" Figueiredo. RCF kept it rolling on Inferno as High Coast's top fragger while his team completed the reverse sweep, but Dominick "JazzPimp" Dimpfel led all players with 24 kills in the loss for Recon 5.
Recon 5High Coast| Recon 5 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Koby 'kobruh' Higgs |
62 - 58 | +4 | 81.3 | 71.1% | 1.20 |
| David 'cynic' Polster |
55 - 60 | -5 | 82.7 | 69.9% | 1.03 |
| Christopher 'cJ dA K1nG' Jones |
52 - 57 | -5 | 68.7 | 66.3% | 0.92 |
| Jeff 'RZU' Ngo |
47 - 59 | -12 | 68.7 | 67.5% | 0.90 |
| Dominick 'JazzPimp' Dimpfel |
48 - 56 | -8 | 57.5 | 65.1% | 0.85 |
| High Coast |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
60 - 50 | +10 | 73.2 | 81.9% | 1.17 |
| Jonathan 'djay' Dallal |
62 - 50 | +12 | 74.1 | 75.9% | 1.14 |
| Brandon 'bew' Roberts |
60 - 52 | +8 | 78.1 | 74.7% | 1.13 |
 Rodrigo 'RCF' Figueiredo |
57 - 60 | -3 | 77.7 | 72.3% | 1.08 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
51 - 54 | -3 | 70.0 | 66.3% | 0.97 |
After both invited teams were knocked down to the third place match all that remained was to determine who went home empty-handed. Recon 5 carried a slim 9-6 lead into halftime on the Nuke opener, but then cracked the series wide open, only allowing Oceanus four rounds total for the remainder of the series. David "cynic" Polster was the top dog for Recon 5 on Nuke with 27 kills, while kobruh posted 20 frags in 17 rounds on Inferno to secure the sweep for Recon 5.
OCGRecon 5| OCG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cedric 'Melio' Perrault |
32 - 32 | +0 | 86.5 | 61.9% | 0.96 |
| David 'J0LZ' Jolin |
28 - 37 | -9 | 84.1 | 66.7% | 0.88 |
| Wayne 'castro' Einarsson |
22 - 34 | -12 | 62.3 | 57.1% | 0.78 |
| Ezekiel 'KmZ' Hughes |
24 - 34 | -10 | 69.4 | 54.8% | 0.73 |
| Alex 'vek' Voynov |
24 - 34 | -10 | 61.4 | 61.9% | 0.72 |
| Recon 5 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeff 'RZU' Ngo |
35 - 28 | +7 | 97.9 | 85.7% | 1.47 |
| Koby 'kobruh' Higgs |
35 - 24 | +11 | 92.5 | 76.2% | 1.39 |
| Christopher 'cJ dA K1nG' Jones |
38 - 27 | +11 | 86.7 | 69.0% | 1.34 |
| David 'cynic' Polster |
36 - 24 | +12 | 84.9 | 73.8% | 1.30 |
| Dominick 'JazzPimp' Dimpfel |
27 - 29 | -2 | 70.0 | 71.4% | 1.02 |
Following the first half of play in the grand final Bad News Bears found themselves down by three on Overpass. But after the switch High Coast failed to hold a beachhead as the CTs, managing just three intermittent rounds on the defensive side. alter and Ben "ben1337" Smith each finished with 27 kills, but the map and the 1-0 series lead went to alter and Bad News Bears.
alter led the way for Bad News Bear on Inferno as well, but was closely followed by Michael "Swisher" Schmid. The pair finished with 25 and 24 kills respectively as their side jumped out to a 12-3 lead on T-side and then slammed the door shut on High Coast with four rounds in a row to take the map, series, and prize money. Josh "PwnAlone" Pigue led High Coast with 19 kills in the final map of the event.
Bad News BearsHigh Coast| Bad News Bears |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nick 'alter' Jackson |
52 - 31 | +21 | 96.6 | 78.8% | 1.53 |
| Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey |
33 - 40 | -7 | 89.8 | 73.1% | 1.18 |
| Gabe 'Spongey' Greiner |
34 - 31 | +3 | 78.5 | 84.6% | 1.18 |
| Peter 'ptr' Gurney |
35 - 29 | +6 | 67.5 | 76.9% | 1.12 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
39 - 38 | +1 | 72.7 | 69.2% | 1.03 |
| High Coast |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan 'djay' Dallal |
33 - 31 | +2 | 73.2 | 69.2% | 1.02 |
| Rodrigo 'RCF' Figueiredo |
36 - 39 | -3 | 77.7 | 65.4% | 1.01 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
36 - 44 | -8 | 77.2 | 61.5% | 0.97 |
| Brandon 'bew' Roberts |
33 - 38 | -5 | 68.0 | 67.3% | 0.86 |
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
29 - 41 | -12 | 64.8 | 63.5% | 0.81 |
The final results for ESEA Winter Cash Cup 4 are:
- 1st - Bad News Bears (ptr, Jonji, Swisher, Spongey, alter) - $9,000
- 2nd - High Coast (PwnAlone, djay, ben1337, bew, RCF) - $4,000
- 3rd - Recon 5 (RZU, JazzPimp, cynic, kobruh, cJ) - $2,000
- 4th - Oceanus (castro, J0LZ, vek, Melio, KmZ)
Regardless of whether the next Cash Cup will be a part of the Winter or Spring series, Bad News Bears have now won two Cash Cups in a row and will have to sit it out according to ESEA's updated ruleset. It is worth noting that that rule contradicts the platform's recent congratulatory tweet directed at Bad News Bears.
