paiN and Big Chillin to meet in ESEA Advanced upper bracket final
Just two teams remain in the upper bracket of the ESEA Advanced Season 37 playoffs, paiN and Big Chillin. The lower bracket has progressed as well, with rounds two, three, and four having concluded at this time. All four teams that remain in contention have secured a spot in ESEA Premier Season 36 Relegation at minimum, while Big Chillin will have the next crack at putting an end to paiN's undefeated stampede through the division.
In the first upper bracket semifinal HeadShotKings pushed paiN further than any ESEA Advanced team has all season, losing in a full thirty rounds on Train. paiN then thrashed them 16-5 on Vertigo to send HeadShotKings to the lower bracket. Wesley "hardzao" Lopes led the Brazilians with 54 kills in the series, while Max "Makzwell" Sparrey led HeadShotKings with 35 frags.
The other upper bracket semifinal was postponed a whole day as the DDoS problems that have wreaked havoc on the Advanced playoff picture continued to be an issue. Recon 5 Black had to use eight players across the two maps and lost to Big Chillin, but showed grit and managed to force overtime on their map pick in spite of the issues they faced outside of the server. Blake "Elk" Swinson led victors with 52 frags in the series, while Chad "Kleine" Germain tallied 45 for Recon 5 Black in the loss.
Infinity picked up their second win of the ESEA Advanced postseason in the second round of the lower bracket with a 2-0 sweep of Cyberstorm Black. This match was also delayed by external interference and Cyberstorm Black would eventually field six players before they were eliminated from postseason play. Francisco "k1Nky" Alvarez led the server with 39 kills, while Alex "Shmite" Whelan had 37, the only player on Cyberstorm Black who managed more than thirty.
After suffering a three-map loss to Big Chillin, Veloz bounced back with a 2-1 victory over Verum. Veloz stole Verum's map pick of Nuke in overtime, then Verum returned the favor with a thirty-round victory on Dust2. Veloz eventually won the decider in an incredibly hard fought series 16-13 on Mirage. Scott "Scottiyio" Baker topped the lobby with 74 kills for Veloz, while the duo of Sam "sam" Donaldson and Austin "Ajaxz" Janocha each tallied 73 frags in the loss for Verum.
X13 won the opening map of their series with UYU, but the individual statistics were not processed for Inferno on HLTV due to players being forced to exit and rejoin the server. UYU then reverse swept the series by winning Vertigo and Overpass to continue to progress through the lower bracket. 16-year-old David "sodreamX" Riabko's server-leading 52 kills in the latter two maps were in vain for X13, as Brett "beastman" Eastman's 49 frags seemed to be enough to push UYU through.
PDHM swiped Villainous' map pick of Inferno and then secured their own map pick of Nuke in overtime to claim a series sweep and advance to face UYU. Brandon "Sharkie" Ly led PDHM and the server as a whole with 55 kills, while Israel "LEARSI" Vargas was the only player on Villainous to finish with a positive KD. He tallied 48 frags in the series loss.
Veloz took care of business against Infinity, removing the Latin American side from the Advanced postseason with a swift 2-0 sweep on Nuke and Mirage. Scottiyio, the lone American on the otherwise Canadian side, led all players with 44 kills in the series. Colombian Camilo "points" Londoño led Infinity with 41 frags as they bowed out of contention for Season 36.
In the other round three matchup it was PDHM who continued their lower bracket run by sweeping UYU 2-0 with a win on Overpass and a thirty-round nailbiter on Inferno. Beastman led UYU again with 47 frags in the series, but it was Brian "Brian2K" Ladron De Guevara that led the lobby with 49 kills and led his team to victory to play for a spot in ESEA Premier Season 36 Relegation.
With a spot in ESEA Premier Season 36 Relegation hanging in the balance, this match was pushed back a day like many before it in the Advanced postseason. In spite of that, both Veloz and HeadShotKings had to utilize six players to finish this series, which emphatically went in Veloz's favor. Paul "aris" Wilson led all players with 39 frags and Brennan "Lemonz" Lentz led HeadShotKings with 31 kills as he and his teammates fell just shy of a Relegation berth.
In the other lower bracket semifinal PDHM secured a Relegation berth after a successful lower bracket run that started after an opening series loss to Infinity, following in the footsteps of Rise from ESEA Advanced Season 35. They traded maps with Recon 5 Black to reach that point, led by 73 frags from Malick "dangle" Abid. Jeremy "taiwi" Wang led Recon 5 Black with 57 kills and voiced his thoughts on the DDoS situation after the series in a TwitLonger.
The upper bracket final is:
| Matchup | Date | Time |
 paiN vs.  Big Chillin |
April 7th | 9PM EDT |
Meanwhile, lower bracket round five will be:
| Matchup | Date | Time |
 Veloz vs. PDHM |
April 8th | 9PM EDT |
The entire postseason bracket can be found here.
