Party Astronauts win SteelSeries Prime Cup over RBG
After a series of three BO3s Party Astronauts cashed out and secured the lion's share of the $10,000 prize pool for SteelSeries Prime Cup 2021. RBG, ONET4P, and ATK all received smaller sums of money for their trouble as well.
Eros was the lone invited team to lose to their qualifier opposition, Brazen. The Premier side was dispatched in thirty rounds on Nuke and in overtime on Ancient. ONET4P, ATK, and Detonate all cruised to 2-0 sweeps in comfortable fashion over All Gas No Brakes, Redux, and X13, respectively.
A number of ESEA Premier teams were invited as high seeds and were given direct berths in the quarterfinals. Party Astronauts and RBG took full advantage and quickly swept Detonate and Brazen, respectively, but their Premier competitors on Triumph and Third Impact did not fare so well. Third Impact was swept 2-0 by ATK, while Triumph were bested in three maps by ONET4P in their Premier postseason tune up series.
ATK forced Party Astronauts to work for their grand final spot, but the ESEA Premier contenders ultimately swept their South African opposition to advance to the grand final. Party Astronauts started strong on CT-side on both Mirage and Ancient where they managed to secure double-digit halftime scores to take a comfortable lead into their T-sides. Johnathan "djay" Dallal led all players with 48 series frags, while Wiljahne "mango" Smith led ATK with 41 kills in the loss.
Party AstronautsATK| Party Astronauts |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Gage 'Infinite' Green |
45 - 32 | +13 | 85.4 | 71.9% | 1.26 |
 Jonathan 'djay' Dallal |
48 - 35 | +13 | 83.8 | 75.4% | 1.25 |
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
42 - 35 | +7 | 76.6 | 70.2% | 1.16 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
37 - 35 | +2 | 70.7 | 75.4% | 1.11 |
| David 'cynic' Polster |
37 - 33 | +4 | 71.7 | 71.9% | 1.08 |
| ATK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Wiljahne 'wilj' Smith |
41 - 41 | +0 | 80.4 | 71.9% | 1.09 |
| Ian 'motm' Hardy |
40 - 41 | -1 | 71.8 | 61.4% | 0.93 |
| Josh 'bLazE' Saunders |
30 - 39 | -9 | 60.9 | 66.7% | 0.86 |
| Gareth 'MisteM' Ries |
28 - 44 | -16 | 62.1 | 63.2% | 0.83 |
| Rhys 'Fadey' Armstrong |
30 - 44 | -14 | 56.6 | 59.6% | 0.71 |
ONET4P came out of the gates of the second semifinal with a vengeance on Dust2, seizing a convincing 1-0 series lead before RBG could even get into the game. But the Premier veterans settled in and turned the tide, eventually claiming a reverse sweep with wins on Inferno and Mirage to advance to the grand final. Jordon "jitter" Ruggiero led RBG with 56 kills, but it was McKinley "Cyrix" Hollison who led all players with 57 frags in the loss for ONET4P.
RBGONET4P| RBG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jordon 'jitter' Ruggiero |
56 - 50 | +6 | 79.5 | 73.3% | 1.14 |
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
51 - 49 | +2 | 79.9 | 76.0% | 1.08 |
| Colby 'Walco' Walsh |
48 - 50 | -2 | 68.9 | 68.0% | 1.05 |
| Jerric 'wiz' Jiang |
45 - 49 | -4 | 65.7 | 74.7% | 0.95 |
| Jadan 'HexT' Postma |
41 - 51 | -10 | 58.3 | 73.3% | 0.92 |
| ONET4P |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McKinley 'Cyrix' Hollison |
57 - 42 | +15 | 80.1 | 73.3% | 1.28 |
| Kyle 'Just2EZ' Tan |
50 - 50 | +0 | 74.3 | 74.7% | 1.06 |
| Sean 'Subarashii' Tuttle |
54 - 52 | +2 | 84.7 | 69.3% | 1.05 |
 Tianyi 'Fr3nk1e' He |
50 - 49 | +1 | 64.8 | 65.3% | 1.00 |
| Junjie 'Gank88' Lin |
37 - 50 | -13 | 52.2 | 70.7% | 0.81 |
Party Astronauts swept the grand final in comfortable fashion after turning an 8-7 halftime deficit into victories on both Overpass and Nuke. They allowed just five rounds in the second half in the series. RBG did not have a single player reach the forty-kill mark in the series, while Ben "ben1337" Smith was the only player on Party Astronauts who failed to reach that frag total en route to an event victory.
RBGParty Astronauts| RBG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jordon 'jitter' Ruggiero |
38 - 40 | -2 | 73.8 | 67.9% | 0.97 |
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
37 - 40 | -3 | 74.9 | 64.2% | 0.96 |
| Colby 'Walco' Walsh |
29 - 40 | -11 | 69.6 | 67.9% | 0.83 |
| Jadan 'HexT' Postma |
31 - 42 | -11 | 58.6 | 64.2% | 0.80 |
| Jerric 'wiz' Jiang |
30 - 41 | -11 | 63.9 | 60.4% | 0.80 |
| Party Astronauts |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David 'cynic' Polster |
47 - 30 | +17 | 92.6 | 69.8% | 1.37 |
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
44 - 29 | +15 | 84.4 | 71.7% | 1.34 |
| Gage 'Infinite' Green |
42 - 36 | +6 | 87.2 | 71.7% | 1.19 |
| Jonathan 'djay' Dallal |
40 - 38 | +2 | 80.1 | 77.4% | 1.16 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
29 - 32 | -3 | 66.5 | 67.9% | 0.98 |
The final event standings of SteelSeries Prime Cup 2021 are:
1. Party Astronauts - $6,000
2. RBG - $2,000
3-4. ATK - $1,000
3-4. ONET4P - $1,000
5-8. Triumph
5-8. Third Impact
5-8. Detonate
5-8. Brazen
Many of these sides have ESEA postseason play to look forward to, while others are simply waiting for the beginning of ESEA Season 39 and will explore roster changes.
