Bad News Bears win ESEA x Fragadelphia Fall Cash Cup 6
The final day of the ESEA x Fragadelphia Cash Cup has drew to a close on Sunday, where Alan "Shakezullah" Hardeman and company were able to take home the lion’s share of the $6,000 and FRAG Points prize pool due to a scheduling conflict forcing Triumph to forfeit the final matchup.
The first quarterfinal of the day saw Party Astronauts face off against ONET4P, where the former were looking for more convincing victories compared to the previous day. With help from coach Joseph "Muenster" Lima for four rounds on Mirage, the Astronauts were able to secure one sided victories of 16-4 on Mirage and 16-9 on Nuke to dispatch of ONET4P 2-0. On the other side of the bracket, RBG had to fight a bit harder to guarantee their place in the semifinal, besting Eros 16-11 and 16-14 on Mirage and Inferno, respectively.
Meanwhile, Shakezullah's men were forced to use all thirty rounds to be victorious in the first map of their matchup against DETONATE on Overpass. However, the second map didn’t require as much effort for the Bears, as they swiftly sent their foes packing following a 16-5 domination on Dust 2 to seal the series 2-0. The last quarterfinal pitted Triumph against ATK, where the South African underdogs were looking to cause an upset. The series proved to be a gruelling affair, with all three maps either going the distance or being settled in overtime. Ultimately, however, it was Triumph who secured victory, barely moving past ATK after a 16-14 victory on Nuke to claim the series 2-1.
The first semifinal was originally meant to see RBG face off against Bad News Bears, however a scheduling conflict ultimately resulted in the former having to forfeit the matchup, seeing the Bears advance straight to the grand final.
The second semifinal between Triumph and Party Astronauts began on Triumph’s map pick of Inferno. Starting on the CT-side, Party Astronauts managed to acquire six consecutive rounds mid-way through the half to build a respectable 7-4 advantage. Despite answering back with a couple round wins of their own, a stellar B-site hold by Josh "PwnAlone" Pigue with the AWP saw the CT-side lead 9-6 at the break. Triumph immediately responded following the commencement of the second half, garnering a seven round win-streak on the back of a strong CT-side defense. Although Party Astronauts did fight back with a couple rounds of their own, the overall momentum of Triumph was too much to handle, allowing Wesley "viz" Harris’ men to take the first map 16-11.
Party Astronaut’s map pick took the semifinal to Overpass, where the two teams appeared largely inseparable. Starting on the T-side, however, it was Party Astronauts who would be the team to break the deadlock, going on to win five rounds in a row to make a scoreline of 8-5. Determined to not let the half run away from them, Triumph replied with victories in the final two rounds of the half to bring the two neck-and-neck, swapping sides with an 8-7 scoreline in favor of Party Astronauts. The second half saw an overpowering Triumph initially outclass Party Astronauts on the server, denying the latter team any chance at getting on the scoreboard, whilst simultaneously accumulating a seven round win streak to reach 14-8. This didn’t seem to phase Party Astronauts, who, led by David "cynic" Polster, put up a stubborn CT-side defense to answer back with eight consecutive rounds of their own to close the map 16-14 and take the semifinal to the decider map of Nuke.
Party Astronauts originally got off to a good start on their CT-side, responding to Triumph’s pistol round win with a force-buy win of their own which enabled the Astronauts to string together four consecutive rounds. This success didn’t go unanswered, however, as Triumph subsequently went on a tear on their T-side thanks to a strong showing from Brennan "grape" Greer with a 1.71 rating in the first half, allowing Triumph to secure nine of the ten remaining rounds to go into the break with a 10-5 scoreline. Undeterred, Ben "ben1337" Smith’s men reciprocated in kind, with another strong T-side of nine rounds to make the final map as competitive as Overpass. In spite of an impressive comeback which saw the Astronauts bring the series one round away from an overtime finish, Triumph barely managed to clinch the map and series, taking Nuke 16-14 to win the series 2-1 to advance to the grand final.
Party AstronautsTriumph| Party Astronauts |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Gage 'Infinite' Green |
64 - 52 | +12 | 80.8 | 73.6% | 1.16 |
| David 'cynic' Polster |
65 - 62 | +3 | 82.1 | 63.2% | 1.11 |
 Jonathan 'djay' Dallal |
58 - 64 | -6 | 76.3 | 73.6% | 1.04 |
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
50 - 53 | -3 | 57.9 | 73.6% | 0.93 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
52 - 68 | -16 | 67.8 | 65.5% | 0.88 |
| Triumph |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wesley 'viz' Harris |
66 - 51 | +15 | 83.1 | 81.6% | 1.29 |
| Brennan 'grape' Greer |
66 - 57 | +9 | 81.2 | 73.6% | 1.16 |
| Jack 'xCeeD' Holiman |
61 - 54 | +7 | 71.2 | 65.5% | 1.06 |
| Danny 'cxzi' Strzelczyk |
54 - 61 | -7 | 73.2 | 67.8% | 1.00 |
| Jeff 'RZU' Ngo |
49 - 66 | -17 | 61.9 | 69.0% | 0.84 |
In an anticlimatic end to the tournament, Triumph found themselves unable to reschedule their ESEA Premier contest versus Northern Forces and would have to forfeit their grand final matchup versus the Bears.
Because of this, the final standings for ESEA x Fragadelphia Fall Cash Cup 6 are:
1. Bad News Bears - $4,000 + 4,000 FRAG Points
2. Triumph - $2,000 + 2,000 FRAG Points
3-4. Party Astronauts - 1,000 FRAG Points
3-4. RBG - 1,000 FRAG Points
5-8. 
ATK - 500 FRAG Points
5-8. DETONATE - 500 FRAG Points
5-8. Eros - 500 FRAG Points
5-8. ONET4P - 500 FRAG Points
The next ESEA x Fragadelphia Cash Cup is scheduled for for New Year's Day, interested teams can register here.
