ESEA Summer Cash Cup 4 grand final pits paiN against Triumph
The semifinals of the fourth ESEA Summer Cash Cup are done and dusted, with paiN and Triumph coming out on top to reach tonight's grand final.
paiN were able to jump out to a 1-0 series lead thanks to a big 27-kill performance from Rafael "saffee" Costa on Vertigo. After securing a 9-6 lead at halftime, the Brazilian side quickly reached a 14-8 scoreline on their CT-side and then were able to secure the final two rounds. Brendan "Bwills" Williams led Whalers with 23 kills in the loss.
Stealing Whalers map pick of Dust2 was a much closer affair, requiring overtime and a massive 40-kill outing from Rodrigo "biguzera" Bittencourt to escape with the series sweep. Jonathan "djay" Dallal's 30 kills were overshadowed by the fragging of his Brazilian opponent as the Whalers were knocked out by the winners of the open qualifier.
paiNNew England Whalers| paiN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Rafael 'saffee' Costa |
54 - 36 | +18 | 85.8 | 79.4% | 1.36 |
| Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
54 - 42 | +12 | 82.1 | 74.6% | 1.28 |
| Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho |
43 - 39 | +4 | 84.5 | 81.0% | 1.23 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
50 - 42 | +8 | 86.4 | 74.6% | 1.19 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
42 - 40 | +2 | 69.8 | 69.8% | 1.06 |
| New England Whalers |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
52 - 48 | +4 | 90.6 | 66.7% | 1.20 |
 Jonathan 'djay' Dallal |
52 - 47 | +5 | 84.1 | 71.4% | 1.16 |
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
38 - 46 | -8 | 62.3 | 57.1% | 0.85 |
| Ramal 'Rampage' Silva |
34 - 52 | -18 | 66.5 | 54.0% | 0.77 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
22 - 52 | -30 | 46.0 | 54.0% | 0.55 |
Triumph were able to steal away Overpass from the Rugratz mix team following huge performances from Erik "penny" Penny and Paytyn "junior" Johnson. The duo combined for 55 kills, with penny claiming 31 alone. Triumph jumped out to a 11-4 halftime lead, stretching it to 14-4 on T-side before Rugratz were able to mount any sort of defense.
The mix did eventually wake up, however, and were able to string five rounds together and make it 14-9. From there the two teams traded the final three rounds and Triumph took a 1-0 series lead. Justin "FaNg" Coakley led Rugratz with 22 kills in the loss.
Rugratz carried that bit of life that they showed on the final round of Overpass over to Nuke, taking Triumph to match point on their own map pick. Once there, they collapsed and failed to convert six match points in a row, allowing Triumph force overtime.
It was junior on the AWP that seemed to be the story of the game, as the 19-year-old found 27 of his server-leading 34 kills with the sniper. Kaleb "moose" Jayne added 29 frags of his own, as did Jeff "RZU" Ngo and FaNg in a losing effort for Rugratz. Triumph won ten of the last twelve rounds to secure the sweep and the grand finals berth.
RugratzTriumph| Rugratz |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Justin 'FaNg' Coakley |
51 - 45 | +6 | 85.1 | 74.2% | 1.18 |
| Jeff 'RZU' Ngo |
42 - 43 | -1 | 78.5 | 64.5% | 0.97 |
| Koby 'kobruh' Higgs |
41 - 45 | -4 | 70.4 | 61.3% | 0.97 |
| Adam 'mada' Pampuch |
37 - 41 | -4 | 69.9 | 71.0% | 0.91 |
| Nick 'alter' Jackson |
36 - 52 | -16 | 63.8 | 56.5% | 0.82 |
| Triumph |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paytyn 'junior' Johnson |
58 - 34 | +24 | 91.4 | 74.2% | 1.43 |
| Kaleb 'moose' Jayne |
46 - 37 | +9 | 84.9 | 79.0% | 1.26 |
| Erik 'penny' Penny |
56 - 45 | +11 | 92.5 | 71.0% | 1.22 |
| Ryan 'ryann' Welsh |
37 - 47 | -10 | 58.8 | 62.9% | 0.86 |
| Alan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman |
29 - 44 | -15 | 63.7 | 66.1% | 0.83 |
The best-of-three grand final will take place tonight at 5PM EDT. Both teams have secured a portion of the prize pool at this point, but tonight's winner will cash out three times richer than the loser.
