Premier Recap Week 5 - Bad News Bears, Extra Salt secure playoff berths
The fifth week of ESEA Premier Season 36 concluded last week, with a majority of the teams in the league having now played more than half their matches for the season. As a result, both Extra Salt and Bad News Bears have booked their ticket to playoffs out of Group A, residing upon flawless 5-0 records heading into the final three weeks of play.
Most of the results went as expected, with Bad News Bears, High Coast, Extra Salt, and Triumph all scoring wins on Wednesday over Eclipse, ImPerium, Rise, and Third Impact, respectively.
Notably, the latter two match-ups went the distance as Rise managed to score a 16-11 win on Inferno over Johnny "JT" Theodosiou's troops before being crushed on Nuke. Meanwhile, Triumph only narrowly edged out a series win over Third Impact, scraping a 16-14 win on Nuke despite holding an 11-4 lead at halftime. Third Impact responded with a crushing blow on Inferno, dismantling Triumph 16-2 before Alan "Shakezullah" Hardeman's side bounced back on Overpass, taking the map 16-6.
Two of Group B's dark horses went blow-for-blow in a two-map series, with Recon 5 narrowly emerging victorious over RBG. It wasn't until Mirage hit overtime that Recon 5 were able to convert their initial 10-5 halftime lead, but they made up for their near-fumble on the map as they fought back from a 4-11 deficit on RBG's pick of Inferno, losing only two rounds on the T-side en route to a 16-13 victory.
Peter "ptr" Gurney and company also ended up on the receiving end of a forfeit from SKDC, who were unable to field a complete lineup in that match. With Kory "SEMPHIS" Friesen filling in for Kyle "OCEAN" O'Brien on Thursday, SKDC were still unable to get their first win of the season on the board, falling 0-2 to Eclipse to put their overall record to 0-5. Damian "droid" Boulware's side also picked up a second victory over Watch This, who similarly have been unable to post a win and reside on an 0-5 record.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, Extra Salt joined Bad News Bears at the top of Group A with a flawless 5-0 record following a clean victory over Oceanus, while Secret Club were felled by RBG in a surprisingly one-sided series, with news emerging of roster woes on the team mere days later.
Some notable matches for this upcoming week are:
| Matchup | Date | Time |
 Rebirth vs. High Coast |
Mar. 2nd | 9PM EST |
| Bad News Bears vs. Mythic |
Mar. 2nd | 9PM EST |
| Secret Club vs. Recon 5 |
Mar. 3rd | 9PM EST |
| Triumph vs. Rebirth |
Mar. 3rd | 9PM EST |
The standings at the conclusion of week five look as follows:
*timbermen were banned and forfeited the season.
