Premier S36 playoffs round 1: RBG send ChocoCheck to lower bracket
The first round of playoffs in ESEA Premier Season 36 came to an end last night, seeing four teams knocked down to the lower bracket while another four advanced to the upper bracket semifinals.
The majority of matches were clear-cut in their outcomes as the high seeds won out against their opposition, with the sole outlier being in the match between ChocoCheck and RBG, which was contentious given the former team participating with two stand-ins, Spencer "shrek" Adams and Daniel "tropiiical" Elshani.
Danny "cxzi" Strzelczyk was the difference-maker for ChocoCheck in the series opener on Nuke, posting a 31-14 K-D while averaging 128 damage per round to steal away RBG's map pick 16-9. Connor "chop" Sullivan kept RBG in the running on Mirage, helping fight back from a 12-15 deficit to fight for a win in overtime, where he ended the map with a 42-25 K-D and 1.68 rating.
It came down to Inferno to decide the first round fate of the two teams, and it was there that RBG emerged the clear-cut victors as, after starting down 0-3, they went on a 10-2 run for a dominant lead at halftime before closing out the map shortly after the side swap.
ChocoCheckRBG| ChocoCheck |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Danny 'cxzi' Strzelczyk |
72 - 59 | +13 | 92.9 | 59.5% | 1.15 |
| Ethan 'reck' Serrano |
62 - 62 | +0 | 84.4 | 72.6% | 1.11 |
| Zack 'XotiC' Elshani |
63 - 59 | +4 | 76.6 | 69.0% | 1.07 |
| Daniel 'tropiiical' Elshani |
36 - 63 | -27 | 50.1 | 61.9% | 0.64 |
| Spenser 'shrek' Adams |
30 - 69 | -39 | 45.4 | 53.6% | 0.55 |
| RBG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
79 - 56 | +23 | 93.8 | 78.6% | 1.40 |
 Jadan 'HexT' Postma |
69 - 56 | +13 | 88.5 | 81.0% | 1.27 |
| Kyle 'Wolffe' Greenfield |
64 - 47 | +17 | 77.3 | 77.4% | 1.23 |
| Colby 'Walco' Walsh |
54 - 52 | +2 | 72.9 | 70.2% | 1.11 |
| Jerric 'wiz' Jiang |
46 - 55 | -9 | 61.8 | 70.2% | 0.94 |
Bad News Bears, meanwhile, were able to come out ahead of their match against Recon 5, although Tyler "tweiss" Weiss put up stellar numbers throughout the series to keep his team in the running. Peter "ptr" Gurney's side were able to take Overpass 16-9 off the back of a strong defensive half, but struggled to replicate the same dominance on Nuke, where they required all thirty rounds to overcome a 1.60-rated perfromance from tweiss.
Bad News BearsRecon 5| Bad News Bears |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nick 'alter' Jackson |
48 - 41 | +7 | 81.0 | 72.7% | 1.15 |
| Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey |
37 - 36 | +1 | 88.4 | 69.1% | 1.15 |
| Peter 'ptr' Gurney |
37 - 35 | +2 | 71.1 | 67.3% | 1.08 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
35 - 39 | -4 | 78.8 | 70.9% | 1.00 |
| Gabe 'Spongey' Greiner |
26 - 34 | -8 | 52.9 | 69.1% | 0.80 |
| Recon 5 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyler 'tweiss' Weiss |
59 - 34 | +25 | 112.6 | 65.5% | 1.54 |
| Koby 'kobruh' Higgs |
35 - 34 | +1 | 75.9 | 69.1% | 1.07 |
| Austin 'AAustiN' Urb |
30 - 35 | -5 | 57.1 | 78.2% | 0.94 |
| Dominick 'JazzPimp' Dimpfel |
37 - 42 | -5 | 71.0 | 61.8% | 0.94 |
| Dylan 'SATURN' Finch |
22 - 38 | -16 | 50.1 | 65.5% | 0.72 |
Triumph made short work of the other last-minute playoff replacement, GGPR, with David "cynic" Polster and Austin "Cooper" Abadir leading the way in 16-6 and 16-9 victories on Inferno and Overpass. Notably, GGPR were left without Jeorge "jeorgesnorts" Endicott, and were forced to utilize Jesse "Jmp" Peraino in his stead.
TriumphGGPR| Triumph |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David 'cynic' Polster |
49 - 21 | +28 | 98.9 | 85.1% | 1.68 |
| Austin 'Cooper' Abadir |
49 - 23 | +26 | 90.0 | 83.0% | 1.65 |
| Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
37 - 26 | +11 | 88.0 | 78.7% | 1.33 |
| Alan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman |
31 - 21 | +10 | 67.4 | 80.9% | 1.18 |
| Wesley 'viz' Harris |
22 - 30 | -8 | 76.2 | 78.7% | 1.05 |
| GGPR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Omar '3ARK00Z' Elyyan |
32 - 38 | -6 | 69.4 | 55.3% | 0.87 |
| Chase 'lowrider' Releford |
28 - 38 | -10 | 79.0 | 61.7% | 0.86 |
| Sean 'Inseaniac' Morrison |
27 - 39 | -12 | 59.0 | 55.3% | 0.75 |
| Jesse 'Jmp' Peraino |
16 - 37 | -21 | 48.4 | 57.4% | 0.58 |
| Jake 'eXotic' Vaupell |
18 - 37 | -19 | 49.8 | 59.6% | 0.56 |
Rodrigo "RCF" Figueiredo, meanwhile, helped to net High Coast a two-map victory over the stream team of Mythic, although Erik "fl0m" Flom's side were able to offer some contention on Inferno. A 32-12 K-D from the Brazilian saw High Coast comfortably steal Mythic's map pick of Train before Inferno unfolded, but there the stream team ultimately were unable to complete a comeback effort after tying up the match at 12-12, with High Coast taking the win 16-13.
High CoastMythic| High Coast |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Rodrigo 'RCF' Figueiredo |
54 - 27 | +27 | 95.6 | 87.0% | 1.68 |
| Ian 'motm' Hardy |
46 - 32 | +14 | 78.3 | 81.5% | 1.29 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
37 - 28 | +9 | 65.5 | 75.9% | 1.11 |
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
28 - 33 | -5 | 74.7 | 75.9% | 1.04 |
| Brandon 'bew' Roberts |
34 - 38 | -4 | 78.0 | 66.7% | 1.00 |
| Mythic |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josiah 'JoJo' Jimenez |
42 - 38 | +4 | 71.5 | 74.1% | 1.03 |
| Donovan 'zNf' Froid |
37 - 44 | -7 | 80.1 | 70.4% | 1.02 |
| David 'DAVEY' Stafford |
30 - 37 | -7 | 64.3 | 63.0% | 0.84 |
| Eric 'adreN' Hoag |
26 - 41 | -15 | 58.8 | 64.8% | 0.73 |
| Erik 'fl0m' Flom |
22 - 39 | -17 | 53.6 | 55.6% | 0.68 |
The next round of playoffs is set to commence in short order, with Bad News Bears taking on High Coast and Triumph facing off against RBG in the upper bracket. Meanwhile, Recon 5, Mythic, ChocoCheck, and GGPR will all fight for their tournament lives in the lower bracket, with two teams being sent packing following the conclusion of today's match-ups.
The match-ups for day two look as follows:
| Upper Bracket Matchups | Time | Stream |
| Bad News Bears vs. High Coast |
8PM EDT | ESL_CSGO |
| Triumph vs. RBG |
8PM EDT | ESL_CSGOb |
| Lower Bracket Matchups | Time | Stream |
| Recon 5 vs. Mythic |
8PM EDT | fl0m |
| ChocoCheck vs. GGPR |
8PM EDT | GGPR |
