paiN and Rugratz advance to ESEA Summer Cup 4 semifinals
Day one of the fourth and final ESEA Summer Cash Cup has concluded, with paiN and a Rugratz mixteam fighting their way to meet invited teams New England Whalers and Triumph in the semifinals.
The first two rounds of play transpired mostly without surprises, with the most notable teams exiting at this point being Supernova and GGPR.
The action started to heat up in the third round, with a Rugratz mixteam consisting of Adam "mada" Pampuch, Jeff "RZU" Ngo, Nick "alter" Jackson, Koby "kobruh" Higgs and Justin "FaNg" Coakley claiming a decisive victory over Secret Club with a 16-7 scoreline on Overpass.
Moving into round four Rugratz continued to collect MDL scalps as they claimed a narrow 19-16 victory over Kinship on Mirage. ImPerium were sent packing as Sixth Gear crushed them 16-2 on Overpass, Depth took down a slightly modified ex-Warriors International roster 16-10 on Vertigo, and paiN bested Brazilian rivals Yeah 16-13 on Train thanks to strong performances from Wesley "hardzao" Lopes and Vinicios "PKL" Coelho.
Closing out day one's matches, Rugratz continued their march to the semifinals with another strong showing, taking down Sixth Gear 16-11, with RZU picking up 29 kills over the course of the game. As for paiN versus Depth, it was paiN's most one-sided win of the day, seeing the Brazilian imports crushing Depth 16-3 on Overpass.
The semifinals and finals will be played out over the course of the next two days, with the following matchups:
| Matchup | Date | Time |
 Triumph vs. Rugratz |
Sep. 27th | 9PM EDT |
NE Whalers vs.  paiN |
Sep. 28th | 6PM EDT |
| Grand Finals | Sep. 28th | TBD |
