Upsets galore on the first day of ESEA Winter Cash Cup 5

Day one of the fifth ESEA Winter Cash Cup has come to a close after a lengthy bracket that saw many heavy favorites taken down by underdog opponents. With the chaos of the first day wrapped up, day two's semifinal matches have been set, with Party Astronauts taking on Strife while ATK is facing Vireo.pro on the opposite side of the bracket.

Most of the favorite squads were able to clear their first round matchups with relative ease, with teams like Carpe Diem moving past Stealth 16-4 and paiN squashing Hyperspace Dark 16-3. Not all of the contenders were so lucky, however, as Bad News Bears found themselves as the first victim of an upset in the event, with Advanced side Vireo.pro taking the Bears down 16-9 in the second round.

Although there weren't any major upsets in the third round of play, things got scarily close for Party Astronauts, who barely won their match against Nicholas "kc1N" Yesupatham's squad, in parts thanks to a heroic performance from Josh "PwnAlone" Pigue. Other notable matches include Chris "CMX" Moe's MOGFIA scraping past Collin "CoJoMo" Moren's Michigan Mittens 16-14, and Vireo.pro continuing their winning ways with a 16-12 victory over Clarity.

Round four of the event would not be so generous for the heavyweight squads, with several notable teams having their Cash Cup run come to a premature end here. One of the most significant upsets was Erik "fl0m" Flom's eponymous Money Crew dispatching Brazillian side paiN 16-12 on Vertigo. paiN's fellow countrymen oNe also struggled, as Eros narrowly moved past them with a 19-17 scoreline in a hotly contested overtime match. The final big name to be eliminated in this round was ChocoCheck, who were utilizing rumored new fifth player David "cynic" Polster in this event. Despite a strong performance from their newest addition, ChocoCheck were unable to overcome Big Chillin, with the latter squad edging ChocoCheck out with a close 16-14 scoreline.

The fifth and final round of play was also not safe from the continuous upsets which filled the earlier rounds of the tournament. Reigning champions Carpe Diem saw their hopes of back-to-back Cash Cup victories dashed by Vireo.pro, with the former squad getting set aside 16-6. ATK, with South African duo Rhys "Fadey" Armstrong and Gareth "MisteM" Ries back in action, locked in their semifinal spot after a narrow 16-13 win over fl0m's Money Crew.

Big Chillin were unable to keep their momentum going after their victory over ChocoCheck, as Strife's Keller "SLIGHT" Nilan proved to be too much to handle, with SLIGHT powering his team to a 16-12 victory thanks to his 37 kills. The final semifinal spot was claimed by Party Astronauts, who defeated Eros 16-8 with little trouble, despite the latter team's impressive showing against oNe.

The full bracket of the event is available here.

The remaining matches will be played in a BO3 format, with the semifinals set to be the following:

It is worth noting this Cash Cup marks the return of a $15,000 prize pool, with the winner taking home $9,000 while the runner-up will claim $4,000. A third place decider match will be played for the remaining $2,000 of the prize pool. Day two of the ESEA Winter Cash Cup 5 will kick off later today at 04:00PM.