ESEA Cash Cup Circuit 2023: North American Finals kick off tonight

The bracket is set and the teams are ready to compete in the inaugural ESEA Cash Cup Circuit playoffs. The winner will lay claim to the lion's share of $60,000, as well as a paid-for bootcamp at IEM Cologne which will be coached by former Liquid coach Eric "adreN" Hoag, and a direct route to qualify for IEM Fall.

Over the course of the Cash Cup season, teams have earned points based on their placing in each of the eight cups. The teams that make up the playoff bracket are allocated from their ranking in the Cash Cup leaderboard. Notably, Party Astronauts and paiN will both not be in attendance despite placing high on the leaderboard with the tournament clashing with their upcoming run at ESL Challenger Katowice. Other such teams that will not be in attendance despite ranking highly are Davenport who have since disbanded and Rocket who are competing in Advanced finals tonight.

Playoffs will be double elimination, with the exception of the play-in round. Opening up the play-in puggers will square off against Limitless, with the winner earning a shot at the number one seed ATK. timbermen await the winner of Wildcard versus Take Flyte, while Strife will face off against the victor that emerges from the clash of BHOP versus FLUFFY AIMERS. Rounding out the opening fixtures, REIGN will go head-to-head against 7AM NA with the winner coming up against Nouns.

The ESEA Cash Cup circuit has become an integral part of the NACS ecosystem. Consequences from the cups have resulted in major ramifications, with the Danish giant Astralis even missing out on qualification to IEM Katowice as a result of Evil Geniuses and paiN's run in an NA Cash Cup late last year. With a European bootcamp, a spot in NA's IEM Fall qualifier, and $25,000 cash to play for, it is no understatement that this tournament will mean a huge deal to the winner when everything is said and done on June 9th.

#1: ATK - 550 Points
#2: Nouns - 300 Points
#3: Strife - 275 Points
#4: timbermen - 255 Points
#5: Wildcard - 180 Points
#6: BHOP - 120 Points
#7: REIGN - 120 Points
#8: Limitless - 105 Points
#9: puggers - 100 Points
#10: 7AM NA - 85 Points
#11: Take Flyte - 65 Points
#12: Fluffy Aimers - 65 Points