New England Whalers win second ESEA Autumn Cash Cup over Secret Club
New England Whalers have emerged victorious from the second ESEA Autumn Cash Cup grand final, edging out a win in two maps over Secret Club.
After a lengthy delay due to IEM Beijing and ESEA MDL Season 35 playoffs, the two teams clashed for the lion's share of the $4,000 prize pool. It was Secret Club who initially took the lead, going up 3-0 on their pick of Mirage before the Whalers swung momentum in their favor, battling back to a 9-6 lead at the break.
A string of five rounds following the side swap allowed Secret Club to once again pull ahead, but once the Whalers had rifles in their hands, momentum shifted once again. Six rounds in a row from the Whalers put them on match point in swift fashion, with Secret Club only managing one additional round before Ben "ben1337" Smith's side claimed the map, 16-12.
Overpass began as an entirely different affair as the Whalers took two rounds to open up the map before facing a stalwart defense from Secret Club, with Collin "wrath" McSweegan being key in shutting down the Whalers' bombsite attacks to help his side take an 11-4 lead at halftime.
Once ben1337's troops were on the defense however, the tides turned, with Secret Club remaining on the back foot as the Whalers mounted a comeback effort all the way to a 14-12 scoreline in their favor. The end portion of the map saw more contention as the two teams battled into overtime, but it was there that the Whalers assumed control, edging out a 22-19 map victory to take the series.
New England WhalersSecret Club| New England Whalers |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jonathan 'djay' Dallal |
60 - 50 | +10 | 86.1 | 75.4% | 1.21 |
 Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
57 - 44 | +13 | 79.2 | 63.8% | 1.19 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
43 - 46 | -3 | 76.4 | 71.0% | 1.04 |
| Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
45 - 48 | -3 | 77.4 | 63.8% | 0.99 |
| Ramal 'Rampage' Silva |
45 - 58 | -13 | 71.3 | 68.1% | 0.94 |
| Secret Club |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collin 'wrath' McSweegan |
62 - 48 | +14 | 101.4 | 69.6% | 1.38 |
| Anthony 'CLASIA' Kearney |
53 - 54 | -1 | 83.9 | 76.8% | 1.08 |
| Adam 'WolfY' Andersson |
49 - 46 | +3 | 73.0 | 71.0% | 1.04 |
| Jordon 'jitter' Ruggiero |
44 - 52 | -8 | 68.4 | 69.6% | 0.94 |
| Ethan 'reck' Serrano |
35 - 50 | -15 | 58.3 | 68.1% | 0.78 |
The top four for the second ESEA Autumn Cash Cup looks as follows:
1. New England Whalers (ben1337, djay, PwnAlone, Bwills, Rampage) - $3,000
2. Secret Club (wrath, reck, jitter, CLASIA, WolfY) - $1,000
3-4. Rebirth (phantom, XotiC, retchy, 4pack, nosraC)
3-4. RBG (Walco, wiz, gmanchew, HexT, pwny)
