Extra Salt win ESEA Premier Season 39
Extra Salt have secured the ESEA Premier Season 39 title in a dominant fashion following a tense final three days in the competition.
The lower bracker final saw RBG play paiN in a tense 3 map series where RBG won their map pick Inferno after putting together an extremely strong T side, winning 11 unanswered rounds before paiN could get one on the board, and closing the map out on CT side despite their opponents rallying slightly to make it only a 16-10 victory. paiN would respond in kind by winning their map pick of Nuke, despite RBG winning their CT half 9-6. After the switch paiN were able to fully shut them out, winning 10 rounds in a row to take the series to Overpass. On that map strong showings from Rafael "saffee" Costa, Rodrigo "biguzera" Bittencourt, as well as Vinicios "PKL" Coelho allowed their team to take the win in a convincing manner 16-9.
paiNRBG| paiN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
62 - 40 | +22 | 82.1 | 80.3% | 1.32 |
| Rafael 'saffee' Costa |
56 - 46 | +10 | 70.0 | 75.0% | 1.14 |
| Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho |
53 - 48 | +5 | 83.7 | 65.8% | 1.11 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
43 - 44 | -1 | 64.0 | 72.4% | 1.02 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
42 - 50 | -8 | 63.4 | 61.8% | 0.92 |
| RBG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jordon 'jitter' Ruggiero |
51 - 50 | +1 | 79.6 | 67.1% | 1.07 |
 Colby 'Walco' Walsh |
54 - 51 | +3 | 74.8 | 64.5% | 1.03 |
| Jadan 'HexT' Postma |
42 - 51 | -9 | 64.9 | 69.7% | 0.91 |
| Jerric 'wiz' Jiang |
44 - 49 | -5 | 63.8 | 59.2% | 0.86 |
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
36 - 55 | -19 | 59.8 | 63.2% | 0.80 |
The following day paiN would face off against ChocoCheck for a spot in the grand final in a tightly contested affair. paiN would take their map pick of Inferno 16-13 after barely winning the first half and by fighting off a spirited comeback attempt by ChocoCheck in the second half. ChocoCheck with Christopher "cJ" Jones standing in for the absent Carson "nosraC" O'Reilly, took the second map Dust2. The map was a complete brawl, with ChocoCheck scraping a win after the fourth overtime off the back of an impressive showing from Zack "XotiC" Elshani. The final map Ancient was similarly close, paiN surged to an 11-4 lead in the first half but were unable to close out the map, they lost the pistol round and subsequently allowed their opponents back into the game. ChocoCheck won the map 16-14, the series, and the chance for revenge against Extra Salt the next day.
ChocoCheckpaiN| ChocoCheck |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony 'CLASIA' Kearney |
93 - 78 | +15 | 86.3 | 68.8% | 1.14 |
| Zack 'XotiC' Elshani |
83 - 68 | +15 | 71.1 | 64.3% | 1.09 |
| Jeorge 'Jeorge' Endicott |
72 - 79 | -7 | 76.4 | 67.9% | 0.98 |
| Dominick 'JazzPimp' Dimpfel |
70 - 85 | -15 | 75.4 | 65.2% | 0.92 |
| Christopher 'cJ dA K1nG' Jones |
66 - 80 | -14 | 65.1 | 60.7% | 0.87 |
| paiN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rafael 'saffee' Costa |
98 - 78 | +20 | 90.9 | 65.2% | 1.28 |
| Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
85 - 77 | +8 | 79.7 | 68.8% | 1.08 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
70 - 80 | -10 | 75.3 | 71.4% | 1.03 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
71 - 70 | +1 | 64.7 | 73.2% | 1.00 |
| Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho |
64 - 79 | -15 | 65.5 | 70.5% | 0.90 |
Extra Salt were left waiting at the altar for the grand final, as due to unforseen circumstances ChocoCheck were unable to field a full roster for the game, and therefore forfeited it.
This is a somewhat underwhelming end to a dominant season for Extra Salt, who only dropped two maps throughout the entire regular season and playoffs.
The final standings for ESEA Premier Season 39 are:
1. 
Extra Salt - $20,000 + ESL Pro League Conference Season 16
2. ChocoCheck - $12,000
3. paiN - $6,500
4. RBG -$4,000
5-6. Bad News Bears - $2,500
5-6. Party Astronauts - $2,500
7-8. Triumph -$1,250
7-8. oNe- $1,250
As it stands, these teams will return to compete in ESL Challenger League Season 40 beginning on January 18, 2022.
