Bad News Bears win ESEA x Fragadelphia Winter Cash Cup 1
The first Cash Cup of the 2022 season has come to a close, with Bad News Bears claiming the grand prize over Strife, in part thanks to a helping hand from Peter "ptr" Gurney.
The quarterfinals that kicked off the second day of the Cash Cup saw favorites like Bad News Bears and RBG find the most success, albeit not without resistance. Bad News Bears pulled off the reverse sweep against Erik "fl0m" Flom's BOOZOOMERS, capping off the series with a dominant Mirage. RBG similarly came back from a map deficit to triumph over the new-look ONET4P, shaking off a close Mirage loss to go on to thrash ONET4P in the remaining two maps. The other quarterfinal matches were far more one-sided, with Strife overrunning Valors, and ChocoCheck dismantling MongolZ to secure each squad their spot semifinals.
The first semifinal was a quick one, with Bad News Bears taking on Strife to determine who would be locking in the first grand final spot. The series began on Strife's pick of Inferno, where they managed to get started with a comfortable lead, snagging the first five rounds on their T-side. But this lead wasn't to last, as the Bears woke up from their hibernation to go on a ten-round tear to lock in a 10-5 lead on their CT-half. Strife secured themselves the second pistol round, but at this point, Bad News Bears were simply too much to handle, as the Bears grabbed the next six rounds to close out the map, 16-6.
Strife remained far more composed on Bad News Bears' pick of Overpass than on Inferno, and although much of the early part of the first half consisted of a back-and-forth trading of rounds, they ultimately managed to take the reins of the half, locking in a 10-5 lead. Unfortunately for Strife, the Bears reenacted their dominant Inferno showing, locking out Strife for almost all of the second half. The overwhelming performance from Bad News Bears was too much for Strife to handle, as the Bears took the map 16-12, claiming the first grand final spot.
StrifeBad News Bears| Strife |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 David 'J0LZ' Jolin |
36 - 41 | -5 | 83.9 | 56.0% | 1.02 |
 Keller 'SLIGHT' Nilan |
29 - 31 | -2 | 64.3 | 56.0% | 0.94 |
| Bobby 'stamina' Eitrem |
21 - 41 | -20 | 57.5 | 48.0% | 0.64 |
| Dylan 'SATURN' Finch |
19 - 36 | -17 | 51.1 | 58.0% | 0.63 |
| Brett 'brett' Rhein |
17 - 41 | -24 | 42.4 | 48.0% | 0.45 |
| Bad News Bears |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter 'ptr' Gurney |
46 - 28 | +18 | 92.3 | 74.0% | 1.47 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
42 - 24 | +18 | 99.3 | 76.0% | 1.46 |
| Paytyn 'junior' Johnson |
39 - 22 | +17 | 78.6 | 78.0% | 1.35 |
| Gabe 'Spongey' Greiner |
36 - 20 | +16 | 68.6 | 78.0% | 1.24 |
| Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
26 - 28 | -2 | 60.5 | 76.0% | 0.96 |
The other semifinal featured ChocoCheck facing RBG for the opportunity to fight for the grand prize. Although this series was only two maps, it still ended up being a marathon of a match. RBG's choice of Inferno is where the series started, with the two squads being fairly close to one another in terms of rounds for much of the early part of the first half. Soon enough though, ChocoCheck hit their stride, sweeping much of the rest of the half to give themselves a resounding 11-4 lead. The second half saw more of the back-and-forth nature of the beginning of the first half, but eventually, RBG managed to compose themselves, going on a huge run to steal away the lead with a 14-13 scoreline. RBG's momentum was put to a stop by a 1v3 clutch from Carson "nosraC" O'Reilly, and two more rounds from ChocoCheck put an end to RBG's comeback dreams for Inferno.
ChocoCheck's pick of Mirage was a slugfest, with neither team being able to secure a particularly strong lead over the other. The first half consisted of both sides trading rounds back and forth, with RBG ultimately coming out on top at the end of the half with a 9-6 lead on their CT-side. RBG securing the second pistol round made it seem like they may have been able to strengthen their lead, but ChocoCheck answered back with three rounds of their own, and the trading of rounds that occupied much of the first half continued.
Eventually, RBG managed to build themselves a solid lead, with a scoreline of 14-10, but it quickly fell apart as ChocoCheck snatched five of the six remaining rounds, dragging the map into overtime. RBG were unable to piece themselves back together, garnering only one round before ChocoCheck claimed the map and series for themselves, setting up their grand final matchup versus Bad News Bears.
ChocoCheckRBG| ChocoCheck |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christopher 'cJ dA K1nG' Jones |
53 - 41 | +12 | 82.1 | 75.4% | 1.19 |
| Jeorge 'Jeorge' Endicott |
47 - 46 | +1 | 84.6 | 67.7% | 1.10 |
| Anthony 'CLASIA' Kearney |
47 - 44 | +3 | 76.8 | 72.3% | 1.07 |
| Carson 'nosraC' O'Reilly |
40 - 43 | -3 | 72.9 | 69.2% | 1.05 |
| Dominick 'JazzPimp' Dimpfel |
45 - 46 | -1 | 76.2 | 64.6% | 1.02 |
| RBG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jerric 'wiz' Jiang |
52 - 43 | +9 | 83.8 | 66.2% | 1.14 |
| Jadan 'HexT' Postma |
41 - 43 | -2 | 74.5 | 66.2% | 1.03 |
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
43 - 47 | -4 | 74.2 | 67.7% | 1.01 |
| Jordon 'jitter' Ruggiero |
46 - 50 | -4 | 65.4 | 64.6% | 0.92 |
| Colby 'Walco' Walsh |
36 - 50 | -14 | 71.4 | 63.1% | 0.89 |
The grand final of this event would be a tale of two maps that set markedly different tones from one another. The first, ChocoCheck's pick of Mirage, could not have been any closer. Despite building up an early lead in the first half, the Bears' momentum stalled in the latter part of the half, as ChocoCheck kept Bad News Bears honest as they secured an 8-7 lead going into their CT-side.
ChocoCheck kept up their momentum going into the second half, keeping the Bears at bay long enough to claim a 12-8 lead. A force buy win from Bad News Bears completely turned the tides of the second half, as they would go on to string together the next seven rounds to reach match point at 15-12. ChocoCheck managed to piece themselves together in the final three rounds of the half, taking the game to overtime. The two sides traded rounds, with ChocoCheck even managing to retake the lead for a brief time, but in the end, Bad News Bears came out on top, stealing away ChocoCheck's pick with a 19-17 scoreline.
The second map, Overpass, ended up being nowhere near as competitive as the first map had been. ChocoCheck swapped Zack "XotiC" Elshani for Christopher "cJ" Jones in between maps, and it did them no favors. Bad News Bears trounced ChocoCheck handily, with a suffocating 13-2 T-side lead, and a swift three-round coup-de-grâce in the second half to close out the map and series, earning themselves the first place finish.
Bad News BearsChocoCheck| Bad News Bears |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
43 - 29 | +14 | 89.8 | 75.9% | 1.38 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
46 - 31 | +15 | 86.5 | 70.4% | 1.35 |
| Peter 'ptr' Gurney |
40 - 38 | +2 | 87.9 | 75.9% | 1.18 |
| Gabe 'Spongey' Greiner |
38 - 28 | +10 | 70.2 | 72.2% | 1.15 |
| Paytyn 'junior' Johnson |
34 - 30 | +4 | 59.1 | 68.5% | 1.00 |
| ChocoCheck |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christopher 'cJ dA K1nG' Jones |
17 - 17 | +0 | 85.4 | 55.6% | 0.92 |
| Anthony 'CLASIA' Kearney |
35 - 41 | -6 | 79.1 | 61.1% | 0.90 |
| Zack 'XotiC' Elshani |
19 - 24 | -5 | 60.7 | 58.3% | 0.88 |
| Jeorge 'Jeorge' Endicott |
31 - 37 | -6 | 64.0 | 63.0% | 0.84 |
| Carson 'nosraC' O'Reilly |
27 - 39 | -12 | 57.2 | 57.4% | 0.74 |
| Dominick 'JazzPimp' Dimpfel |
27 - 44 | -17 | 65.0 | 55.6% | 0.71 |
The final standings for the ESEA x Fragadelphia Winter Cash Cup 1 are:
1. Bad News Bears - $4,000 and 4,000 Fragadelphia Points
2. ChocoCheck - $2,000 and 2,000 Fragadelphia Points
3-4. Strife - 1,000 Fragadelphia Points
3-4. RBG - 1,000 Fragadelphia Points
5-8. ONET4P - 500 Fragadelphia Points
5-8. BOOZOOMERS - 500 Fragadelphia Points
5-8. Valors - 500 Fragadelphia Points
5-8. 
MongolZ - 500 Fragadelphia Points
The next ESEA x Fragadelphia Cash Cup will take place on January 15th; teams interested in signing up can do so here.
