ECL S51 Cup 4 Day 1 recap: regain beat Fisher and Aether smash EMPIRE
Not long after the conclusion of FRAG 20, many NA teams went back to online play for the first night of ECL S51 Cup 4. This will be the final cup of the season as 16 teams fight for the $8,000 first place prize and the last spot at the regional final for a place at ESL Pro League Season 24.
Day one had several forfeits from disbanded and distraught lineups, but also several noteworthy opening matches.
regain 2-0 
Fisher College
Not long after their loss to Wildcard in the final of FRAG 20, Fisher took the server online. regain picked Inferno as map one, but lost the first pistol and conversion. After that, they steamrolled Fisher to win the last ten rounds of the half, taking a commanding lead. After taking the second pistol, regain quickly closed their pick 13-2.
Fisher picked Ancient, and it was a far more competitive affair. Fisher took the first pistol and conversion again before regain got a streak of six. A small back-and-forth at the end of the half gave regain a narrow 7-5 lead. Another strong start to the half for Fisher put regain down 8-10, but regain managed to come back and take the map 13-11.
regainFisher College| regain |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Kyryl 'fuzenko' Kotov |
38 - 24 | +14 | 98.9 | 87.2% | 1.92 |
| Brennan 'grape' Greer |
34 - 22 | +12 | 96.9 | 82.1% | 1.48 |
| Eric 'Zucar' Zuccaro |
32 - 28 | +4 | 96.6 | 79.5% | 1.39 |
| Andrew 'dvrk' Brunken |
28 - 22 | +6 | 64.5 | 82.1% | 1.10 |
| Alexander 'sasha' Burke |
24 - 26 | -2 | 55.1 | 84.6% | 0.94 |
| Fisher College |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Þorsteinn 'TH0R' Friðfinnsson |
32 - 31 | +1 | 70.4 | 61.5% | 0.97 |
 Milan 'CrePoW' Libbrecht |
26 - 32 | -6 | 83.8 | 61.5% | 0.82 |
 Nils 'ReFuZR' Groot |
23 - 32 | -9 | 70.9 | 74.4% | 0.81 |
 Alexander 'AlekS' Andersson |
19 - 33 | -14 | 68.7 | 59.0% | 0.70 |
| Tommy 'corn' Eckhart |
18 - 29 | -11 | 47.4 | 64.1% | 0.57 |
EMPIRE 0-2 Aether
Despite having two stand-ins with Volodymyr "bezymecc" Slobodian and Jason "s3rum" Zheng, Aether absolutely thrashed EMPIRE. EMPIRE picked Dust2 to start the series, but Aether had a flawless 12-0 CT-side. EMPIRE got the second pistol, but Aether immediately responded to take the map 13-1.
Aether picked Ancient and had another hot start to go up 5-1. EMPIRE got a few rounds back, but Aether still led 8-4 at the half. A CT pistol win all but sealed it for Aether as they took the map 13-5.
EMPIREAether| EMPIRE |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Kaan 'BAGEL' Demircan |
18 - 28 | -10 | 67.7 | 59.4% | 0.77 |
| Ezekiel 'KmZ' Hughes |
17 - 29 | -12 | 61.0 | 56.2% | 0.69 |
| Cristian 'no1nx' Labrada |
16 - 30 | -14 | 58.8 | 56.2% | 0.66 |
 Nicolas 'C0C0' Nassoura |
16 - 28 | -12 | 50.6 | 56.2% | 0.61 |
| Cole 'twigs' Morad |
12 - 30 | -18 | 54.6 | 43.8% | 0.54 |
| Aether |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volodymyr 'bezymecc' Slobodian |
40 - 16 | +24 | 129.9 | 81.2% | 1.84 |
| Chance 'xaler' Palmer |
30 - 10 | +20 | 85.2 | 96.9% | 1.79 |
| Jason 's3rum' Zheng |
30 - 18 | +12 | 94.2 | 87.5% | 1.62 |
| Brett 'brett' Rhein |
26 - 17 | +9 | 88.2 | 81.2% | 1.28 |
| Nazar 'H0NeST' Stefinko |
18 - 18 | +0 | 60.1 | 81.2% | 0.99 |
Tonight will feature eight more matches and see the first four teams eliminated. Check them out here!
