With the regular season of ESEA Season 21 having concluded, the playoffs for North America's top division are now rapidly approaching. This season holds a little more importance due to the circumstances: with ESEA almost certainly having only two seasons this year, the winner of this season's playoffs will have one of the best claims to being the top team in North America heading into Insomnia58.

Format

As always, the ESEA Invite playoffs feature four teams in a best-of-three double-elimination bracket. Unfortunately, despite the reintroduction of playoffs hosted by ESEA for the CS:GO Premier division, the Invite playoffs will once again be held online over the course of several weeks. As has been the norm for online playoffs, the maps will also be predetermined for each round.

Every team participating will receive a share of the Season 21 prize pool as follows:

• 1st: $5600
• 2nd: $3500
• 3rd: $2800
• 4th: $2100

Teams

RONIN have been dominant this season, crushing the mid- and lower-Invite teams beneath their heel. A glance at their rounds against shows that they were never in a tough situation against non-playoff teams, and only dropped a single map to froyotech on Product. The ESEA Season 20 Invite champions look solid on their throne, and it will take something special to unstick the crown from their brow. Nonetheless, froyotech have proven they can take maps from RONIN, and took the opportunity in week two to reaffirm their position as the gods of Product. They have looked a little shakier against other playoff teams however, and the lost map to EVL Gaming shows they are susceptible to upsets.

EVL Gaming have been performing at a consistent top Invite level, trading maps with froyotech and Street Hoops while denying other playoff contenders upsets during their games. They didn’t quite live up to their early hype, undefeated as they were until mid-season, but they deserve their spot in third and have proven themselves as an upset team. Street Hoops eSports, on the other hand, have been the kings of inconsistency. They have had moments where they’ve looked better than EVL Gaming and have contended with froyotech, but have spent most of the season desperately trying to rescue themselves from their early mediocrity. Fortunately for them, it seems that the large roster changes halfway through this season worked out, and they’ve finished the season on a large win-streak. Both of these teams have a high chance of upsetting the top two teams on individual maps, but haven’t yet shown their ability to take best-of-three series.

RONIN

RONIN are the current ESEA Invite champions, having finally broken through to victory after years of toiling at the top. Their consistent level of play has allowed them to plow through the mid-Invite teams, even demolishing playoff teams in their fixtures. RONIN have given up only 13 rounds this season so far; other than their Product game, they have won every game 5-2 or better, smashing EVL Gaming, Street Hoops eSports, and even froyotech on Metalworks. They have been dominant, with one notable loss on Product to a froyotech featuring b4nny and clockwork on scout. With that no longer being the case, perhaps even froyotech will struggle to contest the might of these champions in the playoffs.

RONIN have had no roster changes since winning Invite last season. Their lineup has been stable since September, when they brought in yomps and phorofor. These two players have been improvements over their predecessors in terms of individual skill, and allow the team to play a predictable but powerful style. yomps and shrugger are the best scout duo in Invite, a title contested only by the froyotech scouts, and they have excellent timing and initiation with the rest of their team. rando, although not as technically skilled or aggressive as his opposition, has an important role as the backbone of the team, responsible for dealing with any flanking aggression or players going behind before they have the opportunity to engage. Ma3la is able to both initiate for the scouts and relieve pressure from his combo with well-timed bombs, and Bdonski has been performing admirably against what could be the best line-up of Invite playoff demomen in years. This is not a team to be trifled with; their years of experience together in tournaments and seasons has them disciplined, allowing them to frequently seize opportunities to punish mistakes from other teams.

With the froyotech shuffle last season, they are now the team to beat. They have the most experience, consistency and level-headedness, and have dealt well so far with the new concoction of talent being cultured by froyotech. Once they move to maps that allow for more dynamic flow than Metalworks however, they may find that their regimented play can be exploited by their opponents in playoffs. Thankfully for them, Granary features in both the upper bracket final and the grand finals, but Product also features as the decider for the first series of the grand finals. RONIN will have to keep up their work to outperform the other playoff teams, all of whom will be improving faster and faster.

froyotech

froyotech started this season with only b4nny featuring from the previous team, as he took on the task of bringing mid-Invite players to a point where they could contest the best. Joined shortly afterwards by his perennial brother-in-arms clockwork, the new froyotech team began a journey of self-discovery. Only Muma has remained on his role throughout their mini-shuffles this season, consistently pumping out excellent damage whilst always managing to stay alive in any situation. Even when froyotech are on the edge of wiping, Muma can be found conserving his life, laying down stickies to slow the advance of the enemy team and allowing his to stabilize. After a brief stint attempting this alongside Freestate on medic, the team decided to move Freestate to pocket scout and recruit ninjanick to heal. This killed two birds with one stone, allowing them to replace corsa, who hadn’t been able to keep up with the team’s progression, and recruit a medic with more skill as well. paddie has shone on roamer alongside b4nny, keeping the dream of the froyotech Canadian roamers alive although he hasn’t yet developed the connection that blaze and clockwork had.

The team is obviously more comfortable in this final form than their previous iterations. Their issues with the pocket scout have been solved after moving Freestate to that role, with b4nny leading from pocket. It must be remembered though that their victory over RONIN on Product saw b4nny and clockwork on scout, and the i52 scout duo have vast amounts of synergy together. Whether Freestate can match up to that level, and whether b4nny can have the same impact on pocket, remains to be seen. The complete lack of information on other classic maps merely whets the appetite for playoffs; how will RONIN and froyotech match up on Badlands, Gullywash, Process, etc? This could just be a preview of a rivalry that lasts seasons, each having dominant maps.

This entire season, and the achievements of froyotech, are testament to the leadership of b4nny. He has taken players previously unable to break into the elite and matched them together, allowing them to shine in their roles. A previously untapped barrel of talent has matured, ready to be unleashed against the old guard of Invite. Perhaps the true unsung hero here, however, is clockwork. Could this really have been attempted without him providing a huge fragging crutch for the others to lean on?

EVL Gaming

This has been a true breakthrough season for the players on EVL Gaming. They have risen from their shaky performance last season, no longer pinned down by the clash of playstyles brought about by goldfish’s pocketing. They started this season incredibly, taking maps from both Street Hoops and froyotech to stand alongside RONIN as undefeated. The anti-climactic 'clash of titans' that followed was more reminiscent of a master beating an unruly student. EVL Gaming’s thrashing and subsequent losses to the same teams served to put their first results in context: excellent upsets, especially for a new team to the top of Invite, that were facilitated by internal tensions within Street Hoops eSports and froyotech.

EVL Gaming moved aim to pocket after last season, creating a tighter combo with Nursey. Upcoming scout arekk also carried on in his role, building on his performances from last season to become a scary player. Alongside him for the majority of the season was slemnish, who is unable to play the playoffs due to time conflicts with his studying, and so the team have brought in Sezco as a replacement. botmode was a new addition to the team this season on roamer, and has put in a solid performance though occasionally one-dimensional in his attempts against the other playoff teams. Hassassin has been one of the breakthrough demoman talents this season along with Muma, and both have managed to compete against Invite legends Bdonski and duwatna.

This team features some very young talent, without much experience at the top of Invite or experience in important fixtures. After slowing from the breakneck pace they had set themselves early in the season, they can approach playoffs without too much pressure; for EVL Gaming, taking upset map results against the top teams whilst holding onto third place would be a great achievement and allow them to build further for the future. This could be a difficult task given that they are now lacking slemnish and have to compete against teams who have ironed out early issues and look far more comfortable.

Street Hoops eSports

Street Hoops eSports started the season with some awfully inconsistent performances mainly due to fierce differences in motivation and decision-making, and frustration at their own inability. The team looked to be spiraling into unsalvageable levels of tilt. Halfway through the season, ninjanick left the team to take his talent to froyotech - a blessing in disguise. Street Hoops eSports took the opportunity to refresh their roster, bringing in cozen on medic and ash on roamer to replace grape. After allegedly hashing out their gameplay problems in a heated discussion of titanic proportions, the team took a breather and began to play their game again.

Street Hoops eSports began to improve, and showstopper’s team brought their playoff run back together with an incredibly tight game on Metalworks against Running with Scizors, taking revenge against EVL Gaming the week afterwards. At that point it was still possible for them to throw it away, but in the penultimate week they killed two birds with one stone by beating Vand’s crew and taking a forfeit win from a lethargic (or scared?) froyotech afterwards.

Street Hoops eSports finished second last season in Invite, after a historical victory over then-dominant froyotech in the lower bracket final. They have the potential to repeat that run again this season, especially with duwatna now playing demoman for them, but the competition appears even more fierce. Street Hoops eSports have shown the quality to beat EVL Gaming, but have yet to show the same ability against froyotech or RONIN. A cinematic rousing speech from showstopper will be required for this epic comeback to reach its climax.

Schedule

The action begins soon, with RONIN facing Street Hoops eSports and froyotech facing EVL Gaming in the first round of playoffs early next week (around April 3rd) on Metalworks, Sunshine, and Process. The winners will face each other for a spot in the grand finals while the losers fight to stave off elimination soon after (around April 5th), with both matches occurring on Granary, Badlands, and Gullywash.

The two teams left undetermined will face off the week after (around April 11th) on Snakewater, Product, and Process, with the winner taking the second spot in the grand finals and the loser going home in 3rd place. The grand finals themselves will be the week after (around April 18th), starting with the first series on Gullywash, Granary, and Product. If the team from the upper bracket takes this series, they walk away with the championship; if the team from the lower bracket manages to take it, however, they break the upper bracket advantage, and a second series on Metalworks, Process, and Snakewater will determine the final champion.

As always, teamfortress.tv will be there every step of the way, covering each match live on Twitch. Pay attention to teamfortress.tv in the coming days to keep up to date as matches are scheduled, and make sure to tune in live as North America's best team is determined once again.