ESEA Season 27 has certainly been one for the books, with close and exciting matches being played throughout the season, both online and on LAN at Rewind II. We’ve witnessed upsets galore, shocking comebacks, and even saw the last playoff spot determined by the winner of a golden cap in the final match of the season.

With the closing of the entertaining regular season, we can all look forward to the ESEA Season 27 Invite Playoffs, which has shaped up to be a phenomenal event based on the results of the regular season. The top four teams from the regular season will duke it out very soon for the lion’s share of the prize pool and bragging rights until the next season.

Format

The top four teams have been placed into a double-elimination bracket. Every match will feature a best-of-three series until the Grand Finals, which will feature two best-of-three series. The team who advances into the Grand Finals through the Upper Bracket will only need to win one best-of-three to be crowned the victor, while the team advancing from the Lower Bracket will need to win both series to do the same.

Map Pool

The map pool will feature the same maps from the regular season. Maps will be chosen with a ban/ban/pick/pick/ban/ban/ban system where the higher seeded team can choose to receive the extra ban to determine the final deciding map.

• Badlands
• Product
• Snakewater
• Granary Pro
• Process
• Gullywash
• Metalworks
• Sunshine

Prize Pool

The prize pool will be distributed among the teams as shown:

• 1st: $5,600

• 2nd: $3,500

• 3rd: $2,800

• 4th: $2,100

Teams and Rosters

froyotech

Seed: 1st

Record: 16-0

• Scout: arekk
• Scout: b4nny
• Roamer: blaze
• Pocket: yomps
• Demoman: habib
• Medic: shade

If you could only use one word to describe froyotech this season, dominant would be an excellent choice. They went 16-0 this season, winning most of their matches by 3+ rounds, which left them winning 62 more rounds than they lost (for comparison, Ascent had the next most with 36). Despite the team’s new acquisition, yomps, making the somewhat unexpected switch from his usual scout role to playing pocket soldier, yomps and the rest of froyotech have played at a their usual very high level throughout the regular season. They are certainly the team to beat in playoffs, but with a number of upsets happening throughout the regular season, one happening in the playoffs might not be the strangest occurrence. We’ll see if froyotech can maintain their dominance as they open up with their first match against Velocity eSports.

SVIFT NA

Seed: 2nd

Record: 13-3

• Scout: highfive
• Scout: botmode
• Roamer: laz
• Pocket: aim
• Demoman: yight
• Medic: zilly

With highfive being the only returning member from last season’s runner-ups, this SVIFT NA roster is a completely new team. Despite this, they’ve found themselves in second place at the end of the regular season, with a 13-3 record and 28 more rounds won than lost. Many of SVIFT NA’s matches have been extremely close, including 2 narrow victories over Ascent, close victories over Running with Scizors and MyAnimeList, and a 1-1 record against Velocity eSports where either side could have easily taken both maps. If every player on SVIFT NA play out of their minds like they’ve each shown they can do this season, then they could truly be a force to be reckoned with in playoffs and might surprise people more than they already have this season. Their first match will be against Ascent, and considering their track record against the boys in blue this season, they should have some level of confidence.

Ascent

Seed: 3rd

Record: 12-4

• Scout: corsa
• Scout: slemnish
• Roamer: marmaloo
• Pocket: Ma3laa
• Demoman: Bdonski
• Medic: Nursey

Originally, Ascent maintained the same 3 core members of Nursey, Bdonski, and Paddie from last season, but with Ma3laa recently rejoining the team to replace Paddie, there are only 2 returning members from last season’s Ascent. However, they’ve done very well this season, with a 12-4 record and the aforementioned 36 more rounds won than lost. Both of their losses to SVIFT NA could’ve gone either way, and they put up a very good showing against froyotech on Badlands in their final match of the season, despite Ma3laa having been very recently re-added to the starting lineup. In more recent years, Ascent have really stepped it up and over-performed in the playoffs, and nothing less can be expected of them this year with the potential for insane play they’ve shown they can achieve. Can they pull off that insane play in playoffs as they usually do? You’ll have to see for yourself as they take on SVIFT NA in the first round of the playoffs.

Velocity eSports

Seed: 4th

Record: 10-6

• Scout: shamoo
• Scout: Pete
• Roamer: showstopper
• Pocket: Kryptonite
• Demoman: Jarrett
• Medic: bear

Despite maintaining five of the players from their previous roster (picking up showstopper after losing marmaloo), Velocity eSports narrowly made it into the playoffs, having their fate ride on the results of their final match of the season between them and Running With Scizors. After insane comeback play following a 4-0 deficit, Velocity eSports were able to defeat their opponents in a golden cap and secure the final playoff spot. As far as the rest of the season goes, the team were able to achieve a solid 10-6 record, winning 16 more rounds than they lost. As Velocity eSports were able to put up great matches against Ascent and traded maps with SVIFT NA, nothing less should be expected from them in playoffs. They will have to face froyotech in the first round of the playoffs and have their work cut out for them, but the match should be interesting to watch no matter what.

The playoffs will begin tonight, so be sure to tune in to Teamfortresstv on Twitch as the top teams in North America duke it out to determine who really are the best in ESEA Invite.