The playoffs of the ESL Major Series Season IV CoD4 tournament are upon us

The relegation finals have been and gone, and the majority of the teams we thought that would go through have, all bar one. The list of teams is definitely going to give us a spectacle, and though we lost ButtonBashers in the last round, TheImperial are definitely not going to be a walk in the park for their opposition. With 5 teams coming from last month's CoD4 Top 10, we can definitely expect some great games.

We have got the full bracket below, and you will immediately see that the teams are spread out relatively well. With the matches all taking a BO1 format, with each team eliminating a map till they have one left, you can clearly see that the "big" game of the first round is going to be the one between TBH and fnatic. This will be a huge game, and one team will be sent down the LowerBracket earlier than they would have hoped.

It will also be an interesting game for Reason and 2G4L especially now sLWx has moved from 2G4L to Reason. This should go Reason's away though. If dignitas are able to beat EnRo Griffins this will set up a great game in Round 2 where the two remaining UK teams battle it out to see who goes through to the UpperBracket Finals.

Here is the bracket, and we will keep you updated of all the matches as and when they are played as well as details of any major upsets.

Hover over the date to get the map scores once they have been played:

Round 1	Round 2	UpperBracket Final		Grand Final
TBH.MSI 0
Sun 21st	fnatic 2
fnatic 2
	Sun 28th	fnatic 2
TheImperial 0
Sun 21st	FRORN 1
Giants 2
		Sun 5th		fnatic 1
orange! 0
Sun 21st	dignitas 2
dignitas 2
	Sun 28th	dignitas 0
Reason Gaming 1
Sun 21st	Reason Gaming 1
2 gOOd 4 lan 0
Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Consolidation Final
			dignitas 0
	FRORN 0
orange! 1	Sun 5th	orange! 0		Reason Gaming 1
Sun 28th	orange! 1
2 gOOd 4 lan 0		Sun 12th	Reason Gaming 2
	Reason Gaming 2
TBH.MSI 2	Thu 9th	Reason Gaming 2
Thu 2nd	TBH.MSI 0
TheImperial 0

Grand Final

The seemingly unstoppable fnatic take on a rejuvenated Reason in the Grand Final

The first map to be played was Crossfire with fnatic shooting into a commanding early lead, only needing 1 map to win the match and take home the prize money it seemed certain. Somehow, Reason managed to get a run of rounds on the board and before anyone knew it they had stormed into a 13-11 win and a 1 map lead. With everything riding on the second map Strike it was a slightly more cagey affair with rounds being traded evenly, eventually a breakthrough was made which saw fnatic jump into the lead. They never looked back from there and managed to take the map and the championship with a final score of 13-10

Consolodation Final

After knocking Reason gaming down earlier in the tournament Dignitas face them again

Reason played dignitas for A place in the grand final and came out on top with style. It was an immensely close game as usual with the teams trading rounds left right and centre, Dignitas played really well but it just wasn't enough to stop Reason who ended up winning backlot 13-10. Citystreets was a slightly different story with a demoralised Dignitas running out of juice towards the end. The Final score ended 13-8.

Winnerbracket Final

Fnatic uses Stevy to their advantage in match-up with EPS #2 runner-up Team-Dignitas

With the Summer LANs approaching very quickly, it seems that Fnatic are more and more becoming a true favourite to pick up a win at either events with their newfound motivator, Stevy "Stevy" Verheyen, as they managed to quite easily take out Team-Dignitas, who had just come home from a one day retreat at the EPS offline Finals, losing only to the eventual winner, Team-CoolerMaster in the Grand Final. The match got a whole lot closer on the second map, with a double overtime having to decide to faith of Team-Dignitas in this winnerbracket final, sending them down to the Consolation Final where they will await their next opponent.

Lowerbracket

orange! and Reason Gaming fight it out for a chance against Team-Dignitas

With the Germans recently casting off their EnRo Griffins tags due to disagreements concerning the renewal of the team's contracts, they will have to keep up the momentum they built up in the last weeks for them to increase their exposure in the best way possible, thus giving them a shot at finding a new and suitable home to stay at. In order to do that, they will have to go up against the recently deemed unlucky Reason Gaming, who have had a few rocky weeks with fourth place finishes at the two most important British LANs, having entered both from a pole position. They did come back from a disappointing ESL Pro Series finals on a positive note by taking out the number two of the German equivalent, although the win cannot be attributed completely to Reason Gaming, as the Germans were unable to put up a valiant fight and did not even make the Brits break a sweat. In conclusion, this match-up is important for both teams with just two weeks before the Summer LANs kick off as well as still having a shot at the big prize pool the ESL Major Series offer.

Reason come away victorious

It seems that the influx of D1ablo made all the difference. After a poor show against Orange in the Infused Cup finals, and especially the EPS UK finals, Reason had a lot to prove in this game. This they did. They were able to come away with a great victory winning in just 2 maps. From the looks of the scoreboard, D1ablo was able to easily mop up the orange players, and top the leaderboard.

Reason will now face off against their fellow UK rivals, Team Dignitas in the LowerBracket Finals. This will be a really close game, and it could prove to be a great watch. We will of course keep you update on the matter.

TBH.MSI fight back against Dutch The Imperial

In a do or die match-up for the Germans, they managed to combat their recent bad form by taking this needed win over the Dutch risen stars of The Imperial. However, it was by no means a simple walk-over, as they needed to show their strength with recently turned back-up Volkan "thunder" Kocakahya on both mp_strike and mp_backlot. With this win, they will come eye to eye with their group opponent, Reason Gaming in a match both are not happy about, seeing that the eventual loser will be out of the tournament at least one round too early based on their recent results.

2 gOOd 4 lan give up versus EnRo Griffins

Many were anticipating the match between the Fins and Germans in what many duped the online match of the month. Unfortunately for the Call of Duty followers, the Finnish 2 gOOd 4 lan were unable to appear on match day due to serious line-up problems, partially caused by Samuli "SlwX" Kettunen's choice to leave his countrymen behind to team up with the British-Finnish Reason Gaming. What 2 gOOd 4 lan will do to combat these internal problems is as of yet still unknown, but we do know that EnRo Griffins will have no easy opponent in the French FRORN, if they manage to show up for their match as well, as they have been having their own set of line-up problems recently.

2nd Round Matches

Reason Gaming sent down by dignitas

Team Dignitas were able to knock Reason Gaming down to the lowerbracket after beating them over 3 maps. In a game that went to overtime in the 3rd map, the Nr2 team in Europe lost out to the Nr3 team in Europe, Team Dignitas. This will take Reason down to the lowerbracket where they will face either TBH or TheImperial. Team Dignitas are still on course to defend their title and will face fnatic in the UpperBracket Final.

fnatic come back strong against FRORN

fnatic were able to come back after going 1 map down to French side FRORN. The team that recently left Giants were looking very strong as they took the first map. But fnatic were able to show their strength and took them down in the final 2 maps. This takes them through to the Upperbracket final where they will play Team Dignitas.

1st Round Matches

fnatic beat TBH

fnatic have beaten TBH in the first playoff game. TBH are definitely one of the teams that a lot of people were expecting to go along way in this, but they have taken a hit after losing to fnatic. fnatic have been on form recently after Stevy joined the team. They will now most likely be facing Giants in the next round.

Team Dignitas beat EnRo GRIFFINS

Team Dignitas were able to come away from their 2nd place at UKeSA and could easily beat the UkeSA Championship and Cup winners, EnRo Griffins over two maps. With both teams playing over the weekend, they were both well practiced. But dignitas definitely showed their strength, and were able to destroy the EnRo teams quite comfortably.

Giants walk over TheImperial

The Giants, or frorn as they are now called, were able to completely destroy TheImperial and send them down to the LowerBracket. They didn't really break a sweat as they destroyed them over 2 maps. TheImperial admitted that they wouldn't beat anyone if they played like they did.

Reason Gaming claim default over 2G4L

It seems another CoD4 team is melting away, as 2G4L were not able to pull a team together for their playoff game against Reason Gaming. This gives Reason an easy run through to the next round, and most likely will give EnRo Griffins an easier run in the LowerBracket.