The 16 team single elim playoffs of ESEA Season 3 begin today.

After 8 weeks of top class fixtures we're finally reaching the home stretch of this seasons ESEA competition. After sitting on top of the rankings pretty much all season ROCCAT were to be dethroned by Reason Gaming in the final week of the season. Reason definitely look hungry and are set to continue further establishing their status as Europes elite whilst ROCCAT will be looking for revenge and doing their level best to prevent them from again taking the top spot. Incase you happen to have been living under a rock:

Rankings After Regular Season

Clan Details	Wins	Losses	Draws	PCT	Streak	For	Against
Reason Gaming	14	2	0	.875	W6	250	115
ROCCAT	14	2	0	.875	L1	246	116
diamondZ CSS	13	3	0	.812	W3	233	134
Team DSRack	12	4	0	.750	W3	226	168
H2k-Thermaltake	10	6	0	.562	.625	233	159
fnaticMSI CSS	10	6	0	.625	W5	227	168
Ministry of Defence CSS	10	6	0	.625	W1	220	165
TwistedPlay-GLG	10	6	0	.625	W9	199	98
Team Unity	9	7	0	.562	L1	242	197
AIMAZING-eu	9	7	0	.562	L1	223	202
The Last Resort	9	7	0	.562	L1	205	161
30p-Gaming	9	7	0	.562	W2	201	187
AIMAZING-be	9	7	0	.562	L2	197	168
Dreamaker	9	7	0	.562	L2	189	155
KomIgen	9	7	0	.562	T1	184	180
Alchemists Unleashed	8	8	0	.500	W2	193	171
Riders on The Storm	8	8	0	.500	L2	187	189
2ND SIGN	8	8	0	.500	L4	182	187
Carol City Cartel	8	8	0	.500	W3	175	140
HYPHENzone	8	8	0	.500	L1	166	205
GRUPPEN	7	9	0	.438	W1	178	189
Stofftiere Online	7	9	0	.438	L1	173	179
Strafeandwin	7	9	0	.438	W1	167	147
Team C-MAX.gg	7	9	0	.438	L1	141	144
iNEXOR	7	9	0	.438	W3	125	149
Team Celsus	6	10	0	.375	L2	145	197
Epsilon	6	10	0	.375	L8	129	216
altmodisch	5	11	0	.312	L2	159	182
Double-Trouble	5	11	0	.312	W2	111	206
Thermaltake	5	11	0	.312	L1	108	216
Crystal Gaming	5	11	0	.312	L2	107	193
ieS Virtual Gaming	4	12	0	.250	W1	82	192
Got Fingered	3	13	0	.188	W1	57	221
Crack Clan	2	14	0	.125	L5	32	229

With the top 16 going through to the next stage the brackets work out like this:

Reason 16
Tue, Jul 14, 3:00 PM CDT	Reason 16
Alchemists 0
	Thu, Jul 16, 3:00 PM CDT	Reason 7
GLG 16
Tue, Jul 14, 3:00 PM CDT	GLG 6
KomIgen 2
		Fri, Jul 24, 3:00 PM CDT	30P-Gaming -
fnatic 16
Tue, Jul 14, 3:00 PM CDT	fnatic 19
TLR 11
	Thu, Jul 16, 3:00 PM CDT	30P-Gaming 16
30P-Gaming 16
Tue, Jul 14, 3:00 PM CDT	30P-Gaming 21
DSRack 0
			Weds, Jul 29
diamondZ 3
Tue, Jul 14, 3:00 PM CDT	Dreamaker 16
Dreamaker 16
	Thu, Jul 16, 3:00 PM CDT	Dreamaker 8
AIMAZING-eu 10
Tue, Jul 14, 3:00 PM CDT	MoD 9
MoD 16
		Fri, Jul 24, 3:00 PM CDT	H2k -
H2k 16
Tue, Jul 14, 3:00 PM CDT	H2k 16
Team Unity 0
	Thu, Jul 16, 3:00 PM CDT	H2k 16
AIMAZING-be 16
Tue, Jul 14, 3:00 PM CDT	AIMAZING-be 9
ROCCAT 0

TLR	vs.	fnatic
BRAMLEY KaZ radon storm tomhorth		Herden krogh ruggah staRfire VH

In a clash between two teams many in the source community believe not worthy of the organisations they now respresent, the new TLR team known formally as Anoxia find themselves taking on the Great Danes of fnatic. With doubts over the legitimacy over certain TLR players performances from the community (in particular whilst beating League winners Reason Gaming) and the mass hate bandwagon that follows the current fnatic wherever they go, its a game that no doubt won't be short of spectators and one in which both teams will be looking to silence their critics. My inner patriot shining through, I'm hoping TLR can step up and win in style.

AIMAZING-eu	vs.	MoD
wfl Migcou psx SeRuM MPZ		3k2 FeTiSh grav1tyy wantz purity

With wins over 2nd place finishers ROCCAT and also coming out on top over both TLR and diamondZ, the new AIMAZING lineup known formally as AfterTrouble will be looking to re-enact their victory from earlier in the season over MoD. The Danes however come into this fixture with renewed confidence coming off the back of placing 2nd place at the recent SLAP #18 LAN having lost narrowly to fellow countrymen DSRack in the final. If this seasons top fragger Janre "wfl" Saat picks up where he left off in the regular season (and I fully expect him to do so) he may be the deciding factor resulting in AIMAZING picking up the victory.

Dreamaker	vs.	MoD
akamatt` EMSTQD1tw Fircrow maLeK Bubbbbb		3k2 FeTiSh grav1tyy wantz purity

When these two teams clashed earlier on in the ESEA season on dust2 it made for a very tight and tense game. Ultimately it was consistent fragging from Henrik "FeTiSh" Christensen and some crucial clutch play from Kristoffer "grav1tyy" Soeholm that enabled MoD to edge out a victory over the French 16-14. Things may well indeed be different this time around though on nuke, a map Dreamaker are yet to lose on and which MoD possibly favour less having lost to Team Unity on it in the 3rd week of the season. Both teams should be oozing confidence after recent runs of good form. The French destroyed one of the tournament favourites diamondZ 16-3 in the first round of the playoffs with Huillier "Bubbbbb" Joan managing a whopping 21-4 ct side whilst MoD come into the fixture having recently placed 2nd at SLAP #18 and having beaten the team with the seasons top two fraggers AIMAZING-eu 16-10 in their first game of the playoffs.

In order to cater for teams that are attending OOF 3 and Tex the playoff schedule has now changed and will be as follows:

Round 1 - de_dust2 - Tue, Jul 14, 3:00 PM CDT - COMPLETE
Round 2 - de_nuke - Thu, Jul 16, 3:00 PM CDT - COMPLETE
Round 3 - de _inferno - Fri, Jul 24, 3:00 PM CDT
Final - Weds, Jul 29 - best of three maps