Party Astronauts, Bad News Bears to rematch in Fragadelphia 15 grand final

HLTV is live from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, offering live updates for the $60,000 event.

Bad News Bears and Party Astronauts set to clash in Fragadelphia 15 grand final

Party Astronauts have eliminated RBG from Fragadelphia, setting up a rematch of the upper bracket final against Bad News Bears for the tournament title.

The best-of-five match-up, which Bad News Bears will enter with a default one-map advantage, is set to kick off in short order. Party Astronauts' pick of Inferno will be first up, followed by Nuke, and then Ancient and Overpass, if needed. Catch all the action live on the Fragadelphia Twitch stream.

21:25 RBG move on to consolidation final over NA's Finest

RBG are currently facing off against Party Astronauts in the consolidation final of Fragadelphia 15 after beating NA's Finest in the lower bracket final, seeing to the elimination of Bobby "⁠stamina⁠" Eitrem's side in a two-map series.

The consolidation final is currently underway, with Party Astronauts holding a strong lead on the first map of the series, Overpass. The winner of the match-up will move on to face Bad News Bears in the best-of-five grand final, where Alan "⁠Shakezullah⁠" Hardeman and company will have a default one-map advantage due to advancing from the upper bracket.

05:05 RBG, NA's Finest round out top four; Fragadelphia Fall team list set

The list of remaining teams has been whittled down to four at the end of Fragdelphia 15's second day, with RBG and NA's Finest surviving their lower bracket semi-final matches against Third Impact and Coldest Riders, respectively. The two teams will face off at 18:15 on Suday to determine who will advance to the consolidation final, where Party Astronauts await.

The result also means that RBG and NA's Finest are through to Fragadelphia Fall; however, HLTV.org knows that NA's Finest will be unable to play in the event due to the players having different obligations after the main tournament.

As a result, the team list for Fragadelphia Fall can be confirmed ahead of the fifth place decider match, with both Coldest Riders and Third Impact automatically qualifying due to the extra slot.

The eight teams who will take part in Fragadelphia Fall and vie for a single spot in the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown are:

The schedule for the final day of matches looks as follows:

Lower bracket final
18:15 - RBG vs. NA's Finest
Consolidation final
21:00 - Party Astronauts vs. LB final winner
Grand final (BO5)
00:00 Bad News Bears vs. Consolidation final winner

01:56 Bad News Bears 2-0 Party Astronauts to advance to grand final

The first grand finalist of Fragadelphia 15 has been determined after Bad News Bears took down Party Astronauts in a two-map series, securing a 16-13 win on Inferno and 16-8 victory on Nuke.

The series win secures Shakezullah's side a top-two finish in the event, and grants them a default map advantage heading into the best-of-five grand final. Party Astronauts are left waiting in the consolidation final for the winner of the lower bracket, with RBG, Third Impact, Coldest Riders, and NA's Finest left in contention.

00:07 Party Astronauts go up against Bad News Bears in upper bracket final

The second upper bracket semi-final of Fragadelphia 15 saw Party Astronauts emerge victorious over NA's Finest, recovering from a loss on Mirage with one-sided victories on Dust2 and Inferno thanks to a stellar individual showing from Josh "⁠PwnAlone⁠" Pigue.

As a result of the win, Ben "⁠ben1337⁠" Smith's troops have earned a spot in Fragadelphia Fall, where they join Extra Salt, paiN, and GODSENT in hopes of booking a ticket to the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown.

Party Astronauts will now take on Bad News Bears in the upper final, with the winner going on to earn a default map advantage in the best-of-five grand final, taking place on Sunday.

20:43 Bad News Bears through to BLAST qualifier; upper final at Fragadelphia

Bad News Bears came back from being a map down to RBG in the upper bracket semi-final of Fragadelphia 15 to reverse sweep the series, booking a spot in the upper bracket final later on Saturday and securing a spot in Fragadelphia Fall, where they'll have the chance to qualify for the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown.

Shakezullah and company now await the winner of the second semi-final between Party Astronauts and NA's Finest, with the teams currently facing off on Mirage.

17:58 RBG stun Bad News Bears on Inferno to kick off upper semis

The upper bracket semi-finals are underway at Fragadelphia 15, with the winner of each match-up securing a spot in Fragadelphia Fall, North America's regional qualifier for the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown.

Tournament favorites Bad News Bears dominated in their first two matches of the event, but have stumbled against RBG in their opening match of day two, falling 14-16 on Inferno after a critical miss from Paytyn "⁠junior⁠" Johnson at 14-14 stopped his team's comeback effort in its tracks.

The teams are currently facing off on Nuke, where Bad News Bears will hope to force a third map — you can catch all the action live on the Fragadelphia Twitch stream.

16:14 Take a look at some photos from the first day of Fragadelphia 15 as teams get ready for day two

As teams prepare to face off in the upper bracket semi-finals of Fragadelphia 15, take a moment to look through some of the highlights from our day one gallery.

The second day of matches will kick off with Bad News Bears taking on RBG in the upper bracket semi-final, followed by Party Astronauts facing off against NA's Finest. Simultaneously, 12 teams will fight for their tournament lives in the lower bracket, both for a shot at a share of the $60,000 prize pool as well as one of five spots in the Fragadelphia Fall BLAST Premier Fall Showdown qualifier.

Day 1

05:25 Muenster: "Getting this experience early in this team's life is super valuable for us"

After Party Astronauts secured a spot in the upper bracket semi-finals at the end of day one, we had a chance to talk to the team's coach, Joseph "⁠Muenster⁠" Lima, who expressed joy at being able to unite with his team on LAN.

"LAN is incredible," the 26-year-old coach stated as Party Astronauts wrapped up their final match of the day. "Our roster hasn't had the chance to play together on LAN yet, this current roster, and just being together in person is such a great experience, especially at an event like Fragadelphia where it's just so much fun and there's so many people we can hang out with and talk to and meet for the first time ever.

"This current roster is relatively new, so getting this experience early in this team's life is super valuable for us. We feel like we're getting a lot of good necessary reps that we're going to be able to use going into Premier this season and hopefully into more events."

While Party Astronauts' initial two matches gave them little difficulty, with neither of their opponents able to take double-digit rounds, Muenster is cautious as the team heads into day two, where they will be up against NA's Finest — a team containing a number of familiar faces from ESEA Premier.

"Tomorrow, hopefully things go just as smooth," Muenster said. "We have a few tougher match-ups, some people that we know have what it takes to push us, so we're going to come in with a little bit more of a serious mindset and hopefully get al the way to the finals and try to meet Bad News Bears there."

03:22 NA's Finest upset Third Impact; remaining favorites advance through upper bracket

The first day of play in Philadelphia has come to an end, reducing the pool of teams from 34 down to 16. In the upper bracket, the two tournament favorites, Bad News Bears and Party Astronauts, eased past Big Chillin and Freedom Fighters, respectively, to advance to the semi-finals.

In the sole upset of the upper bracket, Third Impact suffered a loss to NA's Finest, a mix-team that includes stamina, Dominick "⁠JazzPimp⁠" Dimpfel, and former Triumph member Danny "⁠cxzi⁠" Strzelczyk. Day two will kick off with Noah "⁠insane⁠" Eheart's side fending for their tournament lives, while Bad News Bears simultaneously take on RBG on the main stage at 15:30 for a spot in the upper bracket final.

Notable matches heading into day two are:

Upper bracket
15:30 - Bad News Bears vs. RBG
18:15 - Party Astronauts vs. NA's Finest
Lower bracket
15:30 - Levitate vs. X13
15:30 - Coldest Riders vs. Touch Point

21:20 Upper bracket round of 16 underway

The first round of matches from Fragadelphia 15 being covered by HLTV are now underway, with Bad News Bears taking part in their first match against 727. Some of the other noteworthy matches include:

Coldest Riders vs. NA's Finest (on A stream)
Infinity Gauntlet vs. Levitate (on B stream)
Big Chillin vs. Detonate
RBG vs. X13
Third Impact vs. Touch Point

18:15 Bad News Bears, Party Astronauts headline teams in Philadelphia

Fragadelphia, North America's largest open LAN, has returned for its 15th iteration, featuring its largest prize pool to date with $60,000 on offer in partnership with ESEA. The tournament can currently be found on Twitch, with HLTV coverage set to begin from the second round of the upper bracket.

Alongside the prize pool, the top five teams from the tournament's double-elimination, best-of-three bracket will earn spots in Fragadelphia Fall, the North American regional qualifier for the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown that will play out online immediately after the conclusion of the event.

HLTV.org will be live on the ground to follow the action, bringing photos and interviews from the event as it unfolds over the next three days.

A number of notable ESEA Premier sides from North America are in attendance and will be vying for spots in the BLAST qualifier, including Bad News Bears, Party Astronauts, and Third Impact. A handful of teams have also qualified for the event via four feeder LANs, as well as recent Mythic and ESEA Cash Cups.

Familiar faces to the local scene that are taking part are: