Week four of the ESL Open Cups saw us welcome a pair of three-time winners, with HeRoMaRinE winning his third European server cup (3-0 MaNa in the finals) while Solar was once again victorious on the Korean server (3-0 Cure in the finals).
The American server tournament saw PartinG come up with his first ESL Open victory (3-1 Bly in the finals), which also gave the Protoss faction its first 1st place finish after several runner-ups.
ESL Open Cup winners earn $100 in prize money and 10 ESL Pro Tour points. Players who finish second earn 5 ESL Pro Tour points. Week #5 of ESL Open Cups is set to take place on February 9th.
The lack of Koreans competing in the ESL weekly tournaments worry me. SC2 in Korea is theoretically stronger than ever with these online tournaments, yet no one really shows up to play. I understand not wanting to give your build away but if you just play a standard macro build, is that really giving anything away? Do a 2-1-1 opening into 3 base macro or something. Get yourself some points and $100. If not, treat it as practice.
On February 04 2020 14:06 blooblooblahblah wrote: Some fun games this week. Parting vs uThermal was especially funny with a 2 base BC build that almost looked like it would work.
Yeah that was cool. There have been some TvP BC builds recently, but they've been mostly about doing worker damage just like in TvZ. A BC all-in is something different.
On February 04 2020 20:51 ejozl wrote: how is the sign up process, if koreans are slow at signing up could foreigners "steal" their spots? and vice versa, I guess.
On February 09 2020 10:30 joshie0808 wrote: Can someone enlighten me on why Serral and Reynor don't play these weekly tournaments? Also are there VODs for these?
Serral and Reynor don't really need the points from this cup to qualify, and there isn't a ton of money involved. Serral in particular rarely plays in any sort of online cup. I'd expect Reynor to participate in one of these eventually. And yes there are VODs but they are scattered across the different community casters.
On February 04 2020 13:26 geokilla wrote: The lack of Koreans competing in the ESL weekly tournaments worry me. SC2 in Korea is theoretically stronger than ever with these online tournaments, yet no one really shows up to play. I understand not wanting to give your build away but if you just play a standard macro build, is that really giving anything away? Do a 2-1-1 opening into 3 base macro or something. Get yourself some points and $100. If not, treat it as practice.
Unless you get at least second place, you get nothing for participating. With a number of big events approaching, it's likely not worth the time investment for a number of pros who would rather spend the half-day practicing for a bigger prize pool.
These cups aren't meant for top-tier players to play in every week. They are more designed for newcomers, aspiring amateurs and for the handful of pros who need the few extra points. I would expect to see more Koreans involved toward the end of the season after more of the tournaments have been decided.
EPT
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/ept2020_21/eptbanner734.jpg)
HeRoMaRinE winning his third European server cup (3-0 MaNa in the finals) while 
