Week eight of the ESL Open saw European dominance in two of the cups, and an old name returning to claim victory in Korea.
Former Team Liquid player HerO won the Korean cup in dominant fashion over TRUE, claiming his first ever victory in the ESL Open. The field was once more very international, with over half of the competitors in the Round of 16 being non-Koreans.
On the European server, HeRoMaRinE returned from a disappointing performance at IEM Katowice to claim his fourth ESL Open victory. Points from the weekly cups are really starting to accumulate for him, helping him to off-set the losses in Poland. On the way to the finals, the German also claimed revenge on Clem, who had beaten him in the finals of ESL Open #3. Germany and France are continung to dominate the top 4 of the EU cups.
Europe also dominated on the American server with Skillous taking home his first ESL Open victory. He won out against PtitDrogo in the finals, who could thus claim two second places in one day, having lost to HeRoMaRinE on the EU server just hours before.
Week 8's results continued the trend from the pre-IEM Katowice week 7, when Aqueron and Scarlett took advantage of their peers traveling to Katowice to win the EU and NA cups respectively. Interestingly enough, Zest won the last Korean server cup before Katowice, giving his 'online-Zest' reputation a final boost before making his finals run at the Katowice main event.
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 #9 of ESL Open Cups is set to take place on March 8th.
On March 03 2020 19:31 watchlulu wrote: Who the heck is Nina and how did she / he win against SortOf?
Nina is Puck, who is apparently transitioning from male to female.
I'm really happy that in the SC2 pro environment it is possible to publicly make such a decision without major hassle, but with much understanding and support. This wouldn't be possible in most traditional sports.
On March 04 2020 00:27 HolydaKing wrote: Glad Skillous won one, was hoping he'd be invited for HSC for some Russian representation. Maybe next time if he keeps on improving!
Yeah, he s a beast especially in PvZ. Was super hyped for his (kind of) deep IEM run as well.
On March 03 2020 19:31 watchlulu wrote: Who the heck is Nina and how did she / he win against SortOf?
Nina is Puck, who is apparently transitioning from male to female.
I'm really happy that in the SC2 pro environment it is possible to publicly make such a decision without major hassle, but with much understanding and support. This wouldn't be possible in most traditional sports.
Same here. Proud to be part of such a nice community!
On March 04 2020 19:55 JudeauTV wrote: Why is NA Grand Finals only BO3, while Korea and EU are BO5?
Edit: Never mind, saw they agreed to play BO3 because it was late for them.
LUL, thought that one was a Typo and didn t even think about it.. Absolutly understandable, thoug.. Those times are horrible for EU players. Vice Versa it is quite a bit easier for NA players, to play on EU I supose.
EPT
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/ept2020_21/eptbanner734.jpg)
HerO won the Korean cup in dominant fashion over 
