Week #37 of the ESL Open Cups saw Stats claim his sixth victory in the Korean edition of the tournament series, taking over leadership in his home region's gold medal rankings. In Europe none other than Serral made his debut in the weekly competition and immediately secured gold with a dominant performance. On the American server, SpeCial triumphed over a very diverse field of international players, achieving what is surprisingly his very first ESL Open Cup win.
Stats made it into his third ESL Open Cup Korea finals in a row on Monday, looking to make up for losing the previous week's final to Trap. The Afreeca Protoss had to contend with notable competition in the form of Firefly and ByuN before reaching the final series. Prior to military service, ByuN used to be an absolute workhorse in online play, so perhaps he is thinking about returning to that workload. In the finals, Stats clashed with Hurricane in a drawn-out PvP series, the Team LP player actually managing to snag match point early on. The Shield of Aiur, however, did not let himself be denied another week, turning the tide with back-to-back wins for gold medal number six, finally getting ahead of both Zest and Solar.
HeRoMaRinE's current ESL Open Cup EU win streak:
It is quite surprising that a regular ESL Open Cup participant such as SpeCial had to wait 37 weeks for his maiden victory in the tournament series, but there we are. The American edition saw another first time winner, the Mexican Terran becoming the 12th person to win a singular gold medal in the competition, putting up a very strong performance, which could not be truly contested by anyone he met. Notable opposition in the early rounds included Vindicta and his countryman Cham, in the semis SpeCial met the previous week's victor in PtitDrogo, who tried to go for the back-to-back titles, but was bested by the Terran. On the other side of the bracket, MaNa eliminated PartinG, who's still comfortably leading the ESL Open Cup AM rankings, in a TSL5 rematch. While he was able to defeat the Korean, the Polish Protoss did run out of steam in the finals, falling to a clean sweep by his Mexican opponent, who secured the first win for his country ever since Cham's victory in Cup #7.
ESL Open Cup winners earn $200 in prize money and 10 ESL Pro Tour points. Players who finish second earn 5 ESL Pro Tour points and $100. A top 4 finish guarantees at least $50. Week #38 of ESL Open Cups is set to take place on September 28th.
by TheOneAboveU
European Server Cup #37 (Click for full bracket)
Americas Server Cup #37 (Click for full bracket)