EPT
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The competition remained fierce over the Christmas holidays, with all three cups seeing active participation. Zest managed to win both the KR and NA cups, while MaxPax took home his second consecutive EU title (had he won cup #101, it would have been four in a row with his victories in cups #100, #102 and #103).
The race to secure group-stage seeding at IEM Katowice also grew more intense, with both Lambo and ShoWTime earning a handful of EPT points on the week. As mentioned last week, the 6th place finisher in the EU rankings will earn a direct seed to the Katowice group stage (RO24), while the seventh place player will have to sweat out some complicated scenarios for a potential “wildcard” spot (the highest overall point earner who did not earn a regional seed). The two Germans are now tied at 740 points, but Lambo currently leads on a global points tie-breaker.
Meanwhile, the Korean points race saw RagnaroK (697 points) inch closer to his competitors in ByuN (703 points) and DongRaeGu (716 points) with a runner-up finish. The weeklies are unlikely to have an effect on these players’ ability to qualify from Korea [editor’s note: it might actually be 100% locked up at this point?], but they’re still worth keeping an eye on. There appears to be a small but not insignificant chance that the aforementioned global wildcard spot will be contested between RagnaroK (697), ShoWTimE/Lambo (740), DongRaeGu (716), or ByuN (703). Much hinges on how many extra points RagnaroK and DongRaeGu can win at the upcoming DHM Last Chance tournament.
KR cup: Among the players who needed EPT points, only RagnaroK managed to make any progress with a top four finish (+2 points). ByuN got eliminated in the RO16 with a 1-2 loss versus herO, whereas DRG lost 1-2 versus herO in the same round. RagnaroK, on the other hand, beat both Has (2-1) and Cure (2-0), before losing 0-3 in the semifinals against Solar. Overall, Solar had quite a strong run up to the finals, defeating Classic (2-0), herO (2-1), and RagnaroK.
On the bottom side of the bracket, Ryung had a very good run that nearly saw him reach the finals, taking 2-0 wins over SpeCial and Creator to reach the semis. Zest had an easier path to the semis, defeating Protoss underdogs Nightmare and Cyan by 2-0 scores. The Team GP Terran almost pulled off the upset against Zest, even going up 2-1 in their BO5, but Zest came back and won 3-2.
The finals was quite one-sided with Zest winning 3-0 against Solar. On the first map of Hardwire, Zest managed to get to 3 bases with quick Void Rays, and transitioned rapidly to Carriers and a strong supporting ground army while taking a fourth base. Solar tried to match up against Zest in a straight-up macro fight, but paid the price for not punishing this greed by losing to Zest’s first major attack. On Pride of Altaris, Solar opened up with a proxy-Hatch at Zest’s gold base, followed by a second expansion at his own gold base. The response from Zest was to tech to Glaive-Adepts. While Solar’s build gave him a strong economy, the long distance between bases made it too hard for him to defend against multi-directional Adept attacks and he GG’d out. On the final map of Berlingrad, Zest’s 4 early Oracles allowed him to deal economic damage and scout that Solar was planning a Queen-Ravager-Ling all-in. Solar attacked in between his opponent’s second and third base, and that allowed Zest to get a good concave microing 2 groups of Blink-Stalkers. The defense lasted for several minutes, but over time Zest got better trades and grinded out a win.
Upset(s) of the day: Instead of a single big upset, there were several small surprises in this cup. RagnaroK beating Cure 2-0 or Ryung beating both SpeCial and Creator are the matches that come most prominently to mind.
*****
EU Cup: The European cup featured relatively strong participation considering the time of year, with 92 players compared to the usual 120ish. Obviously, Lambo and ShoWTimE played to try and gather more EPT points. The German Protoss reached the finals with notable wins against MaNa (2-0) and HeroMarine (3-1), but had to settle for winning 5 EPT points after losing to MaxPax in the finals. Lambo was not as successful, and was eliminated without points after suffering a 0-2 loss to PtitDrogo in the RO16.
Other notable results include ByuN who beat Creator 2-0 in the RO16 but lost versus HeroMarine (who beat Harstem by the same score) in the quarterfinals. Clem had a relatively easy path until the quarterfinals where he met Elazer and lost 0-2, but the Zerg couldn’t continue his momentum against a rampaging MaxPax. Indeed, the Danish protoss 2-0’d NightMare before beating PtitDrogo 2-1 in consecutive PvP’s and won convincingly 3-1 against Elazer to qualify for the finals and try to defend his title.
In a rematch of EU cups #95 and #98 in which ShoWTimE beat MaxPax both times, the two Protoss players met again in the finals. The first map was Curious Minds, and as is often the case on this map, both players opted for Phoenix play. ShoWTimE tried to transition to Carriers earlier than his opponent, but MaxPax capitalized on his opponent’s window of weakness and attacked with a larger group of Phoenixes at the right time to win the game.
On the second map Hardwire, both players went for 1 base play with ShoWTimE proxying some of his buildings. The German Protoss opted for Blink Stalkers while MaxPax built a Stargate, getting a very successful Stasis Ward on his opponent Probes. MaxPax expanded with some Stalkers and Void Rays while ShoWTimE kept making Stalkers for a committed attack. However, MaxPax was able to defend easily with Shield Batteries at his expansion and his army in his main, forcing ShoWTimE to GG.
Not one to just get 3-0’d in the finals, ShoWTimE managed to briefly stem the tide on 2000 Atmospheres. MaxPax was the aggressor for most of the game, with both players using Blink Stalkers and support units, later on adding Disruptors and DTs. ShoWTimE took better trades during an ambitious attack from his opponent and his counter-attack forced MaxPax to GG. The fourth and final game was another Phoenix war, but this time on Berlingrad instead of Curious Minds. MaxPax took slightly better trades several times in a row, and that snowballed into a pretty quick victory and a 3-1 series win.
Upset(s) of the day: In my opinion, the biggest upset was Elazer beating Clem 2-0, although it is less shocking nowadays than just a few months ago when Clem seemed invincible in TvZ. An honorable mention goes to PtitDrogo for his 2-0 win over Lambo.
*****
NA Cup: Lambo and ShoWTimE expectedly also played in the NA cup, but RagnaroK and DRG were noticeably missing from the proceedings. There were still a lot of strong Koreans participating—namely ByuN and Gumiho for Terran, Armani and Solar as Zerg representatives, and a lot of Protosses including Classic, Creator, Zest and Trap (who does not participate often).
Trap was the top seed but was stopped by Astrea in the quarterfinals, losing 0-2. Lambo beat Gerald (2-0) and Classic (2-1) to reach the semifinals, but had to settle for a 2 point gain after losing to Astrea in a 0-3 semifinal sweep. ShoWTimE also reached the final four (with wins against Creator and SpeCial), but was also limited to 2 points after losing to Zest 1-3 in the semis. Zest had previously beat GuMiho and ByuN, and his victory against ShoWTimE booked a final match against Astrea with a chance to win a cup double on the week.
The first map was Blackburn, where Astrea proxied two gates near his opponent's base successfully, winning in only 3 minutes. Zest kept his composure and managed to defend Astrea’s cannon rush on Hardwire, defending the following 2 gates Adepts as well. Meanwhile, Zest proxied a Stargate near his opponent’s main, and forced Astrea to tap out to the Void Ray counter-attack in a little under six minutes.
Game three on Curious Minds saw both players go for the standard Phoenix openers on the map, with Zest gaining a slight economic advantage by sneaking in an Oracle that killed nearly ten Probes. This let him make a successful tech-switch to Carriers before Astrea, which powered him to an eventual victory. On the last map Berlingrad, Zest hid a gate not too far from his opponent's third base after both players went 2 bases and Blink Stalkers. He managed to let Astrea think he was safe to take a third base, while Zest went all-in on Blink Stalkers. While Astrea was barely able to hold off Zest’s attack with the help of Probes, he had already taken near-fatal damage. Zest was able to safely expand to his third and kept building a bigger and bigger army until he killed his opponent. The 3-1 victory gave Zest his second cup victory of the week, taking a KR-NA double.
Upset(s) of the day: Astrea beating Trap was a notable upset, since he only had 39:61 odds to beat the Korean Protoss according to Aligulac.com. Astrea’s 3-0 victory against Lambo was even more impressive, with the stats website giving him even worse odds of 36:64 of beating the German Zerg.
by Poopi
European Server Cup #103 (Click for full bracket)
Americas Server Cup #103 (Click for full bracket)
