EPT
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Week #113 saw the ESL Open Cup scene largely return to normal, as IEM Katowice had been over for a week. The most noticeable player to return was
HeroMarine—the unofficial symbol of the EU Cups—with the German Terran claiming yet another monday victory in Europe. Meanwhile, MaxPax kept up his good form from the last few weeks with a victory in NA, while Creator won the KR cup.The week also featured rare appearances from Rogue, Trap, and Dark, though the trio made a surprisingly muted impact on the competitions.
[ESL Open Cups have temporarily stopped awarding EPT points. Cups will continue to be held and award prize money as before, but will only resume awarding points once the EPT 2022/23 season officially begins.]
KR Cup: While the overall depth in the Korean cup was rather thin, it received a boost at the top level with Rogue and Trap making surprise appearances. Due to the off-season seeding for the Open Cups being adjusted to be based on prior ESL Open Cup results, Rogue and Trap both received low seeds and forced some finals worthy clashes as early on as the RO16.
Rogue was actually the losing party in one of those clashes, as he went out early in a 1-2 loss to DPG teammate herO. herO went on to defeat KeeN 2-0 in the next round, booking a semifinals match against Trap (Trap having defeated GuMiho earlier). The brief incursion by the ESL Open 'outsiders' was ended by herO, who took out Trap 2-1 to move on to the finals. On the opposite side of the bracket, Creator qualified for the finals by playing only PvP. He consecutively defeated LunaSea, Ranger and NightMare without losing a single map.
Facing herO in the finals was a tough draw on paper for the Team NV Protoss, with Aligulac only giving him around 30% odds of winning a BO5 series. Their head-to-head record prior to the series was grim as well, with Creator trailing 14-40 in map score (although he won their most recent encounter 3-1 in an online cup).
Still, Creator had used the ESL Open Cups to fuel a resurgence in late 2021, and he managed to power through with another impressive performance. Despite going down 1-2, Creator clutched out a comeback 3-2 victory to take his 5th gold medal in the KR Cups.
Upset(s) of the day: Rogue getting eliminated early by herO was quite shocking, but it's hard to call it the main upset of the day considering Rogue’s history of inconsistency in events that don't have a six-figure prize. Other than that, the big upset was Creator defeating herO in a BO5 with only around 30:70 odds of doing so, and a head-to-head record massively in favor of the DPG protoss as stated earlier.
*****
EU Cup: The European Cup was back to being the most stacked one, with most of the regional powerhouses participating. The new seeding allowed MaxPax to be the first seed thanks to his victories in the last few cups, leaving HeroMarine and Clem to start on the same side of the bracket while they tried to catch up in terms of results.
The top side of the bracket was almost entirely Protoss, with just three Terrans breaking up the sea of Protoss green in the RO32. MilkiCow lost 0-2 vs French protoss PtitDrogo, while German terran BattleB beat his countryman ForJumy 2-1 in the TvP to meet Neeb in the RO16 and lose there 0-2. Spirit got a bye victory versus Korean player StephenCurry but lost in the subsequent TvP versus SKillous by a 0-2 score. While one would have assumed that MaxPax would be very comfortable in a PvP-heavy bracket, he was the victim of a surprise upset as PtitDrogo took him down 2-1. Drogo himself seemed amused by the victory, tweeting about the eight-match losing streak he had vs MaxPax prior to the bout. Unfortunately for PtitDrogo, he couldn't get past SKillous in the quarterfinals, ultimately losing 0-2 in that round. SKillous was having a good week in general, and he beat Harstem (who notably won versus Neeb 2-0 the round before) by a 2-0 score to face HeroMarine in the grand finals. Indeed, Mr. Monday Night was back with vengeance after a very successful top four run at IEM Katowice. After taking down DisK in the quarters, HeroMarine defeated his frequent cup rival Clem 2-1 to reach the grand finals.
The finals between SKillous and HeroMarine was fiercely contested, as both players ended up tied 2-2 after trading maps back and forth. Ultimately, HeroMarine experience in these bo5 finals helped him seize the opportunity to win the last map Glittering Ashes to win his first cup of the off-season. This 3-2 victory in the finals propelled him to 41 total gold medals, slightly behind #1 Zest who has 44 victories currently.
Upset(s) of the day: PtitDrogo beating MaxPax 2-1 was a huge upset for me, and Aligulac seems to agree. The stats website gave MaxPax around a 86% chance to win in a BO3, making it a rather valuable victory for the Frenchman. Other than that, another nice upset that went a little unnoticed was Korean Zerg player threepoint beating SpeCial 2-1.
*****
NA Cup: The NA Cup was once again quite stacked, with high-level players participating from around the world. Astrea, Creator, DisK, Gerald, MaxPax, Nina and trigger represented Protoss among others; Clem and SpeCial were the most notable Terran players; Zerg had Rattata, veteran Golden and even Dark participating.
This wide variety of international players made for interesting matches throughout the tournament. US Protoss PattyMac—who has been one of the pleasant surprises of the off-season cups—shook things up as early as RO32 with a 2-1 victory over DisK. Perhaps in a preview of the coming Nation Wars tournament, Canadian Protoss trigger was able to take revenge for his countryman with a victory over PattyMac in the next round. Unfortunately for trigger, Danish Protoss MaxPax proved too strong of an opponent and defeated him 2-0 in the following round. Creator had a relatively easy run up until quarters where he met SpeCial whom he still beat 2-1 in the PvT, but his semifinals versus MaxPax did not go as well. Indeed, Creator took the lead 1-0 over MaxPax, but could not close it out with the Danish protoss winning the next two maps to win the series 2-1 and qualify for the finals in the top side of the bracket.
The bottom side of the bracket didn't miss out in terms of upsets. Dark started off strong as expected, getting convincing 2-0 victories over both Astrea and Clem, but could not defeat Gerald (who notably beat Golden and Rattata both 2-0 in the PvZ beforehands). The Polish Protoss's impressive 2-0 sweep over Dark earned him a shot at the cup title, as he moved on to face MaxPax in the finals.
Alas, the PvP master MaxPax was definitely too strong on that day, with only Creator managing to take a map off of him in the whole event. MaxPax promptly swept Gerald 3-0 in the finals, which actually makes the PtitDrogo upset in the EU cup even more impressive in hindsight. Amazingly, the victory was MaxPax's fifth in the last four weeks, as he had won Cups #111 and #112 in EU, and Cups #110, #111 and #113 in NA.
Upset(s) of the day: The most glaring upset was Gerald with the 2-0 victory over Dark, as the Protoss was the underdog with only around 16% chances of beating Dark in the BO3. This is a very impressive performance especially considering Dark has been very strong and consistent in his rare cup appearance. Also, while it won't draw as much attention, kudos to PattyMac for defeating DisK.
by Poopi
