• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 19:42
CET 01:42
KST 09:42
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
The Road to Katowice - 2022/23 Retrospective21Disasterpiece Theater: Soulkey vs sOs (2013-05-21)11WTL 2022 Winter - Regular Season Awards + Wrap-up24WTL Winter - The 2v2 Tour25WTL 2022 Winter - Regular Season Finale7
Community News
Rex leaves ONSYDE, Ryung joins4[BSL16] - RO16 Group Stage11ESL Open Cup #159: herO, Spirit, Dark win5WardiTV 2023 Opens (Monthly)1IEM Katowice 2023 - Hosts & Commentators33
StarCraft 2
General
IEM Katowice 2023 - Hosts & Commentators 5.0.11 Patch Released - Balance Changes Rex leaves ONSYDE, Ryung joins Which region will win IEM Katowice 2023? The Road to Katowice - 2022/23 Retrospective
Tourneys
NorCal StarFest I [Alpha Pro Series] MaxPax vs ByuN WardiTV 2023 Opens (Monthly) $5000 #PassionCraft Knockout TournyCraft free tourny management web app
Strategy
Custom Maps
[A] (Minigames) Raynor Party [A] [TPS RPG] Transformers: Open World (WIP) Work In Progress Melee Maps
External Content
Mutation # 354 Media Blackout Mutation # 353 Hostile Territory Mutation # 352 Railroad Switch Mutation # 351 Assembly of Vengeance
Brood War
General
BGH auto balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Address of live broadcast room for Chinese players SC Gathering 2023 Stockholm 13-14th may! BW General Discussion [ASL15] Afreeca Starleague To Start On Feb 14
Tourneys
[BSL16] - RO16 Group A - Saturday 18:00 CET [Megathread] Daily Proleagues Sanpao StarLeague Spring Cup S4 : Korea New Worlds Map Contest III: All Submissions (VOTE HERE)
Strategy
Marine rate of fire Simple Questions, Simple Answers Valkyrie dmg formula? 2v2 Spell Combos
Other Games
General Games
Destiny 2 - PC/Xbox/PS4 Frost Giant announce Stormgate World of Warcraft Classic Fire Emblem Path of Exile
Dota 2
[DPC 23] Tour 1 Discussion Official Dota and Chess General Discussion
League of Legends
[Spring 2023] LoL E-sports General Discussion LiquidLegends to reintegrate into TL.net [Patch Notes] Release General Discussion
Heroes of the Storm
HotS: WP and Funny Moments
Hearthstone
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Plays: Diplomacy TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Coronavirus and You US Politics Mega-thread YouTube Thread UK Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The Flash Fan Club The GoOdy Fan Club The TY Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [TV] HBO The Last Of Us series Korean Music Discussion [Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion!
Sports
2022 - 2023 Football Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2022 2021 NFL/CFB Season NBA General Discussion
World Cup 2022
FIFA World Cup 2022 - Knockout Stage FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Thread
Tech Support
Red text blurry and funky blue on black text Which Gaming Laptop Should I Buy? Simple Questions Simple Answers
TL Community
Ask TL Staff Anything Happy Birthday R1CH! Is there a SQSA thread for this site?
Blogs
Hosting/casting tournies for t…
Trozz
It's that time of year YET A…
Umpteen
I'm still around doodling and…
Glider
Someone Crashed my Plane …
micronesia
A spiritual journey th…
mewithoutDrew
The Kitty Arcade Saga
MrBitter
My Goals for 2023
DeNikSSB
State of StarCraft II
Jealous
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1141 users

ESL Open Week #152: TIME, Clem, Future win

Forum Index > SC2 General
0 CommentsPost a Reply
TL.net ESPORTS
Profile Joined July 2011
4 Posts
December 10 2022 13:02 GMT
#1
[image loading]
2022-23 ESL Pro Tour - Open Cups: Week #152 (December 4-5)


by: Steadfast

Terrans swept week #152 of the ESL Open Cups, but it wasn't just the usual suspects who claimed glory for their faction. While Europe was taken by cup stalwart (Wiki)Clem, (Wiki)TIME was the player who conquered the Korean server while (Wiki)Future was the surprise winner of the American cup.

Another Terran who enjoyed some success was (Wiki)Kelazhur on Liquipedia" target="_blank" href="https://liquipedia.net/starcraft2/Kelazhur">(Wiki)(Wiki)Kelazhur, as he finished top four in both NA and EU to inch closer to Cham in the EPT Latin America standings. With only the top two players from Latin America qualifying for IEM Katowice, and ESL announcing that Week #153 will be the last cup cycle to award EPT points, it was all the more important for Kelazhur to pick up as many points as possible.

Korean Cup

[image loading]


The ESL Open Cup Korea kicked off the week with a strong line-up; Dark, ByuN, GuMiho, Solar, Classic, Creator, TIME, and several other strong contenders all signed up. The week was filled with upsets such as Chance showing his quality in a win against GuMiho, and NightMare continuing his upward trend with a nice 2-0 takedown of Classic.

But the real star of the cup was TIME. The KaiZi Terran went on a brilliant run, taking down Dark in a close 2-1 series and Creator in an extremely hard-fought semi-final. On the other side of the bracket, Solar displayed some dominant play in ZvT and ZvP alike. He didn't drop a single map as he went up versus Firefly (who has been looking strong in various competitions as of late), ByuN (who seems to dominate these weeklies), and herO (who is in a class of his own).

This set up the grand finals between Solar and TIME (VOD). Game 1 of the TvZ finals kicked off on Tropical Sacrifice with a mech opener from TIME, which he cleverly disguised by faking a floated Factory to attempt to trick Solar into thinking it was standard bio. Despite the bamboozle, Solar seemed unfazed and was able to consistently find ling runbys and inflict worker damage on the Chinese Terran player. Quick Mutalisks furthered Solar’s lead as he found even more worker kills. Despite suffering over 40 worker losses before the 10 minute mark, TIME was able to use the map to stabilize and secure his four bases.

Solar tried to continue his aggression but found that trying to break an entrenched mech Terran can be very tricky. TIME managed to take some good trades on defense, which set up his first big push to try and retaliate. Unfortunately for TIME, Solar was waiting for this and counter-attacked to cripple TIME’s economy with ling-bane runbys, killing several unlifted Orbital Commands. Still, as TIME’s main army of 3/3-upgraded Thor-Tank-Hellbat remained very strong, he knocked out three of Solar’s bases before constant Zerg reinforcements whittled the force down.

This left the game in a surprisingly even position with Solar having a much more mobile army, while TIME had the stronger army in a straight up fight. Eventually, Solar caught the remaining mech army without any Hellbats left, which allowed Solar to get a decent clean-up with Zerglings, Ravagers, and Vipers. Towards the end, Solar’s Corrosive Bile and Blinding Cloud usage let him whittle down the Terran army, giving him the 1-0 lead.

Game 2 on Waterfall started with TIME opening with 3-CC and Banshees, but he was unable to get anything done with an attempted Hellion runby. Solar deflected TIME's light harassment and got into Hive-tech relatively unscathed.

This relatively passive build-up worked in TIME's favor, as he demonstrated some of the best positional late-game TvZ I’ve ever seen from someone not named Maru. TIME set up an impregnable defense, which Solar flung waves of Hydra-Ling-Bane-Viper at to no avail. TIME simply left no openings to exploit, and after 15 minutes of cost inefficient break attempts, Solar tapped out.

Game 3 took us to Data-C where TIME went back to mech, this time with a 3-CC Battlecruiser opener. Solar took minimal damage and went into the mid-game with a small lead. However, TIME once again showed his prowess at strong positional play, setting up his 4 bases with relative ease. Solar gobbled up the map in order to try and crush his opponent in true swarm style, but TIME’s defense proved to be solid once more.

Solar transitioned into a late-game composition this time, going for Brood Lords, Infestors, Vipers, Corruptors, and Spore Colonies on the ground. However, this didn't help Solar make any headway toward breaking the Terran defenses, and TIME eventually took his 5th, 6th, and 7th bases. As Solar's army roamed around the map, looking for an opening to take a good engagement, the unthinkable happened once more: Solar’s Brood Lord army got nuked for the 3rd time in a professional match (Twitch clip). This nuke wasn’t as devastating as the two nukes that hit him previously on Romanticide, but it still evaporated a significant portion of his force. By this point, the resources lost differential was getting out of hand and TIME’s bank was gigantic, forcing Solar to eventually concede the match after several more Terran-favored engagements.

Game 4 found TIME once again opening BC-mech on Inside and Out, but for the first time in the series it felt like Solar had a handle on it right from the get-go. Solar was able to hit a strong Roach, Ravager, and Corruptor timing—the classic weakness of that style of mech—and find himself a significant lead. TIME was never able to stabilize and secure four bases as in the previous games, which allowed Solar to knock him out with Brood Lords and force a fifth game.

As game 5 started on Stargazers it seemed as if Solar was done with the series. He opened with a Roach Ravager Nydus all-in, perhaps expecting another greedy 3-CC mech opener on a turtle-friendly map. However, TIME actually opened with a Liberator into bio. He found the scouting Overseer and prevented a Nydus Worm from going up in his main base, forcing Solar to try a less threatening push from the front. With a clutch repair and Liberator unsiege to dodge Corrosive Biles, TIME was able to hold the line on defense. The failed attack was a massive economic commitment from Solar, which left him with no choice but to GG out to TIME's first bio-tank push.

*****

European Cup (partial bracket shown)

[image loading]


The European Cup featured many of the top regional players as always, including Clem, MaxPax, HeroMarine, SKillous, the Shopify brothers Harstem and Lambo, as well as many others. Unfortunately for Shopify, Harstem and Lambo faced off in the round of 8 with Lambo winning the tussle 2-0. Kelazhur took down HeroMarine in the round of 8 with a 2-1 win—a big result for the Liquid Terran—before he was knocked out by Lambo 2-0. MaxPax looked untouchable until he ran into Clem in the RO4, where the young Frenchman took an exciting 2-1 win.

This set up a clash in the Grand Finals between Lambo and Clem (VOD). Game 1 started off on Waterfall with a relatively uneventful early game. Both players found small amounts of damage that mostly canceled each other out. Lambo took a nice macro lead going into the mid-game and managed to get 15 workers with a Ling-Bane runby. However it wasn't as cost effective as it needed to be, and Clem seized the opportunity to grind Lambo into submission through continued trading with his bio-mine forces.

Moving on to game 2 on Tropical Sacrifice, Clem opened up gas-first in order to pop out earlier Hellions than normal. After finding 7 Drone kills early on, Clem went into the mid-game with a nice advantage and followed up with a standard bio tank push. Clem microed to perfection and was able to snowball to another victory.

Game 3 on Moondance saw Clem once again open with gas-first and quick Hellions, and once again he found early-game success by nabbing 9 Drones. Lambo tried to go into 1/1-upgraded Roach-Ravager-Nydus to catch Clem off-guard, but the Liquid ace figured out the strategy and shut it down. Lambo tried to transition into Ravager-Ling-Bane, but Clem’s bio-tank attack hit before the critical Baneling speed upgrade could complete and Clem took the game and the series, 3-0.

*****

American Cup (partial bracket shown)

[image loading]


This brings us to the Americas Cup where the absence of some of the strongest regulars such as MaxPax and ByuN left the doors wide open for a winner from the home region (the most notable 'outsider' was Creator). And by god, did Future ever stand up and answer the call. Midway through the bracket, he was able to take down his fellow American Terran Epic 2-0 in a very fun and somewhat wonky series. Next, he outfought and out-microed Creator in an extremely impressive 2-0. In the semi-finals he was able to once again flex his strong TvT, taking out the Brazilian Terran Kelazhur. On the other side of the bracket, the two PSISTORM teammates SpeCial and Gerald met up in the RO4 with Gerald edging out a close 2-1 win to secure a berth in the Grand Finals.

Game 1 (VOD) of the Grand Finals took place on Moondance where Gerald appeared to be experimenting with a 2-gate expand opening. This seemed to achieve its objective of canceling the Command Center, but Gerald failed to detect Future's counterattack with a 1-base Tank Marine all-in. With no Shield Battery at the natural and far too few units, Gerald was eventually forced to tap out.

Game 2 on Inside and Out saw the same 2-Gate opening come out from Gerald. This time, however, Future opened with a high-ground CC and defended with no problem, and then inflicted significant damage with a Marine-Mine counterdrop which killed 11 Probes (an Armory allowed one of the Mines to detonate twice). Gerald tried to go for a DT drop to even things up, but he was just so far behind that even killing nine SCV's only put him even on workers. As Future moved out with an over 40 army-supply advantage, Gerald warped in more units aggressively to try to force Future into stimming up his natural ramp where a Disruptor was waiting. However, Future read the situation correctly, and calmly advanced forward with his superior army to force the GG.

Game 3 on Stargazers started out with Future opening up with an unorthodox 2-Barracks-before-expand strategy, starting with a Marine and then making two Reapers. This mix-up did not fool Gerald who took no damage and seemed to be in a solid position going into the mid-game off of a proxy Oracle that found several SCV kills. This would all quickly be reversed as Gerald Blinked his Stalkers directly into a 3-rax bio force, losing most of them and erasing his lead. This allowed Future to stim into his opponent's natural and take some good trades vs. Gerald’s army. Gerald desperately tried to tech up into Psi Storm but Future was too far ahead. After constant aggression, Future was able to overwhelm Gerald with superior numbers and secure the 3-0. With this victory, Future secured his second ESL Open Cup victory and joined an exclusive list of players who did so without dropping a single map. Truly, it was a great victory for the Future of Terran.
Facebook Twitter Reddit
TL+ Member
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 16h 18m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
PiGStarcraft562
Nathanias 200
ViBE158
aXVindicta 111
trigger 109
Forgg! 98
kaitlyn37
StarCraft: Brood War
Artosis1334
Aegong 69
Noble 35
Dota 2
Grubby4474
EternaLEnVy975
monkeys_forever239
NeuroSwarm105
ixmike8856
febbydoto19
ROOTCatZ3
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
DGminise25
Super Smash Bros
C9.Mang0269
Other Games
tarik_tv28302
shahzam1833
sgares965
summit1g681
JimRising 529
Liquid`Hasu143
Maynarde130
PainUser7
Stewie2K0
Organizations
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
ESL CS:GO2077
Dota 2
BeyondTheSummit1651
Other Games
gamesdonequick1529
BasetradeTV172
StarCraft 2
Esl_sc2164
ESL.tv164
StarCraft: Brood War
StarcraftVOD4
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 25 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Vindicta 111
• davetesta34
• musti20045 23
• RushiSC 21
• Kozan
• Poblha
• Migwel
• Laughngamez YouTube
• LaughNgamez Trovo
• IndyKCrew
• Gussbus
• aXEnki
• intothetv
• Alpha X_
StarCraft: Brood War
• Diggity16
• Airneanach5
• FirePhoenix2
• sscaitournament2
• BSLYoutube
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• STPLYoutube
Dota 2
• ixmike8856
League of Legends
• Lourlo608
Other Games
• imaqtpie1925
• WagamamaTV266
Upcoming Events
Big Brain Bouts
16h 18m
Demi vs Ashbringer
Kelazhur vs TriGGeR
Clem vs HeRoMaRinE
PSISTORM Gaming Misc
23h 18m
Showmatch
1d 14h
BSL: ProLeague
1d 16h
CSO Cup
1d 16h
ESL Pro Tour
2 days
BSL: ProLeague
2 days
DaveTesta Events
2 days
ESL Pro Tour
3 days
ESL Pro Tour
3 days
[ Show More ]
IEM
5 days
IEM
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

KOR-CHN Invitational League 2: Saber vs Mihu
OSC Championship Season 10
NGS Storm Division S6 Qual. 5
BLAST Premier Spring Groups

Ongoing

BSL Season 16
KCM Ladies Race Survival 2023 Season 1
Individual Golden League
Strength Challenge 30K
Tournament of Honor
Y.H Spring cup
FS Mania
RISS Season 1
Spring Cup Season 4: Korea
Spring Cup 4: Chinese Qualifier
Spring Cup 4: Chinese Qualifier 1
WTL 2022 Winter
NGS Storm Division S6
ESL Challenger League S44 NA
ESL Challenger League S44 EU
ESL Challenger League S44 AP
IEM Katowice 2023

Upcoming

Hongtu Solo League S5: KOR
ASL Season 15
Spring Cup Season 4
Spring Cup Season 4: China
Spring Cup 4: Chinese Qualifier 2
CHN vs KOR Week31
#PassionCraft Knockout
IEM Katowice 2023
BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023
ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023
ESL Pro League Season 17
CCT Central EU Malta Finals
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2023 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.