On the face of it, Week #166's results were rather mundane: Dark took top honors in Korea, MaxPax triumphed in Europe, while ByuN was the champion in America. However, the process of getting there was anything but normal.
In Korea, Jieshi pulled off a pair of huge upsets by eliminating both herO and Classic—the players who had been the finalists in the last three cups. However, Jieshi couldn't capitalize any further as he was knocked out by GuMiho in the semis, and the Towel Terran was in turn defeated by Dark in the finals.
In Europe, Reynor was the player at the center of the storm, making it all the way to the finals by playing Random. While Reynor's off-race prowess with Protoss is well-known, his previous random runs had been torpedoed by his comparatively weaker Terran play. However, in week #166 he got over the hump by beating SKillous in a key TvP match (he cheesed him down with proxy Marauder-Mine) during the RO8, after which he defeated HeroMarine with a Z-P combo in the RO4. Unfortunately for Reynor, drawing T-P-P against MaxPax doomed him in the finals as he lost in a 0-3 sweep.
The Americas server cup saw things settle down with largely predictable results across the board. The main upset of note was Wayne (previously known as Rattata and Vanya) taking a 2-0 over GuMiho in the RO8, but the newly renamed Zerg was summarily taken out by ByuN in the semis. ByuN and Cure ended up clashing in the grand finals, and fittingly for a clash between two cup powerhouses, ByuN only won after a narrow 3-2 series.
Finally, Week #166 also marked the end of herO's ESL Open hot streak, where he failed to win a single cup after five cups in the last three weeks.
Congrats to Dark, MaxPax and ByuN for winning this week's ESL Open Cups. Those cheeses Reynor did when he rolled Protoss vs. MaxPax were amusing and comedic.
On March 23 2023 21:35 MJG wrote: Random shouldn't be allowed in tournaments. Complete farce.
exactly. or at least u should have to tell race. cant even do vetos or any openings correctly cuz of this. not that impressive.
Is it problematic to the point it would disrupt Premier/Major events, is the end problem there. Open cups are not a true depiction of what it could potentially cause.
I have yet to see other active players strong enough to attempt a true random.
I don't think true random is a problem at all. There's a reason no one has ever been particularly successful with it. Race picking within a single series is very problematic but thankfully seems to not be the route he's trying to go anymore.
On March 23 2023 21:35 MJG wrote: Random shouldn't be allowed in tournaments. Complete farce.
exactly. or at least u should have to tell race. cant even do vetos or any openings correctly cuz of this. not that impressive.
I think it's impressive, but it is potentially problematic, maybe depending on maps it could be more of an issue. I'd be ok with tournaments requiring race-telling for random.
I think race picking for individual maps is the real problem but currently nobody is doing that
On March 23 2023 21:35 MJG wrote: Random shouldn't be allowed in tournaments. Complete farce.
exactly. or at least u should have to tell race. cant even do vetos or any openings correctly cuz of this. not that impressive.
I think it's impressive, but it is potentially problematic, maybe depending on maps it could be more of an issue. I'd be ok with tournaments requiring race-telling for random.
I think race picking for individual maps is the real problem but currently nobody is doing that
Yeah, that's been my only objection to Reynor off-racing in the past, where he'd pick between series or even maps. Playing random start to end may be a little cheesy, but I don't think it's an actual problem.
On March 24 2023 02:37 JJH777 wrote: I don't think true random is a problem at all. There's a reason no one has ever been particularly successful with it. Race picking within a single series is very problematic but thankfully seems to not be the route he's trying to go anymore.
Agreed, there's no problem at all with random. If playing random would be an advantage we would have multiple random players but it's a huge disadvantage having to learn all 9 matchups
Why do people having problem with Reynor playing random? It's not like he gains any advantage for that. There's a reason 99% of pro players doesn't play random because it's just harder to master all 9 match ups.
On March 26 2023 08:17 Amoyu7 wrote: Why do people having problem with Reynor playing random? It's not like he gains any advantage for that. There's a reason 99% of pro players doesn't play random because it's just harder to master all 9 match ups.
I dont have a problem with Reynor playing random in general, but he hasnt dominated SC2 like Flash did in BW yet to switch to Random imo. If Reynor was winning this last IEM and being a God in all the tournament he plays, then sure he should switch to off-race or random to spice it up. But Reynor hasnt done very well even with Zerg, so why he want to switch to other races, is it just for publicity?
And I also have a more of a problem when Reynor doing off-racing and random, lost the game, and his fanbase are making excuse for it, like he only lost because he was off-racing or doing random. I am sure Reynor doing his best whether what race he does, so he does not need any excuse.
On March 26 2023 17:45 tigera6 wrote: I dont have a problem with Reynor playing random in general, but he hasnt dominated SC2 like Flash did in BW yet to switch to Random imo. If Reynor was winning this last IEM and being a God in all the tournament he plays, then sure he should switch to off-race or random to spice it up. But Reynor hasnt done very well even with Zerg, so why he want to switch to other races, is it just for publicity?
And I also have a more of a problem when Reynor doing off-racing and random, lost the game, and his fanbase are making excuse for it, like he only lost because he was off-racing or doing random. I am sure Reynor doing his best whether what race he does, so he does not need any excuse.
Is he not allowed to play random because he wants to?
On March 26 2023 17:45 tigera6 wrote: I dont have a problem with Reynor playing random in general, but he hasnt dominated SC2 like Flash did in BW yet to switch to Random imo. If Reynor was winning this last IEM and being a God in all the tournament he plays, then sure he should switch to off-race or random to spice it up. But Reynor hasnt done very well even with Zerg, so why he want to switch to other races, is it just for publicity?
And I also have a more of a problem when Reynor doing off-racing and random, lost the game, and his fanbase are making excuse for it, like he only lost because he was off-racing or doing random. I am sure Reynor doing his best whether what race he does, so he does not need any excuse.
Is he not allowed to play random because he wants to?
Did I ever say he is allowed or not to do certain things? I am simply speaking my view and how I feel about the matter. If Serral was deciding to play Random suddenly, or Maru want to off-race Protoss tomorrow, I would say the same thing.
On March 23 2023 21:35 MJG wrote: Random shouldn't be allowed in tournaments. Complete farce.
I hope this isn't serious. It is so very entertaining to watch a progamer play random. They get dicked on hard when they don't hit their main race, and if they don't then congrats on them. They played their offrace so well it took down a player who only focuses on one. That's impressive as hell. If you think random is an advantage then you haven't played it.
On March 23 2023 21:35 MJG wrote: Random shouldn't be allowed in tournaments. Complete farce.
I hope this isn't serious. It is so very entertaining to watch a progamer play random. They get dicked on hard when they don't hit their main race, and if they don't then congrats on them. They played their offrace so well it took down a player who only focuses on one. That's impressive as hell. If you think random is an advantage then you haven't played it.
For me that some players like Voltz are making this a worse thing that it really is is the funnier part of the non-controversy. If it was THAT problematic then ESL would have already ruled about it.
On March 23 2023 21:35 MJG wrote: Random shouldn't be allowed in tournaments. Complete farce.
I hope this isn't serious. It is so very entertaining to watch a progamer play random. They get dicked on hard when they don't hit their main race, and if they don't then congrats on them. They played their offrace so well it took down a player who only focuses on one. That's impressive as hell. If you think random is an advantage then you haven't played it.
For me that some players like Voltz are making this a worse thing that it really is is the funnier part of the non-controversy. If it was THAT problematic then ESL would have already ruled about it.
On March 23 2023 21:35 MJG wrote: Random shouldn't be allowed in tournaments. Complete farce.
I hope this isn't serious. It is so very entertaining to watch a progamer play random. They get dicked on hard when they don't hit their main race, and if they don't then congrats on them. They played their offrace so well it took down a player who only focuses on one. That's impressive as hell. If you think random is an advantage then you haven't played it.
Tell me where Protoss is supposed to put their first Pylon against Random and I'll tell you why you're wrong. If you think Random is fair then you haven't played against it as Protoss.
EDIT:
Random players choose to put themselves at the supposed disadvantage of learning 9 matchups. Their opponents shouldn't be punished for it.
EPT
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Dark took top honors in Korea, ![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/EPT/OpenCup/week166KR.png)
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/EPT/OpenCup/week166EU.png)
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/EPT/OpenCup/week166NA.png)
