Protoss continued to dominate off-season competitions in Clem's absence, with herO winning a triple and MaxPax winning a single cup in the week of August 18-24. Don't worry, Clem will probably be back to playing cups when he returns for September's Maestros of the Game, but until then, look forward to a lot more Protoss victories.
MaxPax had lorded over the few weeks of cups thanks to his revamped PvP, but herO struck back in WardiTV Mondays by eliminating the mysterious Dane in the RO4 on the back of superior Stalker tactics. herO then ended up facing a somewhat unexpected opponent in the finals—the recently un-retired NightMare. The StreamerZone Protoss had upset Cure 2-1 to reach the finals, including a tactically clever win against Cure's mech that exploited the comp's immobility.
The finals was relatively un-cheesy for a PvP of recent vintage, featuring lots of Blink-Stalker use and combat between mid-game armies. NightMare's impressive play continued in the finals, but it wasn't' quite enough to prevent with herO from narrowly taking a 3-2 victory (VOD).
herO had an easier time getting his second cup win of the week, taking down ByuN 3-1 in the finals of the PiGosaur cup. After herO took game one in a typically strong macro performance, ByuN switched to cheesy tactics in next two games and managed to earn a 1-1 split (winning with a Tank push but falling short with proxy-Marauders). The two reverted to more standard play in game four, leading to herO winning handily once more (VOD).
After losing to herO in the semis of WardiTV Mondays, MaxPax got his thunder back in the LiuLi Cup Weekly by defeating his Protoss rival 3-2 in the finals. The first two games were a retrenchment from the cheesiness we've seen in the last few months of PvP, and MaxPax took a 2-0 lead in normal-ish games. However, the two players went back to more aggressive tactics for the remaining three games, and despite a comeback scare from herO, MaxPax survived to win 3-2 in the end (VOD).
herO finished his week in cup play by earning a triple at the expense of Cure in the KSL. Game one of the finals was notable for Cure's use of mech, but we didn't get to really see the theory behind it as Cure was swarmed by mass Chargelot-Phoenix after failing to apply significant mid-game pressure. Cure reverted back to bio play afterward, but herO applied his usual PvT beatdowns to finish the 3-0 sweep (VOD).