EPT
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/weeklies/comcups734.jpg)
Weekly Cup Competitions
Week of October 13 - 19
by Wax
The first couple of weeks of 5.0.15 saw Protoss dominate the online weekly cups, but Clem showed he couldn't be suppressed for long as he scored a weekly quadruple for Terran (okay, he did play PvT in a few key series). While it's hard to make any sweeping statements about PvT balance from just a few weeks of play, even partisan fans should be able to agree that there's an increased variety in builds that's making the match-up more interesting than before.
*Partial brackets may be shown.
October 13: WardiTV Mondays #55
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/weeklies/wardimon055.png)
MaxPax took the first win of the week in WardiTV Mondays, narrowly defeating long-time rival Clem by a 3-2 scoreline in the finals (VOD). The first four games hinged on early-game aggression, and the two frequent foes ended up splitting the games 2-2. MaxPax then closed the series out on the macro-favoring Maganatha, overpowering Clem with a Colossus and High Templar backed force.
*****
October 13: Monday Night Weeklies #26
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/weeklies/mnw26.png)
Clem finally got some revenge on the Protosses who had tormented him in the last few weeks, defeating both herO and MaxPax on the way to the Monday Night Weeklies title. Interestingly enough, Clem's TvP looked stronger as the games went longer—a trend that might be worth keeping an eye on going forward. Not only did Clem continue to play strong late-game TvP in subsequent cups, but players like ByuN have also been showing strong late-game play as well (VOD).
*****
October 14: PiGosaur Cup #53
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/weeklies/pig053.png)
Clem then made it a weekly double in the PiGosaur Cup, where he actually got to play his favorite match-up of TvZ in the finals for once. Solar played excellent StarCraft II to reach the final match, including an entertaining 3-2 win over ByuN in the semis (the two macro-favoring T/Z players always seem to deliver great games in cup play). However, the finals was a letdown compared to ByuN-Solar, as it centered largely around early-game attacks and cheeses (VOD). One amusing point of interest was that Clem actually won a game with a Hellbat timing, which may unfortunately convince him that he should play the strategy in bigger tournaments as well (a pet peeve for Clem fans everywhere).
*****
October 14-15: LiuLi Cup #46
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/weeklies/liuli46.png)
The week saw 'normal' LiuLi Cup competition return, not to be confused with the organizer's recent run of LiuLi Cup Weekly tournaments. In any case, it was high-level StarCraft II all the same, and it ended with Clem running through a TvP gauntlet of Classic, herO, and Creator to take the title and secure his weekly triple (VOD (Day 2)).
*****
October 17: WardiTV Mondays* #56
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/weeklies/wardimon056.png)
We also got a bonus edition of WardiTV Mondays on the week, which made it TWO cups that have "Monday" in their full name (the other being PiGosaur Mondays) that were played on a non-Monday. Let this be a lesson to everyone: Don't name your tournament after a day (I'm eagerly awaiting a week when MNW, WardiTV Monday, and PiGosaur Monday are all played on a non-Monday).
Clem came through with his fourth win of the week, taking down both Classic and herO before finishing off ByuN with his own Protoss in the finals (VOD).
*****
October 18-19: SC2's Safe House #2
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/weeklies/sc2safehouse2.png)
Finally, we wrapped up the week with some all-NA action in SC2's Safe House #2. As it turned out, the balance of power hadn't shifted all that much since the EWC NA qualifier, with Astrea and Trigger surviving to reach the finals (SpeCial did give a notable 'comeback' performance by winning the group stage). The EWC NA qualifier had ended with Trigger defeating Astrea by a narrow one map margin, and this time Astrea repaid the favor by taking a 5-4 win for himself (VOD).
