EPT
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/weeklies/comcups734.jpg)
Weekly Cup Competitions
Week of December 29 - January 4
by Wax
New Year's week saw a couple of the regular cups go on break, but there were plenty of other competitions to fill dates on the competitive calendar (alongside the usual array of showmatches). Notably, uThermal's 2v2 tour made its return for the 2026 season, bringing team competition to competitive scene once again.
*Partial brackets may be shown.
December 29: WardiTV Mondays #67
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/weeklies/wardimon067.png)
Top Zergs and MaxPax were out for WardiTV Monday, but there was still solid competition at the top with herO, Clem, and Classic in contention.
Classic continued to show that his late 2025 slump was but a blip, taking out both of the top cup containers to come out the victor. Yet again, Clem showed no Protoss has an answer to his late-game Terran once it's fully set, but his 1-2 loss to Classic in the semis also demonstrated that he remains fallible in mid-game combat. The finals between herO and Classic was an offense-heavy affair typical of the current PvP meta, with Classic navigating its perils to earn a 3-1 victory (VOD).
*****
September 10 - December 30: OSC 2021 Mid-Season Playoffs #2
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/weeklies/oscmid25_2.png)
Another one of OSC's unorthodox tournaments—a massive double-elimination bracket played in small installations over months—concluded at the end of December, ByuN, Spirit, MaxPax, and Solar left standing as the final contenders.
Ultimately, the championship came down to two contests between MaxPax and Solar, as the two took each other on in both the winners finals and grand finals. The two series followed the usual Solar ZvP pattern, where he tried to keep his opponent guessing between Hydra-Bane waves in the mid-game, Ravager-Queen all-ins early on, surprise Mutalisks, and the many other strategies in his playbook. While Solar managed to get one over on MaxPax in the winners' final with a 3-1 victory, MaxPax overcame the one-map losers' bracket disadvantage to win 4-3 in the grand finals (VOD (final day)).
*****
January 3: Korean StarCraft League #84
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/weeklies/KSL84.png)
KSL saw herO benefit from a bracket where he was the heavy favorite, as he went through Nice, GuMiho, and Creator to take first place. A quirk of the finals was Creator's preference for a a more defensive style than most in the current PvP meta, but he paid the price with a 1-3 loss against a typically aggressive herO (VOD).
*****
January 1-4: Platinum StarCraft 2 League - 2025 Season Finals
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/weeklies/PSL2025.png)
Another long-running event wrapped up in the Platinum StarCraft 2 League season finals, concluding a series of events run throughout 2025. Creator ended up playing the role of veteran gatekeeper against a number of outmatched aspirants, winning the season finals with victories against Krystianer, Shameless, Nicoract, Percival, and Gerald ([b]VOD (paywall).
*****
January 4: uThermal 2v2 Circuit - January 2026
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/weeklies/thermy2v2_2026jan.png)
uThermal's 2v2 tour kicked off its 2026 season with the January monthly, adding some variety to the 1v1-centric competitive scene.
The story of the 2025 tour was initial T/P dominance giving way to a more diverse scene with many viable race combinations, and that trend continued in the January cup. In the end, the T/Z duo of ByuN-Solar came out on top, taking down SKillous-Elazer in the finals VOD). This happened to be one interesting divergence from the 2025 tour, where Korean players seemed largely disinterested in team events. It will be interesting to see if more Korean players branch out to 2v2 competition (as they have been in SC:Evo competitions), or if it was just ByuN and Solar who saw an opportunity.
