Weekly Cups (Sep 7-12): SHIN, ByuN, MaxPax double down

Weekly Cup Competitions Week of September 7 - 12

by Wax

BlizzCon week gave us the rare 'triple-double' due the large number of cups, with MaxPax taking a brace of wins in Patches' Versus Mod cups, while SHIN and ByuN doubled up in live-version competitions.

*Partial brackets may be shown.

September 7: WardiTV Mondays #103

We got things started with WardiTV Mondays, where SHIN put Zerg back on top with a first place run where he took down YoungYakov, Shameless, Rogue, and herO (VOD).

The first two games of SHIN's 3-1 finals victory against herO must have been bad for the mental health of Protoss players everywhere, with herO's attempts at ground-based play getting stuffed by massive swarms of mid-game Zerg units. However, herO managed to give his faction a temporary morale boost in game three, winning a chaotic game where mass Void Rays formed the core of his army. Unfortunately, herO didn't have another scrappy win in him, as a failed Glaive-Adept timing led to defeat in game four.

*****

September 7: Monday Night Weeklies #62

Played under Patches' Versus Mod

We switched over to modded StarCraft II action in Monday Night Weeklies, which saw Protoss have a field day thanks to weak participation from the other factions (VOD). Funnily enough, the all-Protoss final three gave us only a single PvP match, as both herO continued his dalliances with playing Random in cup events.

herO actually made it work in the losers' final against Shameless, taking a 2-0 with late-game Zerg and a 2-base timing as Terran. However, his Random fell short against MaxPax in the finals, with both his proxy-everything all-in as Terran and Speedling tactics as Zerg failing miserably.

*****

September 8: PiGosaur Cup #98

Played under Patches' Versus Mod

PiGosaur Cup gave us the second Patches Mod competition of the week, which saw another Protoss prevail as herO took top honors. herO had gotten the Random bug out of his system by Tuesday, which may have left ByuN feeling aggrieved as he took the full brunt of herO's Protoss wrath in an 0-3 finals loss. VOD).

The finals was notable for a partially mod-specific strategy in game one, with ByuN taking advantage of the Raven's new Repair Drone to go for mech. While ByuN did succeed at getting into a decent mid/late-game position, he ultimately GG'd out after failing to achieve the right anti-air/anti-ground balance against herO's Carriers + Gateway units.

*****

September 9: 2026 Kung Fu Cup Weekly #22

The Kung Fu Cup saw Zerg keep its roll going in live-version StarCraft II, with Solar giving the swarm its second cup win of his week alongside its third consecutive win in the Chinese competition (VOD).

Just as in WardiTV Mondays, herO was the Protoss victim in the finals, again falling by a 1-3 score. The series started on a more promising note for herO than his earlier duel with SHIN, with standard ground play actually working out for him. A Mothership-supported army smashed Solar's units that ventured into an unwise engagement, with herO even getting a chance to use one of his you-really-didn't-have-to-do-that forward Blinks.

However, that was the best effort herO could muster, as Solar easily took the next three games of the series. Hydra-Bane waves battered herO down in game two, while an early Queen-Ravager-Roach-Ling timing pierced herO's defenses in game three. The series concluded in somewhat bizarre fashion, with herO attempting a half-hearted Cannon-rush before pivoting into an expansion—Solar responded with a classic Day9 "just f***ing kill them."

*****

September 11: Rotti's Patches Open #3

Played under Patches' Versus Mod

RotterdaM hosted another cup under the Patches' mod, which gave MaxPax the chance he needed to score a modded double on the week (VOD (Polish)).

ByuN did take an impressive 2-1 win over MaxPax in the winners' final, but was unable to protect his upper bracket advantage as he gave up a sweep in the finals (1-3 score including ByuN's 1 map advantage). Right now, the Colossus-centric PvT style of top Protosses is looking very hard to beat in Patches' mod, and it will be interesting to see how Clem fares when he returns.

*****

September 11 IntoTheTV X SOOP SC2 Weekly #4

ByuN and Cure teamed up to give Terran a cup win, taking out top contenders herO and Solar before meeting for a rare TvT finals VOD).

Cup clashes between these two Terrans have produced some of the more 'dishonorable' matches in SC2, with both players very eager to proxy-Barracks each other (perhaps the Dominion general studied their matches). Surprisingly, Cure was the only one with such a cheesy inclination in this particular series, and his deviousness was rewarded as his proxy-Reaper builds scored him two game wins. However, he probably regrets not being even cheesier, as ByuN won the other three games. One victory came through prevailing in the typical mid-game fight between Marine-Tank-Raven armies, and the other two came in basetrades where ByuN was just faster on the trigger.

*****

September 13: Sparking Tuna Cup #146

The week's regularly held cups concluded with SHIN taking home another victory for Zerg… …kinda? With cup attendance down over BlizzCon weekend, a finals clash between herO and SHIN was basically preordained due to the relatively weak field. When the two players did meet, they decided to have a little fun and play a full Random vs Random match. However, SHIN somehow drew Zerg in all three of the games, while herO was far unluckier with a Zerg-Protoss-Zerg draw.

It should be noted that herO did all-in his way to a map win against SHIN as random Zerg in a previous cup, but he had no such luck this time around and suffered a 0-3 defeat (VOD).

*****

September 12-13: WardiTV BlizzCon Build Up Cup

For those let down by the Starcraft shooter announcement or the one-sided nature of the Serral vs Rogue and IdrA vs MC matches at BlizzCon, Wardi came to the rescue with an 8-player cup. ByuN made sure Classic's 5.0.16 struggles continued, taking a 4-2 win in the finals (VOD (Day 2)).

Weekly Cups (Sep 7-12): SHIN, ByuN, MaxPax double down

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