EPT
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Weekly Cup Competitions Week of September 14 - 20herO was the big winner of the week in both 5.0.16 and Patches' Versus Mod, scoring a combined triple across both versions of StarCraft II. ByuN enjoyed dual-discipline success as well, winning one cup a piece in each version.
*Partial brackets may be shown.
September 14: WardiTV Mondays #103
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Zerg have been the dominant power in the 5.0.16 version of SC2, but WardiTV Mondays showed that Terran can still pack a punch. Three Terrans fought their way into the final four, and ByuN eventually came out on top with a 3-1 victory over Percival in the finals (VOD).
Recent TvT's have a tendency to be decided in a single key moment, whether it's the defensive stand against proxy-Reapers or the first clash between Raven-Tank-Marine armies. However, this particular cup was a return to the glory days of TvT, with both Cure vs ByuN and Percival vs ByuN delivering entertaining, back-and-forth matches.
*****
September 14: Monday Night Weeklies #63
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Played under Patches' Versus Mod
Patches' mod competition got going in Monday Night Weeklies, where it looked an awful lot like 5.0.15 with MaxPax and herO meeting in the finals of a Clem-less bracket VOD).
Interestingly enough, herO continued his recent trend of mixing in Random by rolling the dice in game three of the finals—a somewhat curious decision as he had looked like an even match with MaxPax up to that point. Unfortunately for herO, his proxy-Hatchery tactics as Zerg were more annoying than effective, and it ended up being a one-map gift to his opponent. Still, herO's winners bracket advantage allowed him to survive a wasted game, and he secured a 3-2 finals victory with a proxy-Battery aided all-in in the deciding set.
*****
September 15: PiGosaur Cup #99
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Played under Patches' Versus Mod
With MaxPax sitting PiGosaur Cup out, herO found his second Patches' mod win of the week with a 3-2 win against Cure in the finals VOD).
Cure scrounged out two map wins in opportunistic ways, winning a basetrade following a humorous opening where both players proxied, as well as punishing herO for greedily rushing toward Tachyon-Shield-Blink Stalkers in another game. However, Cure couldn't get his SCV-pull all-in to connect, which made all the difference as herO got the better of Cure in two of the straight-forward macro games.
*****
September 16: 2026 Kung Fu Cup Weekly #23
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Solar took the Kung Fu Cup for the third straight week, taking down a tough slate of opponents that included Cure, Rogue, and herO in the finals (VOD).
herO's Skytoss play has been an invaluable curveball against Solar in 5.0.16, but his mass Void Rays ended up being liability in his 1-3 finals loss. Both of his attempts to go air were thwarted by decisive timings from Solar, who succeeded with both Hydralisk and Corruptor counters. herO's ground-based strategies fared a bit better, as he got his sole map win with a bizarre Stalker + a-few-of-each-Robo-unit army. He also managed to briefly disorient Solar with a mass Stalker basetrade in game four, but herO's lack of high tech units saw him GG out in the end.
*****
September 18: Rotti's Patches Open #4
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Played under Patches' Versus Mod
ByuN claimed the third Patches mod cup of the week, overcoming a losers' bracket disadvantage to defeat MaxPax 3-2 in the finals (VOD (Polish)).
MaxPax has looked nigh invincible in Patches' Mod PvT when allowed to macro up in peace, so ByuN made sure the games included plenty of complications. ByuN's first try at mucking things up didn't work out so well, as his attempted basetrade against MaxPax's Blink-Stalker harassment quickly fell apart and put him down 0-2. However, ByuN hit back promptly with a proxy-Barracks cheese, which won the game outright and gave him a lifeline. Proxy tactics were key in the next game as well, as ByuN opened with proxy-Barracks Reapers for harassment. Although things eventually progressed into a macro game, ByuN's early harassment gave him just enough of a head start to prevail later. Finally, ByuN finished the reverse sweep using textbook multi-prong maneuvers, with his simultaneous drop harass, Cloaked Banshees, and frontal push cracking MaxPax's defenses wide open.
*****
September 17-18: IntoTheTV X SOOP SC2 Monthly Finals
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The IntoTheTV X SOOP series concluded with a two-day final, where the top players from the four previous weekly cups gathered for one last showdown. herO's uber-dominance in online competitions may have faded since the 5.0.16 patch, but he reminded us he's absolutely still one of the best cup players by winning the event VOD (final day)).
It must be noted that herO was aided by the tournament's special ruleset, which has a special provision for PvZ where it's played alternatingly between 5.0.15 and 5.0.16. Still, it wasn't a case of herO only winning matches played on the Protoss-favored 5.0.15 version. Against Solar, he went 2-1 in 5.0.16 and 1-1 in 5.0.15, while against SHIN, he took a sweep across both versions.
In the finals against Percival, herO stowed away his typically aggressive PvT for a more reactive, macro-style and scored a comfortable 4-1 victory as a result.
