EPT
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/weeklies/comcups734.jpg)
Weekly Cup Competitions Week of October 5 - October 11*Partial brackets may be shown.
The 5.0.17 patch went live on October 7th, reverting the majority of the controversial balance and design changes from 5.0.16. However, we didn't get to see a new chapter of StarCraft II unfold in the weekly cups, as various quirks of scheduling and planning left competitions to be played on 5.0.16 and various user modded versions.
This current week (October 12-18) will reveal whether these mods were a temporary bandaid for a version of the game that was hugely unpopular among high level players, or if the schism has picked up enough momentum to continue even in the 5.0.17 environment.
In any case, the week of October 5-11 saw Solar take top honors with three cup wins across various versions of StarCraft II, while ByuN, Cure, and herO each took a single win.
October 5: WardiTV Mondays #107
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/weeklies/wardimon107.png)
Played on 5.0.16
With 5.0.16 on its way out, it was fitting for patch powerhouse Solar to win the final WardiTV Mondays played under the divisive iteration of SC2. Solar sealed the cup with a decisive 3-0 win against herO in the finals, where neither ground or Skytoss variants of Protoss could stand up to overwhelming waves of Zerg units (VOD).
*****
October 5: Monday Night Weeklies #66
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/weeklies/mnw66.png)
Played under Patches' Versus Mod
Solar made it a quick double in Monday Night Weeklies, showing his strength in Patches' mod as well as 5.0.16. Sadly, his attempts to get Infested Terrans to be useful were once again fruitless, but it didn't stop him from getting a 3-2 finals win over MaxPax nonetheless (VOD).
*****
October 6: PiGosaur Cup #102
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/weeklies/pig102.png)
Played under Patches' Versus Mod
After getting eliminated by Solar in MNW after being too careless with his Skytoss fleet, herO struck back in the next day's PiGosaur event by getting a 3-0 finals win to take the cup. Tachyon-Blink-Shield Stalkers have been herO's PvZ calling card in Patches' mod, but in this particular series, it was old fashioned Glaive-Adepts that led him to victory in each game. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the new Ricochet Glaives upgrade, as the plain Glaive-Adepts did so much damage that their new augment was unnecessary (VOD)
*****
October 7: 2026 Kung Fu Cup Weekly #26
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/weeklies/KFC2026_26.png)
Played on 5.0.16
Kung Fu Cup 26 was the final high-level competition played under 5.0.16, and in an ironic twist, Zerg didn't manage to seize one last cup on the way out. Instead, Cure took a hardfought 3-2 win over SHIN in the finals—thankfully, there's no need to discuss the balance implications of this result (VOD).
Surprisingly for two players quite adept at cheese, both Cure and SHIN went for straight-forward, macro-oriented approaches in the finals. While the 5.0.16 era is unlikely to be remembered fondly, at least it got an entertaining five-game series to send it off.
*****
October 7: The Patches Monthly #2
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/weeklies/patchesmonthly2.png)
Played under Patches' Versus Mod
herO and Solar would soon clash again in Patches' mod competition, as they came to face off in the finals of Patches Monthly #2. herO decided to leave both Glaive-Adepts and triple-upgrade Stalkers on the shelf in favor of more varied openers, but this proved to be a poor decision as he lost the series 1-3 (VOD).
The series started with a pair of failed cheeses on both sides, with herO whiffing with a cannon rush in game one while Solar's fast Queen/Ling drop tactics fell flat in game two. After that, Solar took game three with a Queen-Hydra timing, and closed things out with mass Roach-Ravager-Corruptor in game four.
Incidentally, Solar also won the sub-prize for "best use of mod changes," which I really hope wasn't just because he threw out Infested Terrans as victory cigars in an already-won game against ByuN.
*****
October 11: Sparking Tuna Cup #150
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/weeklies/sparklingtuna150.png)
Played under SHIN Balance Patch
Despite 5.0.17 being live at this point, Sparkling Tuna Cup was played on the third fork of the schism—the SHIN Balance Mod. ByuN had won the majority of previous competitions under the mod thanks to relatively weak opposition, but STC #150 pit him against a formidable finals opponent in herO.
Game one of the finals was an amusing 'welcome to the mod' moment for herO, who had an amusing chat with ByuN after he lost to an early timing based on a pair of the altered/buffed Cyclones. herO tied the score in game two with a more 'normal' cheese, quickly running over ByuN with double proxy-Robo Immortals. Even here, the reworked Cyclone allowed ByuN to put up a surprising amount of resistance on defense, which caused more chatter between the two about the strength of the reworked Cyclone. The remaining games of the series were normal-ish after that, with ByuN closing out a 3-2 win. The modded Cyclone did happen to factor in one last time in game five, allowing ByuN to salvage a poor early-game situation with a backdoor drop (VOD).
