Weekly Cups (October 19-25): Clem triples first in 5.0.17

Weekly Cup Competitions Week of October 19 - October 25

by Wax

*Partial brackets may be shown.

Clem claimed the first weekly triple of 5.0.17, winning WardiTV Mondays, PiGosaur Cup, and Kung Fu Cup in the live version of StarCraft II. Modded StarCraft II saw regional warlords protect their fiefs, with MaxPax taking a double in Patches' mod while ByuN was again victorious in the SHIN balance mod.

Finally, Elazer triumphed in the all-Polish ScienceCraft LAN, which featured all sorts of body monitoring gimmicks on top of high-level StarCraft II play.

October 19: WardiTV Mondays #109

Played on 5.0.17

SC2 fans might have expected herO to be the biggest beneficiary of the mass reverts in 5.0.17, but so far, Clem has been enjoying the most success in weekly cups. The French Terran got his weekly triple started in WardiTV Mondays, where he took down a strong list of opponents including ShoWTimE, MaxPax, Solar, and Krystianer to take the cup (VOD).

Underdog Krystianer did well to upset herO to make the finals (getting the better of him with surprise DT's as well as solid macro play), but unfortunately for him, the finals was a fairly one-sided affair. The Polish Protoss took game one by capitalizing on an overextension from Clem, and after that, Clem took three straight games in fairly routine fashion.

The cup was also notable for the return of players like ShoWTimE and GuMiho, who had been largely inactive during the summer of 5.0.16.

*****

October 19: Monday Night Weeklies #67

Played on Patches' Versus Mod

Monday Night Weeklies returned after a short hiatus, with the intriguing decision to stick with Patches' Mod. Still, the bracket looked like any MNW you might have seen in the 5.0.15 era, with MaxPax and herO fighting their way to a grand finals clash. MaxPax rode his winners' bracket advantage to a 3-1 victory, besting herO with 2-Stargate Phoenixes and sneaky DT play (VOD).

The unofficial 'best use of Patches' Mod' award went to fourth place Clem, who indulged in some lower-bracket smurfing where he hid a Conduit Pylon in his opponent's main and executed a nasty Recall cheese.

*****

October 20: PiGosaur Cup #104

Played on 5.0.17

Clem continued his 5.0.17 roll in PiGosaur Cup, taking his second win of the week with a 3-2 victory against herO in the finals (VOD).

The finals began with herO reminding Clem that being cheesy is an integral part of his play—even when not playing under the duress of 5.0.16—with proxy-Gate pressure into DT's extracting a quick GG from Clem. That set the tone for the rest of the series, as Clem tried to pay herO back with proxy-Barracks Marauders in game two. However, herO was also proxying again, this time hiding a Stargate on the map for Oracles. Clem couldn't find and demolish the pivotal Pylon in time, and GG'd out once the Oracle arrived in his poorly protected main.

herO switched to standard play in game three, but Clem was still determined to get his pound of flesh (painstakingly harvested with a knife made of aged, DOP comté). His one-base Marine-Tank all-in caught herO with his guard down, giving him his first map win of the series. The hijinks continued in game four, with the players swapping roles as herO attempted a proxy-Gate DT cheese. However, Clem played just cautiously enough to avert disaster, earning him the series-tying point.

The series came to a fitting conclusion in game five, as Clem opened up with double proxy-Barracks Marauders. herO responded by sacrificing his expansion and going for a belated proxy-Robo/Gateway of his own, but he had lost too much time and failed to do significant damage. herO tried to keep things interesting for the viewers by taking a gold base and dragging things out, but Clem inevitably put an end to the nonsense.

*****

October 21: 2026 Kung Fu Cup Weekly #28

Played on 5.0.17

Clem locked in his 5.0.17 weekly triple in Kung Fu Cup, once again besting herO in the finals (VOD).

The finals began with both players seeming to acknowledge 'alright, we let things get a bit too crazy yesterday,' as they settled in for standard play in game one. Despite this, the game ended relatively quickly, with Clem capitalizing on defensive lapses and poor engagement decisions from his opponent. herO returned to his cheesy ways in game two with proxy-Gate aggression, but it ultimately led to a macro game where Clem was again victorious.

Game three saw herO get his only win of the series in a bout where he didn't build any of his initial buildings out on the map, but that only seemed to convince him that Clem wouldn't expect another proxy in game four. However, his proxy-Stargate went awry after Clem's well-placed mine knocked down an Oracle, and it was all over once Clem blocked the follow-up Void Ray all-in.

*****

October 24: Patch Clash Season 1: Bonus Cup #1

Played on Patches' Versus Mod

The Patch Clash Bonus Cup was all about the mod's signature unit—the Blink-Shield-Tachyon upgraded Stalker—as MaxPax rode the powerful core unit to victory (VOD (Russian)). While the meta-defining unit doesn't always guarantee victory, this particular run made it feel like the Ghost copypasta from Twitch could easily be reappropriated for the all-purpose modded Stalker.

*****

October 24-25: ScienceCraft

Played on 5.0.17

The long tradition of Polish domestic LANs continued at ScienceCraft, where the country's top players gathered for a two-day competition. Despite going inactive for several weeks, Elazer came out on the top by winning the group stage and defeating Gerald 3-0 in the finals (VOD (final day)).

The 'ScienceCraft' theme gave the tournament an intriguing twist, with mainstage players given heartrate monitors, eye trackers, and even breathing masks for some undiscernible purpose (Polish viewers please enlighten us). Alas, for runner-up Gerald, that mask might as well have been pumping pure copium, as he was steamrolled by a variety of Lair tech attacks in a finals sweep.

*****

October 25: Sparking Tuna Cup #152

Played on SHIN Balance Patch

The ~~Byun Cyclone Cup~~ Sparkling Tuna Cup saw ByuN reclaim his crown after last week's loss to herO, though he was aided by herO's off-race play leading to elimination at the hands of Shameless. The modded/buffed Cyclones have become ByuN's entire personality in the SHIN balance mod, and he found a way to work a 2-Cyclone drop into most of his games. At a glance, they seem somewhat OP in their current state, though arguably ByuN would have defeated his slate of opponents under normal circumstances as well (VOD).

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