Week #36 of the ESL Open Cups saw Trap win the Korean edition, which was somehow missing an entire race. HeRoMaRinE secured his sixth back-to-back victory in the European cup, leading to a steadily growing exodus of EU players into the American cup, where PtitDrogo was able to secure a gold medal for himself.
The Korean cup had a notable lack of race diversity this week, with not a single notable Zerg player to be seen, and merely two competitive-tier Terran players choosing to sign up. The GTC-induced semifinal walkovers also made a return, but this time the beneficiary Stats couldn't capitalize on his free win over Hurricane. Though Stats—the winner from Cup #35—had survived PvP just fine up to that point, things started to bog down once he met Trap in the finals. The players traded maps back and forth, and with Jin Air Protoss taking the first map, the final map win also fell to him. For Trap, it was a minor bit of revenge after losing to Stats in the Code S quarterfinals, and marked his third ESL Open Cup victory overall.
HeRoMaRinE's current ESL Open Cup EU win streak:
Notably, MaNa and PtitDrogo sought success elsewhere after early exits from the European cup, participating in the NA edition instead. And, indeed, both players promptly reached the semis with MaNa taking out last week's finalist Namshar. The other side of the bracket belonged to another faction, which hadn't seen much action on Monday up to this point: the Korean Zergs woke up! Solar and Armani occupied the other two spots in the top four, with the Afreeca Zerg emerging victorious in their semi-finals clash after a full Bo5. The European semis also went the full distance, the Drogo advancing in the end. Though Armani was able to score first blood in the finals, taking the first map, PtitDrogo kept his nerves together and came back with three victories in a row, securing ESL Open Cup gold for himself for the very first time.
ESL Open Cup winners earn $200 in prize money and 10 ESL Pro Tour points. Players who finish second earn 5 ESL Pro Tour points and $100. A top 4 finish guarantees at least $50. Week #37 of ESL Open Cups is set to take place on September 21st.
by TheOneAboveU
European Server Cup #36 (Click for full bracket)
Americas Server Cup #36 (Click for full bracket)