by Wax
The ESL Open Cups entered an off-season period in week #234, with cups ceasing to award EPT points after last week's standings lock (the future of ESL StarCraft II is likely to remain unclear until the end of the Esports World Cup). Still, with the cups continuing to award $400 in prize money per server, participation was only moderately diminished.
The Korean server cup even saw Dark compete just days after winning the Code S Season 2 championship, with the grind seeming to be never-ending for the Mustached One. However, Dark was unable to achieve the Code S/Open cup 'double' as he fell 2-3 to Solar in the finals. Besides beating Dark, Solar had an all-around solid run to win the weekly championship, also taking down SHIN and Firefly.
The European cup saw MaxPax win for the second week straight, once again defeating arch-rival Clem in the finals (3-2). With the victory, MaxPax retired for the night, while Clem entered the Americans cup to try and redeem himself. The French Terran ultimately succeeded in his goal, defeating Astrea 3-1 to claim the final ESL cup of the week.
In non-ESL cup competition, Rogue won Kung Fu Cup #7 (3-0 vs Clem in the finals).
ESL Open: Korean Cup (partial bracket shown)
*****
ESL Open: European Cup (partial bracket shown)
*****
ESL Open: American Cup (partial bracket shown)
*****
Kung Fu Cup Summer #7 (Partial bracket shown)