ESL Open Cup #137: GuMiho, HeroMarine, Solar win

In week #137, GuMiho stopped ByuN’s Korean cup winning streak at three to emerge as the new champion. In Europe, HeroMarine finally won another cup after six cups without a victory, while the Americas cup saw Solar fend off trigger to take the crown.

Korean Cup

Participation was on the low side in the Korean cup, but there were still a decent number of strong competitors at the top. Classic, Creator, and NightMare were the notable Protoss players, Solar and Rex stood out among the Zergs, and ByuN, Cure, GuMiho, and SpeCial led a strong Terran field.

The quarterfinals were a bloodbath packed with Code S quality matches, with Creator beating Classic 2-0, Solar defeating Cure 2-1, GuMiho winning 2-1 versus ByuN, and SpeCial beating NightMare 2-1. Solar kept on playing well and also defeated Creator 2-0 in the semifinals, while GuMiho beat SpeCial on the same score to qualify for the finals (VOD).

The first game of the finals was played on Tropical Sacrifice, with Solar opting for Muta-Ling-Bane while GuMiho went for standard Bio-mine with an early emphasis on Marauders. GuMiho was able to control the tempo of the game with big pushes and clean defense, slowly but surely out-trading Solar to win the game.

Solar was able to take the next map Moondance by defending mixed aggression from GuMiho which included a Hellbat-Marine push and Battlecruisers, thus securing a game-winning economic advantage. GuMiho retook the lead in game three on Data-C, using good Tank positions versus Hydra-Ling-Bane to trade very efficiently over and over again. He then closed the series out on Stargazers, splitting the map in half and winning with a peculiar Tank-Cyclone-BC mech composition.

Upset(s) of the day: GuMiho was a two to one underdog against both ByuN Solar, so his run was particularly worthy of being called the upset of the day. The run was even more impressive when you consider the fact that ByuN had won the last three cups in a row and has been playing some great StarCraft lately.

*****

European Cup

As usual, the European cup was the most stacked out of the three, with many of the fearsome regulars such as Clem, HeroMarine, MaxPax, and SKillous throwing their hats into the ring.

Clem had only Protoss in his bracket, taking down Ashbringer, Jieshi, and Gerald before having to face MaxPax in the semifinals. The Liquid Terran hasn’t had the best of luck against MaxPax in recent weeks, and that trend continued as he suffered a 1-2 loss (VOD). Clem won the first map by perfectly defending against heavy Blink Stalker aggression, gaining an insurmountable lead. However, MaxPax won the next map despite losing 12 Probes to a Hellion drop, as he used his own Stalker-Prism harassment to get back into the game. MaxPax was then able to crush Clem with a Colossus-centric army, taking advantage of Clem’s lack of Vikings. He then closed things out on Tropical sacrifice in a long macro game, this time going for a Disruptor-based composition.

In the bottom side of the bracket, HeroMarine recovered from a brief cup slump to reach the finals, defeating SKillous and Kelazhur along the way.

Big Gabe drew first blood in the finals against MaxPax (VOD), killing 15 Probes with a mine-drop and snowballing his way to victory. MaxPax would not go down that easily though, and proceeded to win the next game on Cosmic Sapphire. He went for a Phoenix-based composition with ground units, which he used to successfully defend a Cyclone-Marine push from HeroMarine. This early advantage allowed MaxPax to assemble a powerful force, and he later smashed through HeroMarine’s defenses with an army of assorted Protoss units.

However, Big Gabe had some tricks up his sleeve and used a strong Tank push on Moondance to go up 2-1. He continued the early aggression on Tropical Sacrifice, pulling the boys for an SCV-assisted all-in that gave him the 3-1 victory. HeroMarine now has 48 first place finishes in ESL Open Cups, widening the gap between second place Zest (44) and third place Clem (43).

Upset(s) of the day: The biggest upset happened lower in the bracket, where Polish commentator/streamer/observer Indy took out Elazer 2-1. That was an enormous upset according to Aligulac, with Indy having less than a 5% chance of winning.

*****

American Cup

The Americas cup had a weaker field than usual, with ByuN, GuMiho, Solar, and trigger standing out as the top title contenders.

The #1 seed ByuN had a relatively easy way to the semifinals, with JuggernautJason and Epic being his most notable opponents up to that point. However, he faced a tougher semifinals opponent in the form of trigger, who had already defeated Gerald in the earlier rounds. Indeed, the Canadian Protoss was on fire that day, and beat ByuN by an impressive 2-0 score to qualify for the finals. The other finalist was none other than Solar, who had defeated GuMiho 2-0 in the semis.

In the first game of the finals (VOD), trigger attempted an early Skytoss with Carriers build, but Solar was able to win with a series of Baneling-Corruptor attacks before the Protoss force could really come together. Trigger struck back in the next two games, however. He took Data-C with a big deathball of 3 Colossi, Blink-Stalkers, and a ton of Sentries, and then won on Inside and Out with a herO-esque style featuring a lot of great trades with Blink Stalkers.

Despite being down, Solar remained calm and pulled back to take a 3-2 victory. He overwhelmed trigger’s Disruptor army on Moondance, and then took the final map with an unscouted Line-Bane bust.

Upset(s) of the day: trigger’s run was the most impressive to me by far with victories over both Gerald and ByuN, and a very narrow 2-3 loss to Solar in the finals.

by Poopi