Week #231 of the Open Cups saw the regulars return to the competition after EPT Spring/Dallas, and thus it was no surprise to see the trinity of herO, Clem, and MaxPax prevail on the three servers. MaxPax’s win also saw him tie an Open Cup record by winning a cup for seven consecutive weeks (a total of nine victories when taking doubles into account), matching Dark’s streak earned during Weeks #166-172.

As usual, the path to the Korean server championship was lined with Code S-quality competition, with herO besting SHIN, Dark, NightMare, and Solar on his way to the title. Last week’s winner Solar came one map away from a repeat, but ended up ceding the 2-3 defeat in the finals.

Clem was dominant as usual in the European Cup, dropping just a single map on his way to another championship. While Clem took down rival MaxPax 3-0 in the finals, it was former EU Cup king HeroMarine who prevented his perfect run by taking a map in the semifinals. Chinese Protoss Cyan was a curious interloper in the EU cup, fighting through the lag and making it all the way to the quarterfinals. While Coffee realistically clinched the #2 spot in EPT China last week (thus earning a spot at the Esports World Cup), it didn’t stop Cyan from putting in a last ditch effort to try and overtake him.

The ESL cups ended with the familiar pattern of MaxPax making up for a loss in Europe with a victory in the American cup. The reclusive Dane won the week in impressive fashion with a perfect run, including victories against herO, Creator, and Solar in the final rounds.

In non-ESL cups competition, MaxPax won Kung Fu Cup #5 with a perfect record (which ended in a peculiar, ultra-fast 3-0 over herO’s off-race Terran, VOD), while Dark won KSL #52 (3-1 vs herO in the finals).

ESL Open: Korean Cup (partial bracket shown)

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ESL Open: European Cup (partial bracket shown)

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ESL Open: American Cup (partial bracket shown)

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Kung Fu Cup Summer #5 (Partial bracket shown)

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Korean StarCraft League #52 (Partial bracket shown)