ESL Open #210: ByuN, Clem, Astrea win

*Technical problems affected week #210 of the ESL Open Cups, with Battle.net issues forcing the European Cup to be delayed until January 18th (Thursday).

The Korean Cup was played as normal, and ended with ByuN narrowly taking a 3-2 victory over Solar in the finals.

Since the European Cup was delayed for a few days, the Americas cup was the next competition on the schedule. With MaxPax being notably absent, Astrea picked up the banner for Protoss and ran with it all the way to the weekly championship. Astrea took wins over Solar, herO, and Clem (3-0) in the final rounds, making it one of the most impressive underdog runs in recent ESL Open Cup history. The Americas Cup also featured PartinG continuing to round back into form, earning a 2-0 upset over Dark in the RO16 before losing to herO in the next round.

The EU Cup got a special 'treat' to make it worth the delay, as Reynor joined the fray with this main race of Zerg. This led to a much anticipated Reynor vs Clem showdown in the finals (Clem defeated his usual cup rival MaxPax in the semis), which ended with Clem taking a narrow 3-2 victory.

ESL Open: Korean Cup (partial bracket shown)

*****

ESL Open: European Cup (partial bracket shown)

*****

ESL Open: American Cup (partial bracket shown)