ESL Open #211: GuMiho, Reynor, Clem win

Week #211 diverged from the usual Open Cup pattern, with GuMiho taking a surprise win in Korea, Reynor winning Europe for the first time in over a year, and Clem fighting off a challenge from Firefly to win on the American server.

The Korean server cup was full of upsets, with none of the usual contenders surviving till the grand finals. The top side of RO8 bracket saw Dark fall to DRG while herO surrendered to Creator. Creator then proceeded to defeat DRG in the battle of the underdogs to reach the finals. The bottom side of the bracket saw GuMiho claim a finals spot, defeating ByuN 2-0. The final showdown between GuMiho and Creator went in favor of the Terran, as a GuMiho won 3-1 to claim the weekly title.

The European server cup featured Reynor winning his first title in over a year, with his last victory having come in Week #157 (January 2023). Since then, Reynor had only competed sporadically, usually experimenting with off-race play. The finals was a rematch from the previous week #210, with Reynor going up against Clem once more. While Clem had taken a narrow 3-2 victory before, Reynor avenged that loss in a clean 3-0 sweep.

The American Cup ended in an unsurprising Clem victory, but the process of getting there was rather atypical. The RO8 saw SKillous beat herO while Wayne defeated ByuN, clearing the field of top contenders. On top of that, Astrea chose to off-race while MaxPax declined to compete, leaving the door wide open for someone to take advantage. That opportunist turned out to be Firefly, who went through PartinG, threepoint (who defeated Astrea's Terran), and Wayne to reach the finals. Unfortunately for Firefly, he couldn't clear the final, sky-high hurdle of Clem, falling 1-3 in the end.

In non-ESL cups, NightMare made an impressive run to win KSL #42, defeating Cyan, herO, Classic, and ByuN on his way to victory.

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