GuMiho wins HomeStory Cup 26

At HomeStory Cup 26, Protoss’ quest for its first offline tournament win since 2022 ended in shambles once more. ShoWTimE had fallen short in the HSC 25 finals back in June, and in the finals of HSC, the baton of disappointment was passed on to Clem.

Wait, Clem????

Yup, you read that right. Clem played as off-race as Protoss in the finals of HomeStory Cup, marking the first time such an event had ever occurred in a major StarCraft 2 tournament. Yet, somehow, that was not the most memorable performance given at HSC 26.

+ Show Spoiler [Click to see group stage results] +

That honor would go to the champion. At the start of the tournament, few fans would have given HSC 25 winner GuMiho much of a chance to win back-to-back HomeStory Cups. Clem, Serral, Maru, and Reynor were all in participation, making this edition of HomeStory Cup historically stacked. However, through a combination of both superlative skill and felicitous fortune, GuMiho continued his reign as the King of Krefeld.

His tournament began uneventfully in the round-of-24, where he advanced in first place from Group A with a 4-1 record. GuMiho’s single loss—a 1-2 loss to NightMare—only seemed like a minor hiccup at the time, but it would prove to be much more significant later.

The double-elimination playoff bracket draw dealt GuMiho a very favorable, TvT-heavy hand, and the mastermind of mech set about demonstrating why the new 5.0.14 patch was tailor-made for him. The reverted Cyclone fit in perfectly with GuMiho’s mech style, helping him get by HeroMarine (3-1) and Maru (3-2) on his way to the winners’ final.

The player who stepped up to face GuMiho would be another fearsome Terran in Clem, who had done GuMiho the favor of banishing ZvT monster Serral to the losers’ bracket in his previous match. Having already defeated #1 TvT player Maru, GuMiho kept his mirror match hot streak going by taking a 2-1 lead against the Clem in the first half of the series. Facing a knockdown to the losers’ bracket, the EWC champion shocked the audience with an unexpected gamble: picking Protoss.

While this seemed like an insane choice at this juncture of the tournament, there was a method behind Clem’s madness. He supposedly had a 6800 MMR Protoss account on the ladder, and had even defeated GuMiho with Protoss several weeks earlier in the online HomeStory Cup qualifiers. Combined with the frailty GuMiho had shown against NightMare in the group stages, it was a somewhat reasonable risk to take. However, Clem did not reap the reward. After playing a sloppy game where he made several Colossus donations to GuMiho, Clem GG’d out and dropped to the lower bracket.

We’d soon get to the second act of GuMiho vs Clem, as the Team Liquid ace took out Serral once again to emerge from the losers’ bracket. Having already startled the audience with his single Protoss game in the initial series, Clem delivered an even greater shock in the rematch. Whether it was due to his fear of GuMiho’s TvT, his unblemished confidence in his own PvT, or being intoxicated by the festive atmosphere at the TakeTV studio, he committed to playing Protoss for the entire grand finals.

In contrast to his ugly play in his earlier PvT game, Clem validated his choice in the first game of the finals. He drew first blood in the series, weathering wave after wave of Terran attacks to win with one decisive counterblow. GuMiho struck back quickly in game two, parrying Clem’s Blink harassment and finishing him off with a two-base Marine-Tank-SCV all-in. The Towel Terran went for even faster Marine-Tank pressure in game three, but this time Clem’s deft use of Blink Stalkers on defense allowed him to completely nullify the attack. From there, Clem comfortably snowballed his economic lead to victory.

This put Clem on reset point, needing just one more map to win the initial BO5 and force a final BO3 for the championship (GuMiho’s winners’ bracket advantage meant he only needed to win the initial BO5 to win the championship). GuMiho stayed committed to aggressive tactics, bringing out yet another two-base Marine-Tank variant—this time with four Barracks, one Factory, and no high-tech transition in sight (a build you might have seen played in 1.0.0 patch of StarCraft 1). This time, the unorthodox strategy did just enough damage to give GuMiho the lead, and despite some subsequent overaggression that gave Clem a lifeline, the reigning HSC champ eventually forced the surrender and tied things back up at 2-2.

With the championship just one map away, GuMiho trusted in his early-game offense once more. He struck fast with a 1/1/1 push (fittingly, having one each of Vikings, Tanks, Medivacs, and Cyclones), while Clem played the same Blink-Robo macro opener he had favored the entire series. The deciding moment came when GuMiho shelled down one of Clem’s Gateways and briefly unsieged his single Tank to reposition. Clem seized this chance to make a herO-esque Blink forward… …only to be met by some Clem-esque, Medivac juggling micro from GuMiho.

Okay, maybe the micro wasn’t quite on that level. But it was clean enough to turn Clem’s Blink forward into a total disaster, and impart a small sense of irony that Clem had been undone by one of his own signature moves. With his forces wiped out, Clem declared the final GG of the night, inviting GuMiho to lift the HomeStory Cup 26 trophy.

With translation unavailable, and the clock nearing 2AM in Krefeld, GuMiho gave a winners’ interview that was much like his championship-clinching push—quick, and to the point. “Thanks for watching HomeStory Cup and [for] cheering me. [On a personal note], I’m looking for a team. If [you’re looking for] someone quiet and always working on practice, that’s me.”

Other Happenings and Musings

The co-main event: Serral vs Clem: While HSC 26 will be remembered most for its unusual grand finals, there was also plenty of great conventional StarCraft II fun to be had. The highlights were the two playoff series between Clem and Serral, with the Finnish Phenom putting up a better fight compared to his combined 0-8 drubbing at the Esports World Cup.

Yes, the end result was still two 3-1 victories in Clem’s favor, but there were still plenty of close, high-level games to be enjoyed. Serral’s come-from-behind victory on Abyssal Reef (VOD) during the winners’ semifinals was particularly noteworthy, as he gave a marvelous demonstration of his unmatched defensive tenacity.

With Clem now having won four consecutive BO5 matches against Serral, he is enjoying his greatest stretch of dominance against his frequent foe. Clem definitely looks favored in any clashes in the near future, but the historical trading of blows between the two players suggests that Serral will eventually be able to make this rivalry close once again.

New Patch Pandemonium (or Lack Thereof): Players of all skill levels are finding reasons to hate the new 5.0.14 patch for a variety of reasons, as they have with every balance patch since the beginning of time. However, as someone whose relationship with StarCraft II is primarily as an esports aficionado, my controversial(?) opinion after watching several weeks of PTR play and HomeStory Cup is that the patch is pretty alright (minus the bugs, anyway).

While I’ll save my full impressions for a longer piece, for now I’ll say that I like how the reverted Cyclone has opened up the PvT early game, how Energy Overcharge gives Protoss some more strategic optionality, and how the nerfed Sensor Tower makes every XvsT late-game feel a little less static. And, from what I’ve seen so far, the changes don’t seem to have introduced any abusive all-ins that players are spamming left and right (at least at the pro level—I extend my full sympathies to you for your [insert league] ladder experience).

Technology is the Vehicle of Esports: Not all the surprises at HomeStory Cup 26 were welcome. Internet issues marred all three days of the tournament, forcing countless starts and stops. It was a reminder that no matter how much technology advances, you’re still one ISP mishap away from being time warped back to a 2010-2011 viewing experience.