While the playoff bound teams are already secured heading into the final playtime of the WPC-ACE League, there were still crucial games played as teams jockey to get themselves on a better playoff seed.
DK, who are currently participating at MLG Columbus, secured their first position after winning against LGD.int 2-0 and squaring off a 1-1 match-up against TongFu earlier this week. They have finished on a comfortable spot atop the standings, as they actually needed just one win on those four games to secure their first placed position. The second place was highly contested though, as iG, VG and LGD.cn were neck and neck in the rankings.
Both LGD.cn and VG won their last four games to put the pressure onto iG. VG, having a better standing than LGD.cn entering this week, secured themselves a higher seed than LGD and potentially a second place finish. Meanwhile, iG was surprised by RisingStars as they were held to a draw, and put themselves in a must-win scenario against Team Adidas (TongFu.Wanzhou) to secure their direct seeded spot to the semifinals.
Despite being the heavy favorite against the scoreless Team Adidas, The International 2 Champions have put themselves in a position where they were playing with an additional pressure to win. RisingStars' draw against iG proved that the non-playoff bound teams are still hoping to make the most out of this experience, and it also gave a miniscule chance for VG to finish as the second seed. It ended up having an anti-climactic end though, as the last match was awarded to iG due to a forfeit by Team Adidas.
How exactly the teams will be seeded into the playoffs is still uncertain at this point. What we do know is that it will be a single-elimination, best-of-five tournament for the top six teams, with the top two finishers of the season in DK and IG being placed straight into the seminfinals. The tournament, which started last September, will have a best-of-seven finals and a massive $163,000~ purse for the Champion.
Season standings
Very likely to be the bracket of the playoffs
GosuWiki: WPC-ACE League 2013
