Week 3 of the WPC-ACE League has ended, with 9 matches played and Titan almost definitely securing a playoff berth.
Due to the ongoing StarSeries Season IX in Kiev, this week did not see neither of the Chinese juggernauts, DK and iG, playing any matches. However, the league continued to thrill, with some major upsets along the way.
On day 1, Friday 18 April, Tongfu.WanZhou lost both their matches 0-2 to CIS and HGT, which saw CIS running their signature Wraith King in the first game, and Black^ on Invoker for the second game. Meanwhile, for HGT, it appears that ZSMJ,the legendary carry back in the WC3 Dota era, has transitioned back to playing carry after failing to impress with his support play. Most importantly, Titan and Orange played their match online late at night, with Titan taking the series 2-0. The win more or less secures Titan's playoff berth since they have a positive win rate in the league, with 6 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses.
Day 2 saw NewBee sweeping both Tongfu.WanZhou and DreamTime, the latter of whom managed to take a game off Vici Gaming in the last match of the day in a very one sided match. However, NewBee were unable to keep their winning streak on Day 3, with CIS pulling an upset 2-0 victory over them with a Black^ Outworld Devourer and Viper.
The other two games in day 3 had LGD winning 2-0 against TongFu.WanZhou, with one match featuring a support Mirana and the other a heavy push lineup with Vengeful Spirit, Lycan and Visage. However, LGD were unable to take a game off Vici Gaming, falling 2-0 to Vici despite running a pocket strat featuring both Sniper and Wraith King in game 1.
The four straight losses for Tongfu.WanZhou have condemned them to a 1-0-6 record, which definitely has sealed them from a playoff berth. In the meantime, Titan lead the standings, having played all their games, while Vici is a close second with a 5-1-0 record.
The next matches will begin on Thursday, 24 April, at 11:30 CEST. The two matches that will be played will feature both DK and iG returning from Kiev, and they wil be playing against HGT and CIS respectively.
