WPC-ACE Dota 2 League begins with Team DK versus Vici Gaming, following matches to begin on September 25

After The International 2013 (TI3) and the great Chinese reshuffle, many fans are anticipating to see the performance of newly reformed teams. In the recently concluded Sina Cup, fans were able to watch newly reformed Chinese teams such as Invictus Gaming (iG), Vici Gaming (VG), RattleSnake, TongFu, and LGD.cn. With the dust finally clearing and settling after the reshuffling, fans can finally see the more of the reformed teams duke it out for the RMB 1 million (approximately $160,000) grand prize in the WPC-ACE Dota 2League.

About WPC-ACE Dota 2 League

Source: http://wpc.scntv.com/p/2013-09-23/76.html

The WPC-ACE Dota 2 League is hosted by the World Esports Professional Classic (WPC) and organized by the Association of Chinese Esports (ACE). Jingrui Estate Co., Ltd., a real estate company in China, has contributed 1.4 million RMB (approximately $220,000) to the prize pool and is said to have invested 40 million RMB (approximately $6.5 million) into WPC. According to an article on Team Liquid, Jingruis invested in Shanghai ESports Center, the 3000-square meter competitive arena where the tournament will be held. It has a competitive hall, training rooms, game demo area, memorabilia and lounge space. The tournament will be broadcasted by SCNTV, the same company who covered Ukranian team Natus Vincere’s (Na’Vi) stay in China.

There are ten participating teams in the WPC-ACE Dota 2 League including two amateur teams formed by ACE themselves. The teams are as follows:

• DK
• LGD.cn
• TongFu
• LGD.int
• Vici Gaming (VG)
• Rising Stars (RStars)
• RattleSnake (RSnake)
• Invictus Gaming (iG)
• Adidas
• Heart Get Together (HGT)

The WPC-ACE Dota 2 League has two stages. First is the group stage in a best-of-two round robin format. The top six teams then head to the playoffs where the top two teams from the group stage get seeded directly into the semi-finals. The matches in the playoffs are best of five while the grand finals match is an astounding best of seven. The matches will run from September to December 2013. The champion will receive 1 million RMB (approximately $160,000) while the second and third placers will receive 300,000 RMB (approximately $49,000) and 100,000 RMB (approximately $16,000), respectively.

Team DK versus Vici Gaming: The grudge match born from the Chinese reshuffle

Source: http://wpc.scntv.com/p/2013-09-23/76.html

As soon as the full reformed roster of Team DK was announced, everyone agreed it was a force to be reckoned with — enough to be called “Asia’s dream team”. They have the legendary and often referred to as best carry in the world Xu “BuRNing” Zhi Lei, TI3’s MVP Cai Yee “Mushi” Fung, TI3’s first solo mid champion Daryl “iceiceice” Koh, and two excellent support players — Lei “MMY/Dai” Zeng Rong and the veteran Zhang “LaNm” Zhi Cheng. However, this change came with drama and controversy, as DK had to remove three players to make way for new ones. The players removed were Bai “rOtk” Fan, Yao “QQQ” Yi and Xie “Super” Jun Hao. ROtk made a strong statement on the matter and was met with a response from DK’s manager Bei “Farseer” Peng. It wasn’t long before both rOtk and Super were acquired by Vici Gaming (VG) after the departure of Jian “ZSMJ” Gong and Chen “Cty” Tian Yu.

Prior to the WPC-ACE Dota 2 League, DK and VG already clashed in the National Esports Tournament (NEST) where VG won against DK, which rOtk was quite happy about. Things proved to be different in the WPC-ACE Dota 2 League as DK would take the series 2-0, although VG didn’t necessarily go down without a fight. It ended with a score of 33-26 in the first game and 24-31 in the second game, both to DK’s advantage. However, this may not be the first and last time we may see VG and DK in this league. The format allows for them to clash again in a best-of-five match should they make it to the playoffs.

Another interesting matchup would be iG versus TongFu after Chen “Zhou” Yao got booted from iG, which resulted in sparks flying on Weibo between the player and iG’s CEO. Fans also look forward to the participation of the new LGD.int roster.

More information on the WPC-ACE Dota 2 League may be found on the SCNTV website. In-game tickets may be bought for $9.99 from the Dota 2 store while the official English stream will be provided by BeyondTheSummit.