WPC-ACE League Grand Finals: Match Analysis – Part 1

What better way to start the New Year than with a tournament win, right? That’s exactly what Team DK did. In the recently concluded World E-Sports Professional Classic-Association for Chinese Esports (WPC-ACE) League 2013, Team DK bested Invictus Gaming(iG) in a best of seven grand finals and went home with 1,000,000 RMB ($163,400). Second placer iG did not go empty handed with 300,000 RMB ($49,000). The WPC-ACE League currently has the biggest Dota 2 tournament cash prize outside of The International.

In an exciting turn of events, DK and iG ended up playing out all seven matches for the best of seven series. But really what happened? How did DK break their two-year curse of no championships? Of course, you can watch the VoDs from BeyondTheSummit as embedded here, but we also included a detailed recount of all seven matches along with insights and draft analysis.

Game 1: Aggression is the game

As you can see in the image above, Team DK had a rather aggressive lineup that’s great for early game team fights and pick offs. The burst heal from Chen is a headache to deal against and his army of creeps also helps in pushing towers. Storm Spirit and Lifestealer are equally punishing picks, as they can be problems to lock down. Clockwork, on the other hand, is great when isolating heroes while Rubick can steal important spells from the enemy team.

iG’s lineup, on the other hand, showed early pushing power with team fight potential. Dragon Knight starts to become formidable once he gets his Dragon Form at level 6. This helps a lot in team fights as well as in pushing towers. A tanky Necrophos is also a pain, particularly with his Heart Stopper aura and ultimate, Reaper’s Scythe, which prevents any heroes it kills from buying back. Visage has been a trademark hero of iG and as per our most recent infographic, is also their most contested hero. Nyx’s Vendetta, Mana Burn and Stun are great for picking of heroes and disabling multiple heroes, while Bane also does a great job of isolating and disabling important heroes.

iG first decided on a safe lane trilane with their Visage, Nyx Assassin, and Bane to the bottom lane against DK’s Lifestealer, Rubick and Chen. iG’s supports would later rotate to top lane to help their carry Necrophos, who was against an offlane Clockwerk. This left Storm Spirit and Dragon Knight to best each other at mid lane.

The first game of this best of seven started with a bang. Both teams clashed in the Radiant jungle even before the creeps spawned, and resulted in a 5-2 score in favor of DK. At three minutes into the game, DK pushed bottom and at 5:21 took iG’s tier one bottom tower. IG’s response to all this aggression was to roam the map as four or five, taking kills and winning team fights, causing DK not only gold and experience, but also towers and lane control.

Sometime between the 25 and 26 minute mark, iG decided to go to high ground and took DK’s tier 3 mid tower. Another major fight erupted at the 34 minute mark near Roshan where DK lost three including their cores, with the Lifestealer getting hit by Reaper’s Scythe, rendering him unable to buy back. At 38:20, iG lost 4 in a bottom lane team fight with Necrophos even dying twice and buying back again. However, iG refused to let go of their early advantage and won another team fight against DK at the 40-minute mark. Seven minutes later, they would take another team fight at Roshan, take Roshan with cheese and proceeded to push inside the enemy base until DK called the GGs.

The game ended at 49:27 with a score of 27-36 in favor of iG.

Game 2: Never give big spells to a Rubick