After the first week of matches, many of the fan favorite teams from previous seasons – including Invincible Armada, HUNTERS, GankStars, and INFAMOUS – have secured their first wins and remain undefeated. With four out of six of the undefeated teams facing each other tomorrow in the third day of the group stage, we may catch an early glimpse of which teams to expect in the semifinals. Each team during the group stage will only play three games, so a second win for any of these teams is a big deal. Here is how things are shaping up for the day three matches.
All the Day 3 action will begin at 6am PST (3pm CEST; 10pm KST) on May 10th
and will be streamed on the OGN Global Twitch channel.
Group A
Current Standings
- GankStars [1-0]
- EASY TO WIN [1-0]
- Raid [0-1]
- Amaterasu Gaming [0-1]
Day 3 Match: GankStars vs. EASY TO WIN
What we know about GankStars:
- A long list of high rankings in various tournaments, including 1st place in VIPL season one and 3rd place in VIPL season two.
- Since VIPL2, they largely have a new roster, with the exception of the team captain, IraqiZorro.
- In their first match this season, they beat Raid, who placed 3rd in the Korean VGL. It’s worth noting Raid’s laner, AlmostCarry, is said to be second only to druid when it comes to his skill.
- IraqiZorro is known for playing heroes who require strong mechanics, such as Vox and Ringo.
What we know about EASY TO WIN:
- Sister team to Hunters (group C).
- Took 1st place in the Chinese VML tournament.
- In their first match this season, they beat the top team in South America, Amaterasu Gaming. They ran a buff comp (Ringo, Adagio, Fortress).
- BaBaLA is known for being an aggressive jungler and mains Koshka; however, in their first game, he switched roles with devil-x and played roam Fortress instead.
What to expect:
GankStars has proven fairly consistently that they know how to use their aggressiveness to counter the farm-heavy Korean meta. However, teams like EASY TO WIN will not roll over as easily and will respond with their own aggressiveness. Coming into this match, both teams will know that whoever wins will have a high probability of guaranteeing their spot in the semifinals, so they will be bringing their best preparations to the table.
Group B
Current Standings
- Invincible Armada [1-0]
- INFAMOUS [1-0]
- Team GL [0-1]
- ACE [0-1]
Day 3 Match: ACE vs. INFAMOUS
What we know about ACE:
- Took 2nd place in the Korean VGL.
- Lost their first game of the season to the VIPL veterans, Invincible Armada; however, they skillfully stole the gold mine twice from IA during that match.
- Their laner, ImPaLe, is known for his Skye gameplay. The fact that Invincible Armada banned Skye against ACE last week seems to be solid supporting evidence.
- ACE stands for “All Clear Enemies”
What we know about INFAMOUS:
- Only Mamamia is leftover from their previous roster
- Very high average game length (over 22 minutes). This could denote that they like to farm up or that they have trouble closing out games
- Leveraged intelligent draft picks and counterbuilding in their first match of the season against Team GL, resulting in a decisive victory.
What to expect:
Although ACE lost their first match, I wouldn’t discount them because their opponents, Invincible Armada, are probably one of the top teams entering this tournament. Likewise, INFAMOUS’s statistics from the Tesseract tournament don’t seem to speak favorably of them, but they showed they have what it takes against last week’s opponents, Team GL. Neither team seems to have the upper hand in this matchup. The thing to take note of during this game is how the Korean meta matches up against the SEA meta.
Group C
Current Standings
- Hunters [1-0]
- Hack [1-0]
- FKK [0-1]
- Team Phoenix [0-1]
Day 3 Match: Hack vs. Hunters
What we know about Hack:
- 1st place champions of the Korean VGL
- Their jungler, ILoveYoungJoo, was in the previous VIPL under the alias Zeratul (jungler for WILD). He is know for his Petal gameplay and played her in all three games during the finals of the Korean VGL.
- In their dominant performance against Team Phoenix last week, they ran a double CP comp (e.g. Skaarf/Skye), which is a fairly common practice for Korean teams in previous seasons. The game was over in about 15 minutes.
What we know about Hunters:
- 2nd place in the first VIPL season and 6th place in the second VIPL season
- Their starter laner from the first season, GodFather, has returned to their roster again. He is known for Adagio gameplay.
- Their roam player, QUEEN, is the only female participant this season.
- They had a strong performance against FKK last week.
What to expect:
Both teams performed extremely well last week, so it’s expected to be an exciting match to spectate, perhaps the best of the day. Hunters are more well known from previous seasons and have been playing together much longer, so that will be in their favor as they go against Hack. However, it can’t be overlooked that Hack managed to secure the first place spot in the Korean VGL. Also, similar to Group A, both these teams know that their ticket into the semifinals will be strongly dependent upon the outcome of this match, so expect them to be at the top of their game.