Last night Team Acer played against Korean powerhouse PRIME in the second round of the IPL Team Arena Challenge 3. Similar to the GSTL, the Team Arena Challenge (TAC) is an all-kill 1v1 format, where the winner stays on in a best of nine series. 

 

The series began with PRIME ace MarineKing facing off against Rafal 'Acer | ParanOid' Kontowicz on Daybreak. MarineKing managed to take the first game from ParanOid, but wasn't prepared for what was to come from his his next opponent: Aleksandr 'Acer | Bly' Svusuyk.

 

Bly decided to throw down a Roach Warren early on to put on some pressure to MarineKing, who was playing in his normal Fast Expand style. MarineKing scouted the Roach Warren as it was still under construction, and Bly reacted instantly. He cancelled the Roach Warren that was building in his main and instantly remade it in his natural - fooling MarineKing into thinking that the pressure was off. MarineKing then threw down his third command center and started Hellion production. With no bunker and only Hellions to defend, MarineKing was quickly slain by Bly's Roach attack.

 

With Bly upsetting MarineKing, PRIME called in team captain AnNyeong on Cloud Kingdom but he too fell to Bly in an exciting ZvZ. PRIME called in another Zerg opponent, BboongBboong, but he too was quickly cast aside. Bly had now achieved a three kill to put Team Acer in a commanding 3:1 lead of the series.

 

With their backs to the wall, PRIME threw in yet another Zerg player: the unknown Salmosa. The third time was the charm, and Salmosa was able to finally defeat Bly on ESV Ohana.

 

Artur 'Acer | Nerchio' Bloch was then sent in against Salmosa, and defeated him in a tense ZvZ to put Acer on match point, at 4:2. PRIME's last player was their ace Creator, who faced Nerchio on Taldarim Altar. 

 

Unfortunately Nerchio lost that match, and neither Samuli 'Acer |Elfi' Sihvonen or Christian 'Acer | DarkHydra' Lüftner could defeat Creator in their matches either. In the end, Creator's three kill ended the series 5:4 in PRIME's favour. It also brought Creator's winrate when sent out as the last member in a team league to a rather astounding 14:1.

 

Team Acer were perhaps unlucky to not win given their early lead, but still showed a strong series against the Korean GSTL title holders, with an excellent performance from Bly to collect the three kill and prove that Acer is one of the strongest foreign teams.

 

Acer are now in the lower bracket, and will be playing against mousesports next, who fell to Team Liquid 1:5 in their second round match. Be sure to tune in next week to cheer on Team Acer as they look to keep their tournament dreams alive with another strong showing in lower bracket round one!

 

source: teamliquid.net