Evil Geniuses, NewRoSoft, yoe Flash Wolves, and mYinsanity were victorious at the end of a two day qualifier, besting twelve other teams to earn spots in Acer TeamStory Cup Season 3. They will join eight remaining teams from the previous season to complete the full, twelve-team roster for the season.
With the all-kill format in place, the qualifier allowed for spectacular individual performances and surprising results. NewRoSoft's Welmu scored one of the biggest upsets of the ATC season before it even began, all-killing the free agent coalition known as the "Bounty Hunters." Consisting of players like HyuN, First, YoDa, and MC, the Bounty Hunters had been considered one of the stronger teams in the league, but instead tripped over at their first hurdle.
mYi's jjakji had the best overall performance in the qualifiers, winning an incredible nine games to lead his team into the main tournament. yoe.San continued to play well in ATC after being Season 2's top mercenary, this time helping his original team yoe Flash Wolves through the qualifiers with six wins.
Jaedong showed that Evil Geniuses' SC2 division was still a competitive force, scoring an all-kill and getting his team through the qualifier with the help of JYP.
The ATC qualifier was not without some controversy. The "Bounty Hunters," a coalition of free agents represented by the GEM agency, brought up questions of whether or not an agency could be considered team for the sake of serious competition.
XMG's partnership with the CSA agency also put a spotlight on the issue well, with XMG seemingly using a loophole to add viOLet to their roster in spite of the removal of ATC's old "joker" rule (which had previously allowed a team to field one outside player).
The final list of teams in ATC Season 3 is as follows:
Team Acer
Axiom
Team Liquid
mousesports
Millenium
Complexity-Dignitas
Empire-Fnatic
Invictus Gaming
Evil Geniuses
mYinsanity
NewRoSoft
yoe Flash Wolves
Team Acer
Axiom
Team Liquid
mousesports
Millenium
Complexity-Dignitas
Empire-Fnatic
Invictus Gaming
Evil Geniuses
mYinsanity
NewRoSoft
yoe Flash Wolves