Fighting for a prize pool of USD $14,500, 8 teams will face each other over a period of a week. Today's face off has seen teams Vici Gaming and LGD.Cn proceeding into the second round of the winner's bracket, where they will face each other at 11:00 CET on 3rd March.

The third installment of the Sina Cup series has just begun, with Teams Vici Gaming, Dream Time, LGD.cn and Titan playing it out in the winner's bracket today. Following a three part format: Teams in the upper brackets will play in a best-of-three series, Teams in the lower brackets will play in a best-of-one series, and the Grand Finals will feature a best-of-five series.

Two best-of-three were played today, with the first being Vici Gaming against Dream Time at 11:00 CET, and the second being LGD.Cn against Titan at 13:00 CET. The match results saw Vici Gaming and LGD.Cn progressing to the winner's bracket semi-finals, where they will face each other at 11:00 CET on the 3rd of March.

Game 1: Vici Gaming Vs Dream Time

Picking up a Naga - Ancient Apparition combo, Team DT opted for a more unconventional line up against Vici Gaming's Nature's Prophet and Pugna pushing line-up. The early to mid game showed both teams being extremely proactive, roaming around the map and looking for kills and avoiding getting killed as well. Even as such, the first blood only came in 9 minutes into the game, as Dream Time managed to land a successful Ensnare - Cold Feet - Ice Blast combination on Vici Gaming's Venomancer.

After a few more engages, towards the mid-game in the 16 minute mark, Vici Gaming's Venomancer and Nature's Prophet managed to pull off a two man rosh, with the help of a medallion. As the game progressed, it was obvious that even though Dream Time had more kills and ganks, but Vici Gaming had the upper hand in terms of farm and map control. This came in the form of Sylar's Pugna, as he slowly chipped and pushed down towers with his Nether Blast, with the help of the Prophet.

As the game transitioned to late, as Dream Time's Luna managed to purchase a (delayed) Butterfly, it immediately saw the response in the form of two Monkey King Bars on Dragon Knight and Nature's Prophet. By then, it was just a matter of time before Vici Gaming took control of the entire game, with Dream Time's carry being shut down and nuked before he can activate his Black King Bar.

Game 2: Vici Gaming Vs Dream Time

This time, Vici Gaming picked up the Ancient Apparition for their own up against Dream Time. In addition, they opted for a strong pushing line up, with a Shadow Shaman, Alchemist, and once again, Pugna. The game went fairly well for Vici Gaming, with their solo mid Alchemist farming up very well against Dream Time's Dragon Knight. There was not much interaction between the teams in terms of kills, other than the occasional obligatory lane rotation gank attempt.

However, as the 10 minute mark passed, both teams' fairly docile performance suddenly changed, with kill after kill coming for Vici Gaming in terms of picking off Dream Time's heroes. Over extentions were severly punished, as the Blink Dagger pick up on the Shadow Shaman ensured a perfect set up for Unstable Concoction and Cold Feet. Heroes that stood far behind their tower were punished badly as well, due to the sheer range of initiation of Shadow Shaman.

That was the point where things went downhill for Dream Time, as 17 minutes into the game Alchemist had a Sange and Yasha along with a Vitality booster; Pugna purchased a Necrobook 3 in one go. The Sange and Yasha when used together with Alchemist's activated phase boots provided excellent movement speed, which allowed him to chase further and faster to throw the Unstable Concoction.

Outside their own base as Vici Gaming was pushing, even with a near perfect engage by Dream Time with a Vacuum - Wall - Stolen Earth Splitter, Vici Gaming steamrolled them, and dived into their base to teamwipe Dream Time. Realising the hopelesness of the situation, the 'GG' was called sooon after by Dream Time.

Game 1: Titan Vs LGD.Cn

Game 1 got off to a slow start, with Titan having issues with their VPN and various players. It was mentioned briefly that Yamateh had VPN problems with his VPN, and after pausing the game for close to 40 minutes, the problem was somewhat resolved. The third game of the day sees Chen being picked for the third time, this time for LGD's DD. Having a decent start in the jungle, Chen was able to pick up an early Medallion. In combination with their fellow utility heroes of Rubick, Invoker and Doom, all with efficient farm, would prove to be a lethal combination later on in the game.

Ky.Xy, as a Lone Druid in the safe lane however refused to be denied, and by the 16 minute mark had a Radiance, even as map control went awry for Titan. Slightly later however, after a number of pick offs Titan had map control on par with LGD.cn's. This was when LGD's Slark started sniping off Titan's supports, namely the leshrac with his Shadow Blade. An extremely strong combination of pounce and Invoker's cold snap. By then even as LGD managed several ganks, Titan managed to counter gank very well, especially with the Storm Spirit and the Sand King. 

The only hope for Titan was to split push with the Storm Spirit and the Spirit Bear using radiance. This was done successfully for a number of minutes, until a Blink Dagger was purchased on Doom. The Blink Dagger proved an extremely valuable tool in initiation, especially up against a Storm Spirit without a Linken's Sphere. Dooming Titan's Storm Spirit, LGD won multiple team fights with ease, and the Gold and Experience graphs tipped heavily in their favour, which ensured their victory.

Game 2: Titan Vs LGD.Cn

Game 2 of the best-of-three series saw LGD with a surprise pick: Sniper. Placing him in the middle lane against the Outworld Devourer, the Sniper managed to farm well, and dominated the lane against him. As Titan lost middle lane control, a botched gank attempt marked a sloppy start for them. Farming well, the Sniper managed to deny farm from the Outworld Devourer on many occasions, and even managed to score a few kills with the help of the Elder Titan. On the other hand, Titan's offlane failed as well as in addition to their mid lane. Even as the Sand King, Leshrac, and Venomancer tri-lane scored a first blood on the Wisp, all their bonus gold and experience went to naught as they lost their lane to Brewmaster and Wisp later in the laning phase. In the meantime, the Enchantress spent a large amount of time in the jungle, ganking occasionally and successfully and getting her items up.

As Outworld Devourer was denied farm by the Sniper, Titan was unable to get their Mekanism up and running early in the game. On the other hand, Sniper managed to farm really well, coming up with a Yasha, Treads, and Desolator at only 19 minutes. Although the the lack of disables for LGD.Cn was mentioned by the casters, it was somewhat of a small issue as they had the high damage output from the well farmed heroes such as Brewmaster and Sniper. Combining his long range with the Elder Titan's Ancestral Spirit, he had vision of Titan's heroes and managed to pick them off one by one. The Natural Order contributed largely too, as the decreased armour and magic resistance of the affected heroes gave Sniper the chance to kite and Assasinate them from afar for extra damage.

LGD's Brewmaster was able to farm up an Aghanim's Scepter as well and together with his Primal Split, Sniper's right click damage took down Titan's carry, Gyrocopter with ease. Even as Gyrocopter farmed up a Black King Bar, it had little effect as most of LGD's damage was physical. Dying multiple times, Titan eventually called the 'GG' as LGD took down their base and rax, after a teamwipe.