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9 events in all, but which ones stood out?The entertainment value of any event is obviously subjective and depends on your priorities: Whereas some people prefer pro players on the analyst desk providing gameplay insights such as at the DreamLeague Major, others hope for a more light-hearted panel like the one at the recent Captains Draft. But in terms of storylines, matches and formats, several Pro Circuit events have stood out from the competition.Here's my ranking of the 9 Pro Circuit events so far, from worst to best.Sadly DotaPit's Minor was the least inspiring of the bunch despite a stellar cast of teams. The DotaPit Minor did not feature a group stage and the double elimination playoffs had THREE rounds of best-of-one in the lower bracket, spelling the end for VP and OG early on. The tournament seemed over before had it even begun.Its one saving grace was the Grand Finals where Liquid managed to come back from 0-2 down against VG to win 3-2 in just 70 minutes of game time, making Liquid the first team to win two Pro Circuit events.The timing of MDL Macau was unfortunate as it directly followed the DreamLeague Major, and much like the DotaPit Minor, could have perhaps benefited from a better format. MDL decided to throw all nine teams into a best-of-one round-robin, where only 4 teams would survive to join a single-elim playoff.The big story of MDL Macau was the resurgence of TNC Pro Team, who pulled off a brilliant 2-0 victory over Virtus Pro in the semi-finals. TNC however, were out of their depths in the Grand Finals, which made for a rather anticlimactic end to the Minor. MDL did try to spice things up a bit with some nifty neon backdrops for players, but overall it was nothing to write home about.The PGL Open Bucharest was the shortest Minor in terms of games despite taking place over 4 days. Only 13 matches were played and the tournament was held without a live audience. The event did showcase Mineski’s prowess and proved that their 2nd place at the Pro Circuit event the week before was no fluke.However, the four team single elimination playoffs were pretty uneventful and the Grand Finals ended after just 60 minutes, with Mineski going 2-0 in the BO3 Grand Finals versus LGD Gaming. It did have sick team intros though - has to be said.The Starladder Minor was the first-ever Pro Circuit event and it had plenty to love. It saw a return to action for Team Liquid, who had not competed since their historic TI7 win in the summer, as well as their rival Newbee. Whether or not the game had changed for the two teams was a big storyline and the expected narrative went up in smoke after Newbee crashed out of group B, a group which the reformed coL won.coL however were cleaved to pieces by Mushi and his Mineski, who were on FIRE in their semi-final match. Liquid went on to win the tournament in an emphatic 3-1 victory, but the promise shown by the likes of coL, Secret and Mineski had people excited for the future of the Pro Circuit.Team Secret, Team Secret, Team Secret. What a performance they had at this event. Liquid had brushed EG aside in the lower bracket finals, but the manner in which Secret 3-0ed Liquid in the Grand Finals was sublime, and the tournament in general had plenty of great matches, such as the quadruple Divine Rapier game 2 between VP and Na’Vi which opened the main event.Liquid were made mortal by Secret and with Na’vi and EG also doing well, it felt like a trip down memory lane. Taking the online stage broadcast into consideration, this event should rank higher - but probably the show's biggest weakness was its uninspiring offline broadcast, for which the talent were unfortunately clearly overworked.This was the best Pro Circuit event of the year for Chinese teams, and for Dota fans in general it was an opportunity to marvel at the ability of Newbee and SCCC. The first two games of their Grand Final match with VG were terribly one-sided, but game 3 was a joy to watch. Although it was “just” a Minor, Perfect World had both an opening ceremony, a closing ceremony, and on-site English talent including TobiWan, Capitalist and Blitz.The format was almost ideal: a best-of-two group stage into double elimination playoffs, made possible by a luxurious seven day schedule. It was without the likes of VP, Liquid, OG and Evil Geniuses, but in terms of the level of play it was superb and it did not come with many of the technical difficulties people associate with Perfect World following the infamous Shanghai Major 2 years ago.The most recent Minor was a huge success considering it was DotaCinema/Moonduck’s first time hosting a LAN event. It was also the first event to use a format other than Captains Mode. The tournament had a live audience, open Q/A sessions with teams for visitors, fluff content with players, and offered viewers at home a different kind of event.It would be a bit of a stretch to call the panel an analyst panel but it was definitely worth watching for the back and forth between the Moonduck crew. While many other events offered a very stiff and serious panel, Captains Mode let it all go, much to the delight of the fans. It also had an incredibly good Grand Finals between Team Secret and VG which went the full five games, and was easily one of the best Grand Finals on the Pro Circuit so far.ESL as usual delivered a crisp and professional broadcast for ESL One Hamburg, the first Major of the Pro Circuit. The team intros featured the players arriving in a pimped out Mercedez-Benz and the event was held inside the 16,000 seater Barclaycard Arena. ESL did a lot of things right. They hired the veteran Redeye to host the desk and OJBorg to bring the hype to the stage.There was a very vocal live audience and ESL brought in top tier talent such as SyndereN, Merlini, ODPixel and Sheever. Fortunately for ESL there were some cracking good games despite the playoffs being single elimination, the standout being the Secret versus Liquid semi-finals - the first time Liquid were laid low since their TI7 victory. ESL also had Digital Creativity Labs incorporate slick live stats and graphics into the broadcast. My only criticism of ESL One Hamburg was a lack of additional video content but, with ESL running a tight ship, that is most likely because they didn't envision any downtime.While Captains Draft did offer plenty of fun, it was not as polished as the Dota Summit 8. BTS by now has almost perfected the recipe for a good Summit, and with the recent addition of a content team led by Hot_Bid, the tournament not only had player casters but also plenty of additional content which was diverse and well produced.As the final Pro Circuit event of 2017 it was perfectly positioned on the calendar and had a rather interesting group stage format and a Wild Card stage prior to the playoffs, to ensure the best team went through. VP, the double reigning Summit champions who had not been directly invited, actually ended up winning using their coach as a stand-in. On the Pro Circuit, BTS struck the best balance so far between content and action, with the only thing missing a live crowd.Which DPC events stood out for you?