Then again pasta, there's an old addage that applies to this as it does any other competitive game/sport etc.
The better your opponent the better you play. With no disprespect intended to ace, it may have been slow because ally couldn't find himself playing at a higher level because ace wasn't at a higher level.
I mean, i'm obviously not amazing, but i'm pretty **** good. When I play Culex, we always go stock for stock with him most often being the winner, and they're epic matches. Yet if I play a dude like half my skill level or less I find myself not doing the same things i'd do against Culex, because they won't work on someone who doesn't play the way I expect them to. and often enough I end up going stock for stock with these people.
Even you pasta, did you feel you played better against Culex? And then played a little sloppily against me in that MM?