FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix China Rank #5 Autumn Kale Dunne Life Qu Donghao (瞿东豪) AAAAY Zhang Yang (张杨) BerLIN Zhang Bolin (張柏霖) yosemite Wang Lei (王磊) and EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 S1Mon Hsien Meng-Hsun (谢孟勋) ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) CHICHOO Wan Shunzhi (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) have continued their reign as the international representatives for China with clean 2-0 wins over Dragon Ranger Gaming Dragon Ranger Gaming China Rank #13 nizhaoTZH Tang Zehao (唐哲昊) vo0kashu Ilya Ushakov Shion7 Zhang Haozhe (张昊泽) Cangshu Zheng Yujun (手郑宇峻) Nicc Shao Yi-qun (邵逸群) TvirusLuke Chen Cheng-ching SpiritZ1 Lin Dingyu (林定宇) and Trace Esports Trace Esports China Rank #3 LuoK1ng Zhang Zhanpeng (张展鹏) Kai Lu Zhinan (卢智楠) FengF Song Xuefeng (宋学锋) heybay Ho Shun Hei Biank Zhong Jianfei (钟剑飞) Zhao to qualify for Masters Madrid 2024.

FPX comfortably take care of DRG 2-0

FunPlus Phoenix have once again qualified for an international event. Despite the squad's young average age of 20.4, Australian rookie Autumn is the only newcomer to the international scene. The team's core of AAAAY , BerLIN , and Lysoar previously attended Champions 2023, while Life played with EDG at Champions 2022 and Attacking Soul Esports Attacking Soul Esports Inactive monk Wang Haoyu (王浩宇) Yuicaw Huang Yung-chieh (黃湧傑) YHchen Chen Yuhan (陳昱瀚) Zero1 Meng Zhen Ren (任梦真) at Masters Tokyo 2023.

Dragon Ranger Gaming can be proud of having made it the farthest of any Ascension graduates after G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #1 jawgemo Alexander Mor trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio JonahP Jonah Pulice leaf Nathan Orf were eliminated in the Play-In stage, while BLEED BLEED Asia-Pacific Rank #21 and Gentle Mates Gentle Mates Europe Rank #23 K4DAVRA Thomas Johner were eliminated in groups without a series win.

The first series of the day opened on Ascent. FPX got off to a strong 4-0 start after a pistol win and bonus round conversion. This forced an early timeout from DRG head coach LT that ultimately proved futile as FPX read the situation perfectly, executing a full retake setup on the B site to gain a 6-0 lead. DRG found relief after a 1v3 clutch from nizhaoTZH gave way to take their first round and gain a slight bit of momentum heading into the second half with an 8-4 deficit.

DRG hoped to make a comeback in the second half with a pistol win and a bonus round conversion to keep the score even at 8-8. Life's Yoru came alive in the map's later rounds as FPX manipulated the DRG defense perfectly to take sites with ease. Strong individual performances from the entire FPX squad secured strong post-plants throughout the half. Hero plays from TvirusLuke and TZH provided little resistance to a dominant FPX that quickly found themselves on map point at 12-10. FPX closed out Ascent with a clean and simple A rush to take a 1-0 series lead.

The duelist duo of Life and autumn dominated the server with 269 and 228 ACS respectively.

Breeze began similarly to Ascent, with FPX getting off to a flying 7-0 start. DRG seemed to have no answer for FPX's unorthodox Astra comp as Life's Jett was given space to run rampant across the map. A 1v2 from Dingwei brought DRG their first round, however, this would prove to be a minor footnote in an overall commanding map from FPX. DRG found themselves on the backfoot of a 9-3 scoreline coming into half-time with all of their stars having gone missing. vo0kashu 's lurks couldn't find any impact on the attack and TvirusLuke's entries were quickly mitigated by FPX.

DRG managed to take a laboured pistol round thanks to a 1v2 from TZH, but continued to struggle come the gun rounds. Life found an impressive 4k on DRG's bonus round to bring FPX back on track to Masters qualification. FPX's heavy mid control went unanswered by DRG as the favorites proceeded to drop just a single round before ending the map 13-6 and the series 2-0.

FPX have qualified for Masters Madrid 2024 and will face off against EDG in the VCT Kickoff Finals for three VCT championship points, the only points available in the Kickoff.

EDG handled Trace 2-0 to make Madrid

EDward Gaming will make their way onto the international stage once again after a 2-0 victory over Trace Esports. EDG have participated in four international events in the past and made a breakout run at Masters Tokyo 2023, taking wins over Natus Vincere Natus Vincere Europe Rank #20 ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky , T1 T1 Korea Rank #3 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Meteor Kim Tae-O (김태오) Sylvan Ko Young-sub (고영섭) BuZz Yu Byung-chul (유병철) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) , and LOUD LOUD Brazil Rank #2 dgzin Douglas Silva v1nny Vínicius Gonçalves pANcada Bryan Luna tuyz Arthur Andrade cauanzin Cauan Pereira .

Trace qualified for the Playoffs via the Play-In stage, playing 15 maps over the course of the Kickoff compared to EDG's five. The heybay -led squad eliminated Bilibili Gaming Bilibili Gaming China Rank #2 B3ar Yang Zhanxiong (杨瞻雄) whzy Wang Haozhe (王昊哲) Levius Lu Yinzhong (卢胤中) rushia Wang Xiaojie (王晓杰) nephh Marcus Tan Knight Liu Yuxiang (刘宇翔) and Titan Esports Club Titan Esports Club China Rank #20 AC Wei Jiacong (韦家聪) Haodong Guo Haodong (郭浩东) Abo Han Bohao (韩博皓) kawaii Piao Min (朴民) Rb Goo Sang-min (구상민) en route to the playoffs and have ended their Kickoff run at 3-4th place.

Trace started strong on Sunset, neutralizing EDG in the first two gun rounds after a pistol loss to take a brief 3-2 lead. EDG responded with a force-buy and a timeout from coach AfteR to tie up the score at 3-3. Despite brief hiccups, EDG were largely in control for the remainder of the half with strong performances coming from the trio of ZmjjKK , CHICHOO , and Smoggy to secure a narrow 7-5 lead.

EDG once again picked up the pistol and conversion to take a comfortable 9-5 lead before Trace could fully come back into the game. A 3v5 win in the bonus and an excellent first gun round for Trace heavily shifted the momentum of the map in the underdog's favour. A missed Showstopper from ZmjjKK's Raze spelled disaster for EDG and allowed Trace to even the score at 9-9. High-impact rounds from Kai and heybay put Trace on the edge of map point at 11-9 before EDG found success in a half-buy round off the back of a 3k from nobody .

Clean trades and plenty of proactivity from EDG put the Chinese heavyweights on map point at 12-11 and into a 4v2 situation in the 24th round. Despite Trace being gifted overtime by a miraculous 4k from YOU , another 4k from ZmjjKK at 13-12 allowed EDG to close out the first map by the narrowest of margins at 14-12. Fan-favorite ZmjjKK ended the first map topping the server with 308 ACS and 26 kills.

Unfortunately for the underdogs, Bind would prove to be a much more one-sided affair. A pistol win for Trace was immediately met with an eco win from EDG owing to a hero Bulldog buy from ZmjjKK's KAY/O. EDG's economy was now thriving after the thrifty and a win in the following gun round led the way for a dominant first half from the favorites. Clutch plays came the way of EDG from the likes of nobody and Haodong , while ZmjjKK carried over his strong performance from Sunset to take the first half 8-4.

EDG conceded the second pistol to Trace but would not falter for the remainder of the series. Every remaining round went EDG's way in convincing fashion as Trace had little to show on their opponent's map pick. An ice-cold defuse from Smoggy prevented a 1v3 clutch from heybay to put EDG on map and series point at 12-6. Haodong's squad proceeded to take the following round without breaking a sweat to secure the series 2-0 and qualify for Masters Madrid.

EDG will play in the VCT China Kickoff finals versus FPX tomorrow to take home three VCT championship points, the only points available in the Kickoff.