Trace send FPX to the lower bracket with 2-0 win

Trace Esports Trace Esports China Rank #2 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) advanced to the VCT China upper bracket final after a 2-0 win over FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix China Rank #3 Autumn Kale Dunne Life Qu Donghao (瞿东豪) AAAAY Zhang Yang (张杨) BerLIN Zhang Bolin (張柏霖) Lysoar Liang Youhao (梁优好) . This victory means Trace broke out of the top-four for the first time this year, a feat they were unable to pull off in Kickoff and Stage 1.

Both teams await the result of today's second series, EDward Gaming vs. Bilibili Gaming, to determine their respective opponents for their next match on July 18. The four remaining teams have already qualified to Champions Seoul, which means they are now playing for a chance at a better group in the marquee VCT tournament.

Including the pre-partnership era, this match was the seventh time both teams played against each other. In previous encounters, FPX came out on top on four occasions, but Trace had the most recent victory, a 2-1 win in the Stage 2 group stage. Despite the victory and matching FPX's 7-3 regular season record, Trace lost out on a top seed going into playoffs due to a three-way tiebreaker, meaning they were placed in the single-elimination portion of the bracket.

During the veto, Sunset and Icebox received the initial bans. Trace chose to open the match on Ascent, while FPX opted for Haven as the second map. Bind and Abyss were banned next, leaving Lotus as the decider map. The veto slightly favored Trace, who had a higher winrate on all three maps across 2024, albeit with fewer maps played than FPX.

An early quadruple kill for FengF gave Trace the pistol round, followed by back-to-back triples from Biank and LuoK1ng . A fourth round win forced a timeout from FPX, but they were unable to stop Trace's lead from growing. Biank had earned his fourth multikill of the match before FPX called their final timeout. His Odin found three the following round.

FPX finally broke through the defense on round ten, and a well coordinated execute gave them their second round of the map. Trace used up one of their timeouts, but a fast-paced push from FPX ended the half 9-3.

LuoK1ng helped win the second pistol by recovering from a 3v4 and scoring his own 4K. A quick anti-eco gave Trace their 11th point, and unfavorable engagements from FPX quickly leveled the playing field in Trace's bonus round. In the end, Trace won Ascent 13-3, one map away from the upper final.

Biank was by far the standout player of the map, his defense helping his team gain an unreachable lead and setting them up for a quick second half. The classic Sova-Odin pairing earned him a 22/7 KD and 390 ACS. LuoK1ng was also instrumental, with 12 eliminations in the first half and seven in their attacking half, including the final two to win Ascent.

Coming into Haven, Trace once again gained an early lead, only losing three rounds in their attack. FengF opened with another 4K, but FPX was quick to answer back after a force buy on round two and the following anti-eco. FengF's early multikills allowed him to use a Lockdown and set up a favorable post-plant, equalizing the scoreline.

The attack was unrelenting, ending the half with another 9-3. FengF lead the charge this time with 18 eliminations on Killjoy, and LuoK1ng followed close behind with 15 kills and seven assists.

AAAAY continued the trend of pistol-round 4Ks, preventing a fast retake from Trace and helping win a fourth round for his team. BerLIN doubled his eliminations the next round with a Spectre triple kill, but Trace reached double digits the next round, prompting an FPX tactical pause. A BerLIN Stinger round followed, and FPX began closing the gap with another three points.

Round 21 saw Trace reach match point. Kai was able to win the Operator 1v1 against Life on C, and after minimal exploration, FPX opted to finish the round on the same site. LuoK1ng and Kai were prepared, however, and they flawlessly shut down their opponent's site take.

FPX won two more rounds, but were unable to reach overtime. A pair of early kills from Trace in A main gained them the upper hand, and heybay managed to stop FPX's disjointed reagress.

This win extends Trace's ongoing winstreak to four victories, and is an opportunity for the team to match their historical best of second place in last year's Valorant Evolution Series. Outside of Act 2 in 2023, the team has only reached the top four at Riot-run events.

Now, the only thing between Trace and a grand final appearance is one of 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 Shunji (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) or Bilibili Gaming Bilibili Gaming China Rank #5 B3ar Yang Zhanxiong (杨瞻雄) whzy Wang Haozhe (王昊哲) Levius Lu Yinzhong (卢胤中) nephh Marcus Tan Flex1n Lo Rui (罗瑞) Knight Liu Yuxiang (刘宇翔) Yosemite Wang Lei (王磊) , who are currently playing on the other side of the bracket. FPX will need to play the remaining team if they want to continue their playoff run and improve their Champions seeding.