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 moved on to the upper finals at the VCT China Stage 2 playoffs after a 2-1 win that sent 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) to the lower bracket.

EDG's win extends their win streak over BLG to eight, with a total map record of 19-3. The only other times the latter were able to steal a map were at last year's VCT Champions China Qualifier and at the world championship about a month later, taking one map in each meeting.

Today's performance could have been a display of dominance from the Chinese kings, as they dominated their Sunset pick with a 13-5 win. Knight thought differently though, and found an ace on Bind that spurred BLG on to level the series with a 13-7 and trigger the Lotus decider.

EDG quickly returned to form, though, accruing a 9-3 halftime lead on Lotus. Bilibili fought hard to come back into the game, eventually reaching double digits. It was at that moment Smoggy landed a 3K in a retake, enabling his team to close it out thereafter with a 13-10 scoreline.

A great contrast between the silent RyanCentral and the excited Chinese casters

EDG's Sunset performance is largely owed to ZmjjKK who, despite only downing five more than teammate nobody , put up a +10 differential and eight opening frags, nearly as many as the entire server combined. On Lotus, he combined with nobody and Smoggy for 64 kills, 12 kills shy of matching all of BLG put together.

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes, and EDward Gaming beating Bilibili Gaming. Going on a year and a half of facing each other — having met eight times since March 2023 — the former have always come out on top.

The matchup is an especially rough draw for the latter, who stand on just three map wins to EDG's 19. Conversely, it's a point of consistency for EDG, the perennial kings of China who have never taken their eyes off the ball.

Today's win is a step towards yet another regional title. Overall, it would be the 12th Chinese title EDG would be able to add to their trophy case.

But it will not be that simple. BLG still have a fighting chance in the lower bracket, where they face 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) tomorrow. EDG themselves still have to go through at least two matches before they can lift that trophy.

EDG return to the server tomorrow to face 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) in the upper final at 7 p.m. China Standard Time.