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 castersEDG'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.