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) won their upper bracket final match 2-0 in the VCT China 2024 Stage 2 playoffs, securing their spot in the regional finals and improving their seeding at Champions 2024.

Despite Trace Esports Trace Esports China Rank #4 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) ' form in Stage 2 of the regular season, the team still has yet to take a single map off of EDG in 2024.

The first half on Sunset was a playing ground for the updated roster of EDG. ZmjjKK on Neon fried Trace Esports en route to a 10-2 lead at the half. EDG won both pistol rounds and converted their defense-side bonus to win map one exceptionally, 13-2. Since the playoffs began, EDG have run the Team Heretics Neon composition on Sunset to much success.

Abyss was next up in the series, making its debut in the Chinese region, and ZmjjKK surprised everyone by picking Yoru. EDG ran double duelist against the double smokes from Trace. Trace started their attack by utilizing their smokes to facilitate post-plants. EDG then won their defensive rounds off of their superior aim and trademark aggression.

Smoggy goes down with his ship.

Smoggy had multiple highlights across the EDG defense, as he was able to play more loosely when he moved from Omen to Jett. Bolstered by a strong Yoru from ZmjjKK, EDG entered the half up 7-5. After winning the second pistol round on Abyss, EDG mirrored their second half on Sunset and were perfect to close out the map 13-5.

It was a quick and easy win for EDG, even with ZmjKK playing Neon and Yoru instead of his standard Jett and Raze. His 39 kills, 11 first kills, and 327 ACS led both teams as EDG walked their way into the finals.

This win locks EDG into the first or second seed heading into Champions 2024. EDG will face the winner of the lower finals, while Trace will have one more chance to win and rematch against EDG for some potential revenge before heading off to Seoul.