FPX reverse sweep Trace to make VCT China finals

FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix China Unranked 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) have made their third VCT China final of the year after reverse sweeping Trace Esports Trace Esports China Unranked 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 a 3-2 victory. The BerLIN -led squad move on to play EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Unranked 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) in the grand finals.

Despite impressing at Masters Shanghai, FPX failed to carry this success into the domestic scene with the squad recording six series losses throughout stage 2. Two of those losses have come at the hands of Trace.

In contrast, Trace have only improved over the year and qualified for their first ever international event in Champions 2024 after being a single series away from qualifying for both previous Masters events. Kai and FengF have proven themselves as a formidable duo atop the Chinese scene comparable to EDG's ZmjjKK and Smoggy .

The series kicked off on Lotus, FPX's first pick. Trace's individuals quickly brought the heat into the series with a 3K from LuoK1ng to take the pistol followed by a hero 4K 1v2 clutch from Kai to take away FPX's bonus. FPX continued to opt into a triple controller composition featuring no Sentinel and Trace's attack revolved around exploiting this weakness.

Back-to-back multikill rounds from Life brought some momentum back into FPX's sails and forced Trace down to an eco to cut the lead to 5-3. LuoK1ng responded by singlehandedly opening up the A site with a 3K and closing out the round with an ace. The former TYLOO TYLOO China Unranked 5CM Ding Xuanpeng (丁宣鹏) Ninebody Ding Yi (丁毅) coldfish Xiang Pengzhi (向鹏志) slowly Kelun Sun (孙科伦) hfmi0dzjc9z7 Zhang Juncheng (张峻程) Eren Yang Zhengwei (杨曾威) player has continued to impress for a Trace that has struggled to put extra firepower behind the stars of FengF and Kai. The half was closed by a 1v1 clutch from heybay that provided Trace a brief lead heading into the second half at 7-5.

FPX's comp truly blossomed on the attack with the post-plant strengths of Astra and Viper coming into play. With Life now fully online Trace called their final timeout at 11-10 and destroyeR 's words provided the support Trace needed to close out the map 13-11 after a 1v1 defuse clutch from heybay.

The duo of Kai and LuoK1ng excelled on Lotus with 273 and 197 ACS respectively. Kai's aggressive Sentinel play continued to provide dividends for his team with a 100% first engagement win rate at 3-0. Despite the pair being the only Trace players to end the map with a positive K/D, both Biank and heybay provided high-impact kills and clutches that were vital to closing out the map in regulation.

Trace once again excelled in the early rounds after moving onto Ascent with six straight before their opponents could respond. FPX once again opted not to run a Sentinel and instead inserted BerLIN's Astra into the standard meta composition. Following a timeout, FPX incorporated a significant amount of aggression into their defense which Trace struggled to deal with. An attacking Operator on Kai did little to quell impressive performances from AAAAY , Life, and Autumn as FPX accrued six straight rounds of their own to close the half at 6-6.

The second half was chaotic to start as a fourth pistol was gifted to Trace thanks to a 4K from Kai before clutches were traded by Biank and BerLIN. Once the funds were available for Trace the game began to stabilize with the Operator and Odin on Kai and Biank allowing for standard defensive setups to excel. Trace fought past their initial hiccups to close out the second map 13-8 and put themselves on series point with a 2-0 lead.

Kai continued to dominate with 26 kills and 187 ADR on Jett. This time around it was Biank who joined Kai atop the scoreboard for Trace with the pair being the only two Trace players to record above 150 ADR.

Abyss followed and Trace looked entirely out of their element in the early rounds. The new map acted as a playground for FPX's signature unique compositions and style with the first Fade pick on Abyss in VCT from AAAAY. Lysoar 's Cypher went unanswered by the attackers as FPX cruised to a 6-0 lead. After using both timeouts Trace managed to recover the deficit by shifting their focus away from the A site to keep FPX's lead close at 7-5 before the end of the half.

Another FPX pistol all but secured the map win as a 9-5 lead was too much for Trace to overcome. FPX's defaults and executes looked much more prepared compared to Trace's and there was a clear game plan being carried out in every round. Life's Yoru ran over the defenses and a 1v2 from Autumn in round 20 put FPX on match point at 12-8. A quick B execute followed and FPX cleaned up the map 13-8 to keep their finals dreams alive.

Life's entry Yoru excelled at exploiting the weaknesses in a Trace that were inexperienced on the new terrain with 21 kills and 198 ADR. On the defense, it was Lysoar's Cypher who dominated the sites with varied setups that were impossible for Trace to counter.

Trace debuted a brand new Deadlock composition on Bind and made use of several different GravNet set-plays that caught FPX off guard. Despite being at frequent man-disadvantages, FPX were able to rely on their individuals to drag them to round wins. Life and Lysoar pulled out multiple miracle multikills to save FPX and keep the first half close at 6-6.

FPX turned the game around on the attack with six rounds straight after losing the pistol to reach map point at 12-8. Trace mustered up just a single round before FPX closed the map out at 13-9 and tied the series at 2-2. Trace's individuals started to cool off come the later rounds and the more experienced team won out.

Lysoar made up for a weaker performance from Life with 25 kills and 297 ACS on Brimstone. FPX also benefited greatly from a 64% opening engagement win rate.

Haven was left as map five and FPX carried their momentum to victory. Back and forth rounds proceeded a Trace pistol including a 1v2 from Autumn, 1v1 from BerLIN, and absurd defuse 1v2 from Life. A solid hold from Lysoar and Autumn on the C site allowed FPX to tie up the score at 4-4. Trace could rely on a superb performance from Kai with a 20-8 K/D in the first half to ensure a 6-6 scoreline.

Trace appeared fully dejected come the end of the series as FPX overwhelmed sites with their unique combination of Breach and KAY/O utility. FPX dominated the attack side of the map with six of eight rounds in the final half. Their individuals refused to give up and manifested the reverse sweep with four clutches in the final map as AAAAY closed out the series at 12-8 up with a 1v2 to steal the series 3-2.

Despite losing the map, Kai's 28 kills topped the server as his Operator provided significant value in both halves. FPX could thank AAAAY for an excellent late-game performance on Breach, putting up a team-high 21 kills and the game-winning 1v2 clutch.

FPX will face off against EDG in their third VCT China final of the year tomorrow.

Trace have been eliminated from the VCT China Stage 2 playoffs but will continue to ply their trade at Champions 2024 in August.