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) has defeated Bilibili Gaming Bilibili Gaming China Rank #5 whzy Wang Haozhe (王昊哲) Levius Lu Yinzhong (卢胤中) rushia Wang Xiaojie (王晓杰) nephh Marcus Tan Knight Liu Yuxiang (刘宇翔) 3-0 in the Kickoff China lower final, confirming their appearance at Masters: Bangkok and advancing to the event's grand final. They will next play against 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) for the Kickoff title. Bilibili is eliminated from the event, earning 1 Championship point but missing out from their first-ever Masters appearance.

The matchup is one EDward Gaming has dominated in the past, having won every single encounter and only losing three maps in eight series. The teams have only played each other twice since the beginning of VCT China, with their most recent encounter taking place in the Stage 2 playoffs.

In the map veto, the teams banned their respective permabans, with Bilibili taking away Fracture and EDG removing Abyss. Bilibili chose Pearl to open the series, while EDG picked their favored map for this event, Haven. Split remained as the fifth and final map, should the series have gone the distance.

Starting off on Pearl, EDG won the pistol round, but it was Bilibili who took an early lead off the back of multiple rushia triple kills. EDward Gaming's timeout let the Champions get a couple of rounds, but whzy matched the opposing Neon and found a 3K of his own to set the score 5-3. ZmjjKK continued exploiting Neon's agility to find early advantages for his team, ending the half with 4 kills and 15 eliminations.

EDG came back into the map after winning back-to-back rounds.

rushia helped recover the second pistol round, setting his team on track to take the lead and force out EDG's timeout. Bilibili's strong defense put them up 11-8, but they allowed EDG enough leeway to reach double digits. A solid defense from ZmjjKK helped his team reach match point, but EDG returned to the less-reinforced B site, forcing overtime after a strong performance from ZmjjKK and nobody . CHICHOO and Smoggy held against Bilibili's B push, and a mid-to-B execute ended the map 14-12 in EDG's favor.

As with the first map, Bilibili found an early lead on Haven, breaking EDG's 26 round streak. It took a pair of thrifty wins for EDward Gaming to find a way back in the game, eventually tying the scoreline and forcing out BLG's tactical timeout. Individual showcases from ZmjjKK and Smoggy kept EDG in the lead, sending the map to the break at 7-5.

A fast round funnels Bilibili into ZmjjKK 's crosshair.

EDG followed up their attacking pistol win with a low buy, and their gamble paid off by 0.12 seconds. They then played an aggressive round to help ZmjjKK net an ace. Bilibili struggled with their economy the remainder of the half, unable to recover even after a consolation round courtesy of a nephh 3K. Smoggy all but walked into A to win the final round against BLG's broken buy, ending the second map 13-6.

Bilibili looked poised to win the pistol round on Lotus, but S1Mon and ZmjjKK finished off a 2v3 to recover. EDG maintained the advantage, with Bilibili eventually finding a point by punishing early pushes and investing a pair of ultimates. For the rest of the half, EDG anticipated their opponent's gameplans, mainly forcing early A main fights and crunching BLG's mid execute.

After losing a round, EDG counters Bilibili's plan in order to stay ahead.

BLG stayed alive after a pistol win, but EDG's lead was too large to overcome. Bilibili called a pause after 11-5, which also allowed EDG preparation for their final rounds. In the end, nobody capped off the final round with a 3K, Smoggy assisting him to win a 2v2 and end the map 13-5.

The victory marks EDG's eighth win against Bilibili, and sets the 2024 Champions up for revenge against Trace Esports, the team that knocked them down to the lower bracket. Bilibili will return to competition until Stage 1, but their Kickoff placement grants them a Championship point, which will aid them in Champions Paris qualification.