After weeks of build-up, Masters Bangkok is finally upon us. The first international of 2025 kicked off with a banger between the world champions, 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) , and EMEA's runners-up Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #12 paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski kamyk Maks Rychlewski nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak , in which the former came out on top 2-0.

It had been over a year since EDG and Team Liquid met each other on the server. In fact, it was the match with the most history of the opening round. In three matches between Champions 2022 and 2023's AFTV Valorant League, Liquid has come out on top every time.

But the EDG that Liquid faced today was an entirely different beast, one that valued consistency over impulsive changes and just a few months ago lifted the Champions trophy.

EDG posing in Bangkok Photo by Yicun Liu/Riot Games)

For half of the match, though, Liquid put up a fight worthy of an international title contender. They were able to constantly keep EDG at bay throughout the first half, which ended 6-6, and kept themselves in play in the second half, leading to an overtime.

Smoggy was the driver of that overtime. S1Mon baited his teammate and let him stick the defuse, hidden inside of a smoke against three of his opponents. Liquid missed their shots, utility, and a Gravity Well, letting Smoggy grant his team a map point.

That map point would not materialize for a while, as the two teams jumped back and forth across five overtimes. After around 15 minutes of overtime play, EDG got the needed advantage with a B hit and a strong mid defense, which gave them an 18-16 win on Liquid's pick.

The result of such a long overtime was four players dropping over 30 kills. CHICHOO was the one with the highest numbers — 36 kills, 287 ACS, and 1.41 rating — and was succeeded by Liquid's kamo . He dropped 34 on Yoru and combined for a nearly-identical 1.39 rating, but accrued seven opening frags to CHICHOO's two.

Losing Split seemed to hamper Liquid, who were unable to piece together many rounds on Pearl. They actually started out ahead 3-1, but star ZmjjKK kept his team in contention with a 4K in the fifth round. A few rounds later, Smoggy was the one to drop four and turn things around for the world champions.

After Smoggy's 4K, which came in the ninth round, EDG was unstoppable. Liquid only won a single round after that. By that time, EDG had already reached match point. With nine elimination wins in 13 rounds, the Chinese roster took a 13-6 victory that closed out the match.

The numbers didn't reflect such a dominant result. The two teams were separated by 13 kills in total, and every player but one racked up 10 or more kills. The main outlier was CHICHOO who, having already carried EDG on Split, did so again.

He had the highest rating, ACS, kills, kill differential, and KAST of the entire field on Pearl. The only stats in which he didn't top the charts were assists — where paTiTek got 14 — as well as first bloods and ADR — two categories where teammate ZmjjKK leapfrogged him.

Pros don't fake.

This opening match was, if anything, a promising showing for the Dark Horse. EDward Gaming are the world champions and have lost only a handful of maps since the year kicked off. They also had twice as much time to prepare for Bangkok, as the China Kickoff finished two weeks before EMEA's.

Liquid's presence in Bangkok is already an important feat, as it is their return to LAN for the first time in a long time, but they are not down and out.

Due to the Swiss stage format, Liquid still has a fighting chance. They will return on Feb. 23 to face one of today's losers, and then have to win a third match if they are to remain in title contention.

After the win over Liquid, EDG are sitting pretty one win away from the playoffs. They will fight for that slot come Feb. 22, but that's not where the champions' eyes are set.

EDward Gaming have only lifted one international trophy, and it was the biggest of them all. If EDG have come back to LAN with their Champions 2024 form, it's just a matter of time until they lift the Masters Bangkok trophy. For EDG, this is just the beginning.