The first lower bracket matchups of the VCT China 2025 Stage 1 playoffs are done, with Dragon Ranger Gaming Dragon Ranger Gaming China Rank #7 Flex1n Lo Rui (罗瑞) vo0kashu Ilya Ushakov Akeman Zhang Haoran (张浩然) Nicc Shao Yi-qun (邵逸群) SpiritZ1 Lin Dingyu (林定宇) and Trace Esports Trace Esports China Rank #5 LuoK1ng Zhang Zhanpeng (张展鹏) Kai Lu Zhinan (卢智楠) MarT1n Zhuo Zhengjie (卓政杰) FengF Song Xuefeng (宋学锋) Biank Zhong Jianfei (钟剑飞) keeping their Masters Toronto hopes alive. This also means that both Titan Esports Club Titan Esports Club China Rank #12 Haodong Guo Haodong (郭浩东) lucas Yunkun Lu (路昀昆) Abo Han Bohao (韩博皓) TvirusLuke Chen Cheng-ching (陈振庆) Coco Ding Dajian (丁达建) and Nova Esports Nova Esports China Rank #11 monk Wang Haoyu (王浩宇) SWERL Ali Kobraee CB Wang Qingchuan (王庆川) Ezeir Zhao Zejun (赵泽骏) GuanG Guang Honglin (光洪霖) are officially out of playoff contention and will not be at Masters Toronto.

Dragon Ranger Gaming eliminates Titan Esports Club

DRG and TEC brought fans the first three-map series of the playoffs, and the game started with a statement win from TEC, who looked like the stronger of the two upper bracket teams that fell into lowers.

Starting on Ascent, TEC used a double Initiator composition with Tejo, KAY/O, and Deadlock while DRG opted for Yoru, Vyse, and Fade. The defense side for TEC was stalwart, as DRG could only win one round on their attack side. Coco and TvirusLuke were frying whoever fought them, as Rb provided the needed support with flashes and scans. Then, after winning the second half pistol, TEC ended Ascent quickly at 13-1.

Considering how well TEC played Wolves in their loss the other day, this performance made sense, but the next two maps were nothing if not close. Fracture started tight, ended at the half 7-5 in favor of DRG, and stretched to overtime.

Rb gets four on a late execute from DRG.

SpiritZ1 was barely winning the Raze duel, while Nicc stepped up on Breach to lead the map with 26 kills and a 1.46 match rating, helping DRG win 14-12 and tie the series 1-1.

The series came down to Lotus, and it did not disappoint. This was the longest map of the day, as well as the longest map of these playoffs so far. The compositions remained different, with Tejo and Omen as the only two overlapping agents between the teams. Both Omens, Rb and Flex1n , led their respective teams as they fought tooth and nail for every round. DRG rebounded from an 8-4 deficit at the half to take the map to OT, and took the lead in OT four times before finally getting the 18-16 win.

Rb was the star player even in the loss, ending with a series-leading 1.27 match rating, 63 kills, and 156 ADR.

With this win, Dragon Ranger Gaming moves on in the lower bracket and will face the loser of the Bilibili Gaming Bilibili Gaming China Rank #4 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) and Wolves Esports Wolves Esports China Rank #3 SiuFatBB Pong Gaa Hei (庞加曦) Yuicaw Huang Yung-chieh (黃湧傑) Spring Liu Jiunting (刘俊霆) Lysoar Liang Youhao (梁优好) Juicy Tyler James Aeria upper bracket match. TEC is eliminated from the tournament and, by extension, Masters Toronto, and will return in Stage 2.

Trace Esports sweeps Nova Esports

After making a name for themselves both in the group stage and the regional tournament during Bangkok, Nova Esports had a tough showing in the Stage 1 playoffs, and Trace Esports took advantage of it in the lower bracket.

Starting in Split, Nova ran Skye, Deadlock, and Vyse, while Trace chose the standard Yoru, Breach, and Tejo composition and stuck to it for the whole series. Trace didn't have the best defensive side, but their attack was strong enough to compensate. As the map went on, CB proved to be the only player matching Trace's firepower. Both Biank and Kai were hitting some nasty shots to finish the map 13-9 after going down 7-5 at the half.

That attack side half from Nova on Split proved to be their only strong half of the series, as they swapped every agent for Lotus while Trace kept their comp the exact same. That comfort on each agent was one of the reasons why Trace dominated, as two different Trace players stepped up to lead the way. This time, LuoK1ng and heybay were the stars, as a 9-3 half quickly turned into a 13-4 map win and the quick sweep of the day.

Across both maps, LuoK1ng ended with the highest match rating at 1.42, 36 kills, and 265 ACS.

LuoK1ng cleans up Nova on Lotus.

This win moves Trace further in the lower bracket, and they will face the loser of the Xi Lai Gaming Xi Lai Gaming China Rank #2 Viva Lifan Ran (冉立凡) NoMan James Man Rarga Arthur Churyumov happywei Deng Minwei (邓闵维) coconut Colin Patrick Chung (钟弘祖) and EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) zjc Zhang Juncheng (张峻程) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) CHICHOO Wan Shunzhi (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) upper bracket match. As for Nova, their tournament and Masters Toronto hopes end here, and they will return to regional play in Stage 2.