The first day of the VCT China 2025 Stage 2 playoffs is complete, with the first two upper bracket games revealing which teams will face off against their respective one-seed opponents for much higher stakes.

Both matches were sweeps, but the consequences of these two wins could significantly alter the outcome of who makes it to the Champions in 2025.

TYLOO defeats All Gamers with dominant Lotus

Starting the playoffs, we had two teams trying to make their mark after a much-improved Stage 2 performance. Both TYLOO TYLOO China Rank #8 Scales Zhang Zhen (张震) Ninebody Ding Yi (丁毅) sword9 Li Wei (李卫) slowly Kelun Sun (孙科伦) Yoyo Xu Youxiang (徐佑翔) and All Gamers All Gamers China Rank #14 Shr1mp Yang Yong (杨勇) deLb Delbert Tanoto Spitfires Xin Mingyan (辛明阳) HanChe Huang Jingxuan (黄敬轩) K1ra Huang Zhihao (黄志豪) ended Stage 2 at 3-2, and their matchup against each other began on Lotus.

This map was AG's pick, but TYLOO were the ones to take an early lead by winning pistol and converting the bonus. Two players on TYLOO, slowly on Omen and Yoyo on Raze, both soared in the first half as the lead only grew. The double Duelist composition from AG struggled heavily against the more standard double Controller comp from TYLOO, as the half ended 10-2.

AG needed a big comeback to keep Lotus in reach, but another pistol loss was the nail in the coffin for map one. Even after winning a force round on round 14, TYLOO took it right back to finish the map 13-3.

Icebox was the first opportunity for TYLOO to win the series, but the team wasn't at the same level of dominance as Lotus. Both teams ran mirror compositions, with double Controller, Jett, and Killjoy to try and hold the defensive sites. AG were able to win their first pistol round, with Spitfires leading the way to their first lead of the series. That lead only lasted a little bit, as TYLOO won an important round down 4v5 around a Viper ultimate from Yoyo. The teams traded rounds, ending the half tied at 6-6.

With the sides flipping, AG once again needed to win pistol to try and get a lead, and TYLOO denied that thanks to sword9 and Yoyo. To rub salt in the wound, slowly got an Outlaw ace on the eco round from AG, thanks to two collaterals.

AG was able to stop the bonus conversion from TYLOO to keep the map within reach. In fact, after that Outlaw ace, AG won five of the next six rounds to go up 11-9. It looked like AG was winning map two and bringing the series to Haven, with Spitfires and HanChe leading the way. Yet, 11 was all they would get, as TYLOO would both stall plants and stop aggressive plays from AG to win Icebox 13-11 and the series 2-0.

The star for this playoff win was Yoyo, who impressed on both Raze and Viper to win two very different ways. He ended the series with a 1.29 match rating, 37 kills, 270 ACS, 85% KAST, and 180 ADR.

With this result, TYLOO will face Bilibili Gaming Bilibili Gaming China Rank #2 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) in the upper bracket semifinals, as AG will match up against FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix China Rank #10 BerLIN Zhang Bolin (張柏霖) Autumn Kale Dunne Life Qu Donghao (瞿东豪) AAAAY Zhang Yang (张杨) yosemite Wang Lei (王磊) in the lower bracket.

Dragon Ranger Gaming sends EDward Gaming to lowers

This matchup of Dragon Ranger Gaming Dragon Ranger Gaming China Rank #4 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 EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #3 ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) CHICHOO Wan Shunzhi (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) Jieni7 Zhang Juntai (张君泰) was also a matchup of two 3-2 teams from opposing groups, but all eyes and pressure were on EDG. Not only have they struggled to replicate the regional or international performances they were known for in 2024, but finding their fifth player has proved to be tougher than anyone expected. New pickup zjc was quickly swapped back with Jieni7 , and DRG would be their first test if they were back in form.

Starting a series on Lotus for the second time today, EDG won the first pistol thanks to ZmjjKK and his trademark aggression, as he also learned his 2000 kill milestone, the first player in China to do so. Both teams ran a double Duelist comp, with nobody on Yoru to face off against Akeman on Neon and SpiritZ1 on Yoru. EDG started well, with trades coming in and a bonus conversion under their belt, reaching a 4-0 lead. However, even with ZmjjKK leading the way with 17 kills in the first half, DRG kept their composure and worked well as a team to reach the half only down 7-5.

Now, DRG was on the attack side with two duelists, and despite EDG winning the second pistol, DRG were able to build momentum by denying the bonus conversion. Just after, Akeman showed just why his Neon should be feared, with four kills to shock EDG.

SpiritZ1 was also starting to heat up on the attack side, as DRG scraped together an 11-10 lead. EDG was able to tie the game heading to overtime, but DRG won the first two OT rounds quickly to win their map pick 14-12 and take the series lead.

Next up was Corrode, the newest map in Valorant that teams are still learning across all regions. EDG ran double Duelist, nobody on Yoru, and double Controller with no Sentinel player. DRG instead opted for a Gekko/Cypher/Yoru composition, which immediately showed value in their first pistol win. DRG was unable to convert the bonus, and EDG did adapt to the plays coming from DRG to keep the half within reach. After EDG tied the game 5-5 late into the first half, it was Flex1n to save the team down 3v5, getting two entry kills on A site and giving DRG a 7-5 lead at the half.

EDG won the second pistol to tie the series again at 7-7, winning all pistols in the series without losing a single antieco. However, after losing the bonus round, DRG showed their capability in the gun rounds. Every time EDG fought back to keep the map close, DRG won a big round afterward to keep their lead, highlighted by round 21. The map was tied 10-10, with DRG potentially going broke if they lost the round. DRG executed a nice trap play late outside B site to force a save from EDG, and Akeman and Flex1n closed it out as DRG won Corrode 13-10 and the series 2-0.

The series MVP was SpiritZ1, who won the Yoru duel handily in this game against EDG. He ended the series with a 1.43 match rating, 52 kills, 322 ACS, 86% KAST, 205 ADR, and 12 first kills.

With this result, DRG will face Xi Lai Gaming Xi Lai Gaming China Rank #1 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) in the upper bracket semifinals, as EDG match up against 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) in the lower bracket.

With the results today, the lower bracket of the VCT China 2025 Stage 2 playoffs contains plenty of international experience. Trace, EDG, and FPX are all part of the lower bracket's first round, with plenty of new faces sticking to the upper bracket and helping their odds of making it to Paris.