T1 T1 Korea Rank #2 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Meteor Kim Tae-oh (김태오) Sylvan Go Young-sup (고영섭) BuZz Yu Byeong-cheol (유병철) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) took a narrow 2-1 win over 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) in the first match of group A at Masters: Tokyo. T1 are now set to play the winner of Natus Vincere Natus Vincere Europe Rank #20 ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky Ruxic Uğur Güç hiro Emirhan Kat koalanoob Gianfranco Potestio and NRG Esports NRG Esports North America Rank #1 FiNESSE Pujan Mehta s0m Sam Oh Verno Andrew Maust mada Adam Pampuch Ethan Ethan Arnold to make the playoffs, while EDward Gaming are one loss away from elimination.

“We all thought that Kang Kang the Jett player was playing really great … We mainly focus on dealing with Kang Kang Operator” said xeta in the post-match interview.

xeta and T1's fear of ZmjjKK 's operator was well warranted throughout the series as the Chinese Jett was vital to EDG's win on Haven. This performance is most well represented by ZmjjKK's stalwart hold of the A site in round 18. After taking an initial peak with the Operator towards A long and finding a kill on Sayaplayer , ZmjjKK quickly repositioned to short while only just avoiding ban in heaven. This strong reposition allowed for a second kill onto Munchkin before being hit by a Breach ult. T1 didn't have to wait long to learn that not even stuns could stop him, as ZmjjKK dashed into short to find a no-scope kill onto xeta.

“He was just hitting every shot,” xeta said.

ZmjjKK was pivotal to EDG's win on Haven

T1's own Jett in Sayaplayer looked to compete against ZmjjKK and did well to keep the matchup close. The Korean finished the series as undoubtedly the MVP for T1, ending the series with 161 ADR, tying him with ZmjjKK at the top of the server. Sayaplayer was frequently single-handedly winning rounds for his side, a boost that was necessary for T1 to take the first map of Fracture.

Despite taking Haven in dominant fashion, EDG were unable to carry this momentum into Pearl. The Chinese team brought themselves back into contention for the series by managing to force overtime after facing an 11-6 deficit. However, T1 quickly closed out the series, requiring only two rounds after regulation in spite of just barely avoiding a 1v5 from Smoggy .

Munchkin joined Sayaplayer in providing great performances for T1 to take the decider. He posted six first kills and a 1.2 rating to top the server. The Killjoy player also managed to lead his team with a 77% KAST, tied with Sayaplayer.

For T1's first map win of the series, it was carpe who joined Sayaplayer in providing star-level play. Carpe had previously found great success on Fracture in the Pacific Playoffs against ZETA DIVISION and carried this success into the matchup against EDG. Posting three first kills, zero first deaths, and a 1.11 rating, Carpe was necessary for T1 to narrowly take Fracture over the line against EDG.

Carpe at Masters: Tokyo Carpe and company found success in their opening bout versus EDward Gaming. (Photo by Colin Youngg-Wolff/Riot Games)

With EDG's loss to T1, China remains winless at major international events and both EDG and Attacking Soul Esports Attacking Soul Esports Inactive monk Wang Haoyu (王浩宇) Yuicaw Huang Yung-chieh (黃湧傑) YHchen Chen Yuhan (陳昱瀚) Zero1 Meng Zhen Ren (任梦真) will hope to remedy their losses on Tuesday, June 13th in elimination matches.

T1 move on to the winners matchup of Group A and will face the victor of Natus Vincere and NRG Esports.

“I really want to play against NAVI,” said xeta.