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) have beaten Rare Atom Rare Atom China Rank #7 Yueluo Yi Zhiwei (尹志炜) zhe Niu Zhe (牛哲) Satoshi Fei Zhixian (费郅贤) Midnight Wang Yingjie (王英杰) in Act 1 of China's Evolution Series, winning their second consecutive domestic LAN. The Evolution Series is China's pathway towards their own Ascension tournament later this December.
EDward Gaming proved their dominance once again shown throughout the tournament, while Rare Atom brought intensity and persistence into the grand finals.
A narrow 13-11 win for EDG on Haven would set the tone for the rest of the series between the two teams. While ZmjjKK and stew traded clips after clips in Haven, it was both Smoggy and nobody that helped secure EDG's win, with Smoggy clutching key rounds in multiple 1v2 and 1v3s and nobody working in tandem, earning MVP for the map.
After Haven, Rare Atom rebounded with a 11-5 lead on Bind, thanks to a slew of highlights from stew, who eventually put up 279 ACS with a 1.8 KDA. Although EDG eventually forcing an overtime and a match-point scare, RA retained their composure and took advantage of EDG's weaker Attack side to gain the victory.
Unfazed by the Bind loss, EDG strolled through Breeze 13-3 and Sunset 13-7, securing yet another series victory.
In the end, ZmjjKK was awarded the title of series MVP. Despite some heavy contention from stew on the first map, ZmjjKK claimed the top kill count in the next three maps.
With this win, EDG have earned 400 points and automatic qualification to the main event of Act 2 alongside Rare Atom, FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix China Rank #5 Autumn Kale Dunne Life Qu Donghao (瞿东豪) AAAAY Zhang Yang (张杨) BerLIN Zhang Bolin (張柏霖) yosemite Wang Lei (王磊) , and Trace Esports Trace Esports China Rank #3 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) Zhao .
Act 2 will have a larger amount of points up for grabs and will begin in late October.