Trace Esports Trace Esports China Rank #2 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) have defeated TYLOO TYLOO China Rank #24 5CM Ding Xuanpeng (丁宣鹏) Ninebody Ding Yi (丁毅) slowly Kelun Sun (孙科伦) hfmi0dzjc9z7 Zhang Juncheng (张峻程) Eren Yang Zhengwei (杨曾威) 2-0 in the first-ever VCT China match. FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix China Rank #8 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) , meanwhile, debuted their newly improved roster with a 2-0 of their own. Today's victors advance to the Group A Winner's match, where they will face off against each other for a spot in playoffs. TYLOO and Nova Esports Nova Esports China Rank #6 o0o0o Ye Xiaodong (叶晓东) SWERL Ali Kobraee CB Wang Qingchuan (王庆川) Ezeir Zhao Zejun (赵泽骏) GuanG Guang Honglin (光洪霖) , meanwhile, will next play in the group's Elimination match.

Trace Esports defeat TYLOO in China opener

Trace come into Kickoff as one of few teams to make no changes to their starting roster. This lineup debuted almost exactly one year ago, under the Totoro Gaming Totoro Gaming Inactive FengF Song Xuefeng (宋学锋) ICEKING Cheng Wanpeng (程万鹏) Flex1n Lo Rui (罗瑞) YOU Yip Man Ho heybay Ho Shun Hei banner. Historically they have never been the best, regularly finishing in the top six, but they have reached a grand final on one occasion.

TYLOO feature a similar roster to the one fielded throughout the VCT China's spiritual predecessor, the Evolution Series, keeping the same core. The fifth player rotated across 2023, but 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) not entering the partnership allowed TYLOO an opportunity to pick up fan-favorite hfmi0dzjc9z7 .

A packed arena witnessed the series begin on Ascent, picked by TYLOO. They took the initial pistol round, quickly responded by a Trace eco. A short back-and-forth followed, later interrupted by five straight wins from Trace. TYLOO were able to win round 12 to end the half, setting the score 8-4 in their opponent's favor.

The second half only increased the gap, as TYLOO never managed to recover their footing. Trace closed out the map with another five round streak, ending the game with an unceremonious 13-4.

Interestingly, TYLOO started with the upper hand across multiple rounds, but were almost never able to capitalize on their advantage. Trace won three eco rounds to start the map, two clutches, and multiple rounds with a player inferiority.

The entire team contributed to the scoreline, notably Trace's initiator and in-game leader heybay who finished with 308 ACS and 12 assists. Flex1n was another standout player, winning a 1v2 clutch and granting his team round 15 with a 4k.

Map two was even more dominant. Both teams opted for fairly unorthodox compositions, but Trace was better able to justify their agent picks.

By round 7, Yiyee, TYLOO's coach, had used both his team's timeouts. Trace won the following two rounds. The half ended with Trace up 11-1, the final round won by FengF and Kai pushing into the opposing team's spawn.

TYLOO won consolation pistol and anti-eco rounds, but Trace quickly answered back with two of their own. The inaugural match concluded with a 13-3, sending Trace to the Group A Winner's match and leaving TYLOO one loss away from elimination.

FunPlus Phoenix return to VCT with 2-0 victory

A close fight from NOVA on map one was not enough against the more experienced FunPlus Phoenix squad, who took the win 2-0. Pre-season expectations put both teams on opposite ends on the spectrum, with FunPlus Phoenix lauded as a top team, particularly following the acquisition of one of the better duelists in the region, Life . On the other hand, doubts surrounded NOVA's decision to maintain a core that had never qualified to any of the Chinese events in 2023.

FunPlus Phoenix is one of the few Chinese teams to make an appearance in an international event, invited to LOCK//IN due to their results in the local circuit the year prior. They were also one of three teams from the region to qualify to Champions 2023. Unfortunately, they only won a single map across both events.

FunPlus Phoenix continued to make roster changes across the year, welcoming Autumn and picking up Life after his previous team was not invited to VCT China.

Their opponents, NOVA Esports, feature a core that they have kept since their entry into Valorant in 2023. During the year they participated in eleven different open qualifiers for six different tournaments, failing to make the respective main event every time. Ahead of the season, they acquired GuanG from Royal Never Give Up Royal Never Give Up Inactive HaTo Wang Rui (王睿) 4ErWa Xiaonuo and Russian duelist neveR from MENA Challengers.

The series began on NOVA's map pick, Sunset. They won the pistol round, but failed to convert the next, after a Snakebite from Lysoar denied GuanG's heroics. Undeterred, GuanG netted the first ace of the event, granting his team a short-lived lead.

A close round four equalized the score, and FPX earned a lead of their own. The deadly duo of autumn and Life was instrumental in picking apart the opposing team's defense, and they were able to finish the half 7-5.

After the break, FPX took the pistol round and further extended the round differential. GuanG proved too much to handle, however, and the underdogs were able to tie the scoreline 10-10. A reset from FPX and back-to-back triple kills from Life was enough to deny a comeback, and NOVA lost their map pick 13-10.

Statistically, GuanG's 29 eliminations and 357 ACS made him the best performer. In terms of value provided to his team, however, Life arguably contributed more, and his 22 eliminations are nothing to scoff at. He found a comparable amount of multikills and first kills, but he also helped restrict NOVA's advances, including helping shut down GuanG's aggressive Neon.

The match went on to Lotus, FunPlus Phoenix's most played map in the past year and one of their best in terms of winrate. They continued to play with their double controller Chamber composition, playing into their strengths and comfort picks. NOVA picked a double duelist formation, with ideas of maximizing their aggressive potential seen on the previous map.

They had interesting ideas initially, coordinating set plays and showing understanding of how FPX intended to play. o0o0o 's Raze play set the pace for the half, as he led the charge for his team their entire offense.

A number of well-timed kills from AAAAY and a change of style from full retaking to a bit more anchoring and focusing on delays put FPX up 7-5 by half time. It was all uphill from there. FPX returned from the pause with a pistol round, and they did not lose momentum afterwards.

Lysoar and AAAAY were key to their attack. Lysoar opened up three different rounds with a first kill and doubled his eliminations to 20, while AAAAY continued to help close out the rounds. The duo's perfomance ended the map 13-5, putting them a match away from playoffs and sending NOVA to the lower bracket.