EDward Gaming push past Sentinels, progress to top three

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) bested Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #4 N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid 2-1 in the upper semifinal of Champions 2024. EDG has advanced to the upper final against the winner of Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #1 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius versus LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN Latin America South Rank #1 Demon1 Max Mazanov tex Ian Botsch kiNgg Francisco Aravena C0M Corbin Lee , while Sentinels have been sent down to the lower bracket and will face FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #3 Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu stand-in Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder tomorrow with their tournament lives on the line.

This match represented the first ever face-off between the two regional heavyweights after both had taken clean 2-0 wins in their first playoff games. The winner would claim their first top-three placement at a Champions event.

EDG opened their map pick of Haven with their first of many pistol rounds, but the initial lead was short-lived as Sentinels answered back with seven rounds in a row. Everything went their way as they consistently dismantled EDG's defensive setups. TenZ in particular dominated the first half with 17 kills, including a clean three-piece in round 12 to secure his team an 8-4 lead.

EDG collected the second pistol but were immediately thriftied after CHICHOO was caught isolated with a Bulldog. The Chinese team showed signs of life, including an impressive four kills from S1Mon in round 16, but Sentinels' lead was too much to overcome and the Americas squad closed out the map 13-9.

While the headliner duelists in zekken and ZmjjKK both recorded 23 kills, zekken's impact as the spearhead far exceeded his counterpart's as he delivered 9-1 FK/FD compared to ZmjjKK's 5-6 FK/FD.

On Lotus, Sentinels found another strong start as they went up 5-1. This time, EDG were able to wrestle back control, pulling the score back to 5-4 and an eventual 6-6 half off the back of a 2v3 from Smoggy and S1mon in round 7.

The second half saw EDG taking their first lead of the series as they chained a pistol and bonus win to a 10-6 lead, forcing a timeout from Sentinels. Sentinels brought it back to 10-9, but EDG maintained a stronghold on A to win the map 13-9 and take Sentinels to the first map three of playoffs thus far.

That map, Sunset, wound up being the most one-sided of them all; EDG grabbed hold of a 10-2 attack half with a greater-than-usual emphasis on B postplants for the map. One of the only rounds for Sentinels was another thrifty win on round 4.

The second pistol was the nail in the coffin for Sentinels; EDG found a 12-2 scoreline with a 5-1 pistol record for the series and won Sunset 13-6, closing it with a thrifty of their own. CHICHOO took over the entire server with 23 kills to 10 deaths, 333 ACS, and an outsized 1.72 rating.

With this result, Sentinels will face FNATIC in the lower bracket tomorrow in a rematch of the Masters Reykjavik grand final and the teams' first meeting since LOCK//IN.

On the other side, EDG have secured a historic win for China with the first ever top-three placement at a global event for their region. They will confront the winner of Team Heretics versus Leviatán in the upper bracket final as they push for VCT China's first international trophy.

When asked about how he handles the pressure in the post-match interview, S1mon's answer was short and simple: “Focus on winning the games.”

EDG will return on Aug. 23 for a chance at a coveted slot in the grand final.