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) defeated Xi Lai Gaming Xi Lai Gaming China Rank #3 Viva Lifan Ran (冉立凡) Rarga Arthur Churyumov happywei Deng Minwei (邓闵维) coconut Colin Patrick Chung (钟弘祖) YOU Yip Man Ho 2-1 in the lower round 3 of China Kickoff. EDG has advanced to the region's top four and are now two wins away from booking a ticket to Masters Bangkok, while XLG has been eliminated and will have to wait until March to return to the stage.

The three-map series played out on Lotus, Bind, and Haven. XLG won Lotus 14-12, and EDG won Bind 13-10 and Haven 13-0.

EDG came into this match following a devastating loss against 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) in the upper bracket two days prior where they only won eight total rounds. On the other side, the ascenders in XLG marched onwards in the lower bracket after beating JDG Esports JDG Esports China Rank #11 stew Park Young-chan (박영찬) jkuro Yong Haochong (杨浩聪) MrCANI Chen Tingxun (陈廷训) Babyblue Geng Haoran (耿浩然) Z1yan Liu Zihan (刘紫涵) 2-1.

The series began on EDG's map pick of Lotus. Both teams brought out similar compositions featuring Neon, Breach, and a less conventional Sova, with the only difference being EDG's signature Clove to XLG's Cypher.

The Clove made a difference early on, as EDG took a 4-0 lead after Smoggy used his smokes to stick the defuse and secure a 1v2 in the bonus round. After taking a timeout, XLG answered back with four rounds of their own with well-constructed defaults and coordinated postplants, ultimately ending the half 6-6.

The second half closely resembled the first. EDG won another bonus round to lead 10-6, but XLG triumphed in the buy rounds to bring the scoreline to 12-11 in their favor, stunning EDG with proactive pushes and floods. EDG managed to force overtime, but a 1v3 from happywei in the final round won Lotus 14-12 for XLG despite losing both bonuses. Rarga led the server as XLG's spearhead with 27 kills, seven first bloods, and 188 ADR.

happywei walks through his own smoke in a map-winning play for his side.

The second map was XLG's pick of Bind, where they opted for a Skye-Gekko composition versus EDG's Tejo and Vyse. The first half was a highlight reel, with nobody , Rarga, and CHICHOO each finding their own round-winning multikills.

Patience from nobody earns EDG their third bonus of the series.

Moving into the second half, EDG the pistol but immediately lost the antieco. From there, both squads traded rounds, the score climbing from 8-7 to 9-9 to 10-10. A clean B hold in round 22 netted EDG 12. This time, overtime was not to be, and EDG closed out Bind 13-10. ZmjjKK and happywei dominated with a respective 29 kills to 15 deaths and 25 kills to 14 deaths.

Everything was decided on Haven. In familiar fashion, EDG won their fifth pistol and fourth bonus of the match. This time, the champions laid down the law, snowballing to a perfect 13-0 victory. Almost every single duel went their way; nobody in particular recorded 17 kills to only 3 deaths.

CHICHOO asserts dominance over the challengers to keep the snowball rolling.

EDG survives elimination and will return tomorrow on Jan. 23 to battle against Dragon Ranger Gaming Dragon Ranger Gaming China Rank #6 Flex1n Lo Rui (罗瑞) vo0kashu Ilya Ushakov Cangshu Zheng Yujun (手郑宇峻) Nicc Shao Yi-qun (邵逸群) TvirusLuke Chen Cheng-ching SpiritZ1 Lin Dingyu (林定宇) in the lower round 4. The winner will vie against the loser of Bilibili Gaming Bilibili Gaming China Rank #4 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) versus Trace for a spot at Masters Bangkok.