Trace Esports secures spot in Bangkok with upper final win

The upper bracket final of the VCT 2025 China Kickoff has concluded, with Trace Esports officially booking their ticket to Masters Bangkok. Despite a good fight from 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) , Trace won it in a three-map series to return to international play.

Bind was the starter for the series, with Trace showing their Vyse-Deadlock composition as Bilibili went with the more standard variation using Viper and Cypher. Starting on the attack side, Trace won the pistol and converted the bonus round to show off that same Bind dominance that allowed them to sweep EDward Gaming earlier in the tournament. Bilibili took some rounds back thanks to some good rounds from whzy , preventing the steamroll Trace had their last time out on Bind and ending the half 6-6.

Now on the attack side, Bilibili won their pistol to pressure Trace, keeping the game close as the second half went on. It all came down to Kai , the star of the map, holding strong on Vyse with an ace to help Trace complete Bind 13-8.

Haven was map two, and an eco win from Trace quickly countered a pistol win from Bilibili and helped fashion another lead. The two teams were highlighted by their Neon players, as both whzy and Kai remained hot even as they swapped agents from map one. The teams remained as even as they were to start the first half of Bind, entering the half tied at 6-6 once again. Just as Bilibili won their second pistol and nearly got ecoed for the second time, BLG converted their bonus to keep the map and series in reach.

Just as it looked like Bilibili could run away with the map, Biank had a hero moment on a thrifty thanks to the ever-so-rare Bucky collateral.

It seemed like the beginning of the end for BLG, but the team held strong and fought to take the lead late and nephh got the final kill to win Haven 13-10 and tie the series at one.

The decider was Lotus, with Trace moving Kai back on Vyse while BLG returned to whzy on Raze. Trace took the first pistol by the skin of their teeth but used it to build an early lead. Trace's attack was defined by slow attacks, but meticulous post-plants. Even in positions like a 3v5 in round six, Trace still ended the round with the win, and that led the team to get the first halftime lead of the series.

Up 8-4, Trace won their second pistol of the map and kept the momentum up to close the map out 13-6 and the series 2-1. FengF was the star in closing the series out, as his Raze stood out across both maps one and three.

With this win, Trace Esports is going to both the China Kickoff grand finals and Masters Bangkok, while Bilibili Gaming will have another chance to qualify through the lower bracket finals against either Dragon Ranger Gaming Dragon Ranger Gaming China Rank #7 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) or 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) .