CHICHOO leads EDG to shut down comeback attempt, downs T1

In its quest to add to an international trophy cabinet that was opened at Champions 2024, 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 T1 T1 Korea Rank #3 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Meteor Kim Tae-oh (김태오) Sylvan Go Young-sup (고영섭) BuZz Yu Byeong-cheol (유병철) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) , the Pacific region's Korean superteam. It looked easy, with a dominant open to the series seeing EDG seize an early 10-0 lead, but a punch back from T1 saw the Korean team threaten a reverse sweep.

The battle began with the map veto process. Both teams have been known to ban Abyss, and EDG as the higher-seeded team elected to give T1 the first pick, which they used to ban Abyss. EDG banned Lotus, T1's strongest map in 2025, leaving T1 to pick Split, and EDG to pick Bind. The decider, if necessary, was to be played on Pearl.

Split began dominantly for the world champions, who put the defending T1 on their heels. The Korean side moved away from the comp that saw Meteor on Chamber, instead putting him on Viper as part of a double Controller, double Duelist look that fielded no Sentinels.

With very little on the other side to slow them down, EDG cut through T1's defense like a hot knife through butter. T1 head coach Autumn was forced to use both of his timeouts in the first half, facing a 7-0 deficit. By the time T1 won their first round, EDG had amassed ten rounds, setting up for a 10-2 halftime score.

A must-win pistol round saw T1 squander yet another man advantage, and a near-effortless anti-eco saw the Chinese giants reach match point.

After looking as good as dead just rounds before, moments of heroics extended T1's stay on the map. A miraculous 1v5 ace from Sylvan , who came off the bench in T1's six-player roster, and a 1v2 four-kill clutch from in-game leader stax saw T1 threaten to mount a comeback, but a three-piece of kills from CHICHOO put an end to that, ending the map 13-7.

CHICHOO, who has been at the forefront of EDG's hot form since the second half of 2024, ended the map with a server-high 326 ACS. His star Duelist player ZmjjKK had 322 ACS and logged a game-high 24 kills. No player on T1's side had more than 15 kills.

T1 started the first half of Bind on defense, and the map turned out to be a tight one. For the entirety of the first half, neither team led by more than two rounds. That trend was snapped by T1 though, with a second pistol round of the map, anti-eco, and bonus round securing them a 10-5 lead.

T1's attack on Bind seemed as unstoppable as EDG's on Split. After losing ten straight rounds to open the first map, T1 rode eight straight to reach match point, dropping just one map in the second half en route to a 13-6 victory.

Pearl was a map that both teams played in their last match. For EDG, they dropped the map in their 2-1 win over G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #1 jawgemo Alexander Mor trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio JonahP Jonah Pulice leaf Nathan Orf . For T1, the map secured them a spot in the playoffs over DRX DRX Korea Rank #4 Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) free1ng No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈) , their first-ever win over their Korean foes. In 2025, T1 was 3-0 on the map.

The map played out similarly to Bind, with both teams trading thrifty rounds and staying within arm's reach of each other. It seemed as though T1 had figured out their attack side when they seized an 11-9 lead, but 11 was the most that they would get.

Individual brilliance from CHICHOO and Sylvan carried their respective teams forward, but in the end, it was CHICHOO's Vandal that got his team over the line. CHICHOO finished with an unreal 32 kills in the map, doing the heavy lifting while Kangkang struggled. Sylvan's 25 kills were not enough for T1, as EDG won four straight to advance to the upper final.

CHICHOO ended the series on the top of the kill leaderboard with 72, while Sylvan's 52 was the next-best.

With the win, EDG will await the winner of the second upper semifinal match between Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #1 trexx Nikita Cherednichenko Derke Nikita Sirmitev Kicks Kimmie Laasner Sayf Saif Jibraeel Less Felipe de Loyola Basso and G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #1 jawgemo Alexander Mor trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio JonahP Jonah Pulice leaf Nathan Orf . T1 will take on the losing team in the lower bracket in an elimination match.