The upper bracket gauntlet of the VCT China 2025 Stage 1 playoffs has narrowed down to two teams, meaning Wolves Esports Wolves Esports China Rank #3 SiuFatBB Pong Gaa Hei (庞加曦) Yuicaw Huang Yung-chieh (黃湧傑) Spring Liu Jiunting (刘俊霆) Lysoar Liang Youhao (梁优好) Juicy Tyler James Aeria and Xi Lai Gaming Xi Lai Gaming China Rank #2 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 have secured their spots at Masters Toronto.

The pair qualify for their first-ever Masters events, while regional powerhouses 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) and EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) CHICHOO Wan Shunzhi (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) Jieni7 Zhang Juntai (张君泰) have been knocked down to the lower bracket.

EDG, the defending Champions 2024 winner, currently holds the longest active streak of international LANs reached at eight, meaning their drop to the lower bracket puts that run at risk.

Wolves Esports shoves aside BiliBili Gaming

Despite attending Champions the last two years, BiliBili has yet to qualify for a Masters event. The wait may continue after Wolves Esports made quick work of them, defeating them 2-0. The result was a bit of a surprise, given BiliBili beat Wolves while giving up just nine rounds in the final two maps when the two teams met in the group stage.

On Split, both teams ran comps centered around Omen and Viper. BiliBili opted for a double Initiator pairing with Breach and Tejo, while Wolves had a more balanced comp, including Tejo, Raze, and Cypher. Wolves' choice to run the Cypher seemingly paid off, as BiliBili struggled on their attacker side, picking up just five rounds.

Former BLEED BLEED Inactive Duelist Juicy had a map-leading 21 kills on Split, including what might go down as the easiest triple kill of his career.

Juicy makes BiliBili pay for waiting in the smoke.

After starting the map on a 4-0 run, the surviving two BLG players were forced to save in this round as part of a four-round run from Wolves. Wolves used their space-clearing utility, such as Tejo's Guided Salvos or Raze's Boom Bot and Paint Shells to guide a slow, disciplined half, giving up just three rounds in the half en route to a 13-8 victory.

On Haven, Wolves flexed their versatility while continuing to hold strong on their defender side. Four players picked up agent roles that they didn't play previously on Split, with perhaps the most crucial switch being Lysoar on Cypher. He finished the map with a server-high 23 kills, and played a big part in Wolves dropping just three rounds on defense to close out a 13-8 win.

Wolves advance to their first-ever international event, while BiliBili is sent down to the lower bracket gauntlet, where they will face Trace Esports Trace Esports China Rank #5 LuoK1ng Zhang Zhanpeng (张展鹏) Midi Zhang Jiajun (手张嘉俊) Kai Lu Zhinan (卢智楠) FengF Song Xuefeng (宋学锋) heybay Ho Shun Hei Biank Zhong Jianfei (钟剑飞) .

Ascension winners Xi Lai Gaming topple EDward Gaming

After an impressive group stage showing saw the China Ascension winners come up just short of earning Group Omega's top seed, Xi Lai Gaming continued to shine by taking down the region's top dog in EDward Gaming 2-0.

EDG continued to struggle to adapt to Valorant's new double Duelist meta in the series. While star shooter ZmjjKK is far more known for his play on movement-based Duelists such as Neon and Jett, he played both maps in this series on Iso and Yoru. While Yoru has risen in popularity this year in VCT, KangKang has struggled to pick up the agent. His best performances during Masters Bangkok came on the aforementioned movement Duelists, though they often came at the cost of the outcome of the match.

The series opened on XLG's map pick of Lotus, which, despite a stellar performance from EDG's CHICHOO , saw the Ascension team look unstoppable. They won eight rounds on their defender side thanks to well-orchestrated retakes, including a 6-0 run to open.

XLG's C site retake took just seconds.

A well-rounded performance on attack, led by Duelist Rarga , helped XLG close out the map 13-9, shifting the focus to another three-site map in Haven.

Haven was far more closely contested than Lotus to start things out, as the teams entered halftime just two rounds apart. Ultimately, the difference was Rarga. The China Ascension MVP recorded his highest-ever single-map kill count in VCT play, finishing with a 1.92 rating and an absurd 35/16 scoreline. He and Sentinel player happywei combined for 12 first kills on the map, including seven on their defender side, to win 13-11 and knock EDG down to the lower bracket.

In recent weeks, EDG has decided to break up their core that lifted the Champions 2024 trophy and finished third at Masters Bangkok by benching S1Mon and adding Jieni7 . The decision has garnered mixed results, as EDG has now gone 3-1 with a map difference of 6-4 in that span.

The win locks in a top-three finish for Xi Lai Gaming and, in turn, qualification for Masters Toronto. They will play Wolves Esports in the upper final to fight for a top-two finish.

The playoffs of VCT China Stage 1 will continue with the following matches: