EDward Gaming and Trace Esports are VALORANT Masters Bangkok-bound!
CHINA – EDward Gaming punched their ticket to VALORANT Masters Bangkok with a dominant 3-0 win over Bilibili Gaming in the Lower Final of the 2025 VCT CN Kickoff. The match ended with scores of 14-12 on Pearl, 13-6 on Haven, and 13-5 on Lotus, sealing their place alongside Trace Esports who had qualified a day earlier by defeating Bilibili Gaming as well.
Coming into the 2025 VCT season, EDward Gaming had high expectations after their historic victory at the 2024 VALORANT Champions in Seoul, where they brought home China’s first international trophy. With that, the pressure was on for them to continue that momentum into the new season.
Their opening match against Nova Esports was a 2-0 win, but it wasn’t as comfortable as they might have hoped. The first map was a tight affair, but they ultimately managed to close it out. However, their next match against Trace Esports would take an unexpected turn. EDward Gaming were swept 13-4 on both maps, a shocking result considering that Trace Esports had not beaten them since late 2023.
Sent to the lower bracket, EDward Gaming had to face 2024 Ascension winners XLG Esports, who were on a lower bracket run of their own. Their shaky performance continued, with them losing the first map but fortunately managed to reverse sweep with a 2-1 victory, including a dominant 13-0 win on the third map of Haven. The turning point just suddenly came after their first map loss to XLG when they regrouped and managed to pull themselves together.
Their next opponent was Dragon Ranger Gaming, and this time, EDward Gaming showed no signs of slowing down. They won the match 2-0, once again delivering another monstrous 13-0 performance on Haven. This stretched their streak to 32 consecutive rounds won across their matches against XLG and Dragon Ranger Gaming, setting a new record for the longest streak in VCT history, as confirmed by VCT CN.
In the best-of-five match against Bilibili Gaming, who had been knocked down by Trace Esports in the upper final, were looking for another chance to fly to Bangkok. BLG fought hard, pushing the first map into overtime, but EDward Gaming proved too strong. With their newfound confidence and momentum, they sealed the series 3-0, earning the second Masters Bangkok ticket.
When asked about which team they were most excited to meet at VALORANT Masters Bangkok, Wan “CHICHOO” Shunzhi didn’t hesitate and quickly named Ayaz “nAts” Akhmetshin’s Team Liquid. Zheng “ZmjjKK” Yongkang, however, quickly interjected, saying, “Don’t jinx it again,” before sharing a much more interesting response of his own.
“I think for us right now, facing any team is the same. We just need to focus on doing what we need to do and not be afraid of any opponent, nor [should we] underestimate them. If we do that, we will definitely be competitive.
What’s more important is that this is a new year. No matter how the Kickoff goes, I believe our goal for the whole year is definitely to win Champions. We need to broaden our vision. At VALORANT Masters Bangkok, we will bring new compositions and try new stuff, communicate/exchange ideas with international teams and see what the competition is really like.”
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Cover photo courtesy of VALORANT Esports CN
