CN Evolution Series Act 2 revealed; set to start
The CN Evolution Series Act II will serve as a qualifier for the 2025 Esports World Cup in VALORANT.
CHINA – VALORANT Esports CN has unveiled the details for the upcoming CN Evolution Series Act 2, scheduled to take place from May 8 to 12. This is the second installment of the CN Evolution Series, a circuit exclusive to China designed to fill the calendar gap between the regional VCT league and international events.
The tournament will span five days, beginning with three days of online matches from May 8 to 10, followed by offline matches at the VCT CN Arena in Shanghai.
These matches will neither award Championship Points toward VALORANT Champions Paris nor affect the VCT CN League standings. Teams will compete for circuit points contributing to qualification for the 2025 CN Evolution Series Championship later this year. However, the bigger prize in Act 2 is direct qualification to the 2025 Esports World Cup (EWC) for the top two finishers.
Thursday, May 8
- 12:00 - (M1) FunPlus Phoenix vs. All Gamers
- 14:00 - (M2) Nova Esports vs. XLG
- 16:00 - (M3) Titan Esports Club vs. Bilibili Gaming
- 18:00 - (M4) JD Gaming vs. TYLOO
Friday, May 9
- 12:00 - EDward Gaming vs. winners M1
- 14:00 - Trace Esports vs. winners M2
- 16:00 - Dragon Ranger Gaming vs. winners M3
- 18:00 - Wolves Esports vs. winners M4
VCT CN is allocated four slots at the Esports World Cup for VALORANT. Two of these were already secured by the top teams from VCT CN Stage 1, while the remaining two will be determined through CN Evolution Series Act 2. If a team already qualified via Stage 1 also finishes in the top two of Act 2, their EWC spot will be passed down to the next highest-ranked team.
XLG and Bilibili Gaming, who have already qualified for both VCT Masters Toronto and the EWC, are required to compete using non-primary lineups (academy, youth, or secondary rosters).
Meanwhile, the third-place team, despite also qualifying for Toronto, as well as the other nine participating teams, are allowed to field their main VCT CN rosters.
The tournament will follow a single-elimination format. Teams that finished 3rd to 6th in VCT CN Stage 1 will be seeded directly into the quarterfinals, while the top two teams (fielding non-main rosters) will join the lower-seeded teams in the earlier rounds.
The final four teams will advance to the offline best-of-five playoffs, where the top two will proceed to the grand final, and the remaining two will compete in a third-place decider.
Nova Esports secured their first-ever title at the CN Evolution Series Act 1 with a dominant 3-0 sweep over Wolves Esports, marking a successful start to their journey with an all-Chinese roster. They will kick off Act 2 against Stage 1 champions XLG, though the Ascension side are expected to field non-primary lineups, giving the edge to the purple-and-black side.
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Cover photo courtesy of VCT CN