EDward Gaming and Bilibili Gaming are together in Group C, while JD Gaming are in Group B of the VCT CN KICKOFF event.
CHINA – The groups and initial matchups for the VCT CN KICKOFF event have been revealed. Scheduled to take place from February 22 to March 2 at the newly-built Fearless Arena in Shanghai, the competition will determine two teams to represent the region at VALORANT Masters Madrid.
In the first group of the tournament, Group A, TYLOO is set to go head-to-head against Trace Esports in the initial round, while FunPlus Phoenix will confront Nova Esports, the team currently holding the lowest rank.
JD Gaming, retaining four members from the former Rare Atom lineup, will see their accumulated points carry over as the circuit’s top second-seed, positioning them in Group B. Park “stew” Young-chan is set to face off against Goo “Rb” Sang-min’s Titan Esports Club in the tournament’s opening round. Furthermore, Ascension winners Dragon Ranger Gaming will be pitted against Delbert “deLb” Tanoto’s All Gamers.
Without surprise, EDward Gaming emerge as the highest-ranked team among all eleven participants and secures a deeper placement in Group C. They have earned a bye to the second round, reserved for the group winners, anticipating the outcome of the match between Bilibili Gaming and Wolves Esports. The winning team in this matchup will directly secure a playoff berth.
The three GSL groups will send the leading team from each group directly to the playoffs. Meanwhile, the second-place team from each group will get an additional opportunity to secure a playoff spot by participating in a single round-robin group in the Play-In stage. It will determine the fourth and final team to enter the playoffs while teams ranked fifth to eleventh will be officially eliminated from the competition at this point.
The playoffs will feature single-elimination best-of-three semi-final matches, where the victors from each matchup will secure the two VALORANT Masters Madrid berths. The KICKOFF event will culminate with a best-of-five grand final scheduled for Saturday, March 2, at 5 PM SGT (UTC+8).
Below you can find the groups and opening match-ups of VCT CN KICKOFF:
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Cover photo courtesy of Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
