Twelve VCT CN teams were whittled down to just eight as the VCT CN Stage 1 Regular Season reached its conclusion and moved on to playoffs.
CHINA – The VCT CN Stage 1 Regular Season has come to an end, and now the battle shifts to the playoffs, where eight teams will compete for a chance to qualify for the VALORANT Masters event in Toronto. The action will continue this Thursday, April 17.
2024 VALORANT World Champions EDward Gaming cruised through Group Alpha, despite a hiccup in Week 2 when they lost to NOVA Esports. This marked the last appearance of Xie “S1Mon” Mengxun, who has since been replaced by Zhang “Jieni7” Juntai. While Jieni7 brings stronger firepower, there’s been a noticeable dip in utility, though his more flexible playstyle has allowed the team to experiment with double duelist and sentinel compositions.
On the other side of the bracket, Bilibili Gaming have been impressive, winning four of their five matches against XLG, JD Gaming, All Gamers, and Wolves Esports, with their only loss being a tight 1-2 defeat to Trace Esports. EDG’s and BLG’s strong performance secured them a top seed, putting both of them in the upper bracket semi-finals, just one win away from qualifying for VALORANT Masters Toronto.
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As EDG and BLG await their matchups on April 19, the playoffs kick off two days earlier on April 17 with Titan Esports facing Wolves Esports, and XLG squaring off against NOVA Esports. The fourth-place teams from each group, Dragon Ranger Gaming and Trace Esports, will start in the lower bracket, meaning a single loss could lead to elimination.
One of the most exciting early matchups will be between Xi Lai Gaming, featuring explosive players Arthur “Rarga” Churyumov and Teng “happywei” Min-wei, against the up-and-coming NOVA Esports, who have been in excellent form, with a strong all-Chinese roster that won the CN Evolution Series Act I before Stage 1. The winner will then face EDward Gaming in the Toronto qualification match.
The first four days of the event will be held at the VCT CN Arena in Shanghai, with the final three days moving to Beijing at the JDG Esports Center, which, unfortunately, has already seen their team eliminated.
Speaking of eliminated teams, JD Gaming, All Gamers, and TYLOO are out, but perhaps the biggest shock is still FunPlus Phoenix’s early exit. This marks another missed international VALORANT event for the team, who also failed to qualify for VALORANT Masters Bangkok.
The retirement of in-game leader Zhang “BerLIN” Bolin, along with the departure of Deng “NaThanD” Senqiao to Dragon Ranger Gaming, left FPX with more adjustments than expected. As Yang “Shr1mp” Yong and Chen “XII” Yen-hsiang try to fill the gap, FPX now need to focus on Stage 2.
The VCT CN Stage 1 Playoff bracket is as follows:
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Cover photo courtesy of VCT CN
