Day four of the VCT China Kickoff saw FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix China Rank #2 Autumn Kale Dunne Life Qu Donghao (瞿东豪) AAAAY Zhang Yang (张杨) BerLIN Zhang Bolin (張柏霖) Lysoar Liang Youhao (梁优好) , Dragon Ranger Gaming Dragon Ranger Gaming China Rank #4 nizhaoTZH Tang Zehao (唐哲昊) vo0kashu Ilya Ushakov Shion7 Zhang Haozhe (张昊泽) Nicc Shao Yi-qun (邵逸群) TvirusLuke Chen Cheng-ching , and EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) Muggle Tang Shijun (唐时俊) CHICHOO Wan Shunji (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) Haodong Guo Haodong (郭浩东) advance through to the playoffs. All three teams narrowly took out their opposition in tight 2-1 victories.

The day's losers in Trace Esports Trace Esports China Rank #3 LuoK1ng Zhang Zhan Peng (张展鹏) Kai Lu Zhinan (卢智楠) cxyy Cui Xinyu (崔新宇) FengF Song Xuefeng (宋学锋) YOU Yip Man Ho heybay Ho Shun Hei , Titan Esports Club Titan Esports Club China Rank #6 AC Wei Jiacong (韦家聪) LockM Xing Fuling (邢福凌) QiuYe Li Runtao (李润涛) shameless Wu Hongjie (吴洪杰) Abo Han Bohao (韩博皓) kawaii Piao Min (朴民) Rb Goo Sang-min (구상민) , and Wolves Esports Wolves Esports China Rank #9 Yuicaw Huang Yung-chieh (黃湧傑) Spring Liu Jiunting (刘俊霆) aluba Zhong Haojun (钟皓钧) coldfish Pengzhi Xiang (向鹏志) pl1xx Christopher Li will all have a chance at redeeming themselves in the decider matchups.

FPX edge out Trace 2-1

FPX started day four by continuing their habit of running unorthodox compositions, opting for a double controller Harbor, Viper on Sunset. While Trace seemed to have a handle on the game early in the first half, Life came alive in the later rounds to keep the gap close.

A 7-5 first half seemed promising for Trace. However, they wouldn't hold another lead for the remainder of the map. Life's Chamber became unstoppable on the attack as FPX strung together the first five rounds before Trace could take their first in the second half.

Multikills from YOU and Kai brought Trace back into the swing of things to tie up the game at 10-10, but Life's Chamber entries and Autumn 's Phoenix provided enough impact for FPX to close out the map 13-11 and take a 1-0 series lead.

Trace easily brushed off the first map's result, neutralizing an FPX pistol with a thrifty win on their own map pick, Bind. In a reversal of what occurred on Sunset, Trace collected a late-half four-round streak with the help of a lineup-fuelled 1v2 from IGL heybay to end their attack with an 8-4 lead.

A pistol and bonus round conversion thanks to another 1v2, this time from YOU, strengthened Trace's lead to 11-4 as heybay's men found themselves within touching distance of forcing a third map. FPX proceeded undeterred by this round deficit and forced the first timeout out of Trace at 11-6. The words of destroyeR ultimately proved fruitless as FPX adapted by shifting their play to a slow and methodical default that ended in a successful A execute.

The momentum truly started to build for FPX with the introduction of the attacking Operator on Omen from BerLIN . After a grueling seven straight rounds from FPX, a second timeout was called by Trace at tie game 11-11. This time around the Trace coach provided the necessary changes to push his team across the line and end the map within regulation 13-11 and tie up the series 1-1.

Lotus meant Life was once again put on Chamber duty and it was the duo of Life and AAAAY that delivered for FPX. Despite losing the first pistol, FPX went on a seven-round streak before Trace could answer back. Trace maintained composure late in the half and capitalized upon messy FPX post-plants to keep the deficit close at 7-5.

FPX started strong with a pistol win thanks to a quick 2k on the retake from Autumn. Trace quickly responded with a thrifty win at 10-6 and shifted the momentum of the map entirely. Trace had narrowed down the round differential to one at 10-9 before a fumbled 5v3 put FPX on map and series point at 12-9. FPX would concede one more gun round before utilizing Life's Tour de Force to win an eco and close out the series 2-1 with a 13-10 scoreline on Lotus.

Life ended the series with 269 ACS and a server-high 67 kills to lead FPX to victory. FPX are the first to qualify for the VCT China Kickoff playoffs, whereas Trace have been relegated to the Group A decider match versus Nova Esports.

DRG take down Titan with absurd comeback on Icebox

After spoiling JD Gaming JD Gaming China Rank #7 YHchen Chen Yuhan (陳昱瀚) stew Park Young-chan (박영찬) Viva Lifan Ran (冉立凡) jkuro Yong Haochong (杨浩聪) YiHao Chen Yihao (陈一豪) MarT1n Zhuo Zhengjie (卓政杰) 's debut, Titan opened up the first map with an impeccable 10-2 first half on Icebox. Every man deficit encountered by Titan was responded to with a multi-kill from one of the team's multiple performing stars in Rb , Abo , and LockM . Everything seemed like smooth sailing for Titan into the playoffs until it all came crashing down in the second half.

The ball started rolling for DRG with a pistol round win and bonus round conversion off the back of a 1v2 from Nicc . DRG forced the first timeout from Titan at 10-6 but unfortunately, 3water 's words did little to bring his team back into the game. A near-flawless round from DRG followed and with their coffers now flush with cash they had full control of the game.

A heroic 4k from Rb allowed Titan to record their first attack side round just after losing the lead at 11-10. However, this would ultimately become a minor footnote in the story of DRG's comeback as Titan went on to lose the map 13-11.

The level of play from the likes of vo0kashu , nizhaoTZH , and Nicc improved drastically in the second half with all three players ending the map with more than 20 kills. On the other hand, Titan had just two players, Rb and Abo, end the map with similar stats. Despite being one of the top performers for his squad in the first half, LockM failed to record a kill in the final 14 rounds of play.

Titan moved onto their map pick, Split, hoping to brush off the disappointment of the first map and started strong with a pistol win and conversion. DRG responded in the first batch of gun rounds with the usual suspects of vo0kashu and TvirusLuke continuing to deliver. DRG found themselves ahead 6-3 before Titan was able to warm up.

Opening picks from the double duelist combo of Rb and Abo meant Titan were able to hold DRG at bay and keep the half close. A 6-6 scoreline facilitated the opportunity for a strong showing once moving onto the offense with a comp that should naturally succeed at executing onto sites with both Raze and Jett.

Successful first duels continued to come the way of Titan as they picked up their sixth round in a row to take a 9-6 lead before DRG responded. A thrifty win thanks to a hero buy from vo0kashu cut down Titan's momentum for a moment, however, DRG would accomplish very little for the remainder of the half.

A thrifty win of their own meant Titan quickly regained control of the economy and took their chance at running away with the map in stride. DRG fell entirely flat in the final four rounds of Split as Abo ran rampant through the defense. Titan washed away any fears from the first map and evened up the series 1-1 with a convincing 13-8 on Split. In-game leader duelist Abo dropped 28 kills for Titan on Split and provided crucial opening kills for his team at every opportunity.

Titan took the first pistol on the decider, Bind, and looked poised to take a 4-0 lead after stealing away the bonus round before a thrifty win from DRG shifted the momentum. Thrifty wins were the name of the game throughout the series as neither team could keep a site versus Sheriffs and Stingers.

Titan's next round would come once again after a thrifty, this time due to a crisp 4k from Abo, to tie things up at 4-4. Titan managed to build a 6-4 lead after a 1v3 from a renewed LockM and guaranteed an even half. DRG closed the gap in later rounds to ensure 6-6 thanks to a plethora of post-plant lineups and a Raze ultimate from TvirusLuke.

Titan secured another pistol and conversion on the decider courtesy of Abo's entries. The second half became a game of back-and-forth rounds as neither team could establish a solid lead. TvirusLuke's Operator provided crucial openers for DRG, a resource previously dominated by Abo. A solid hold on the B site from vo0kashu's Cypher put DRG on map and series point at 12-10. A clean round followed to put DRG on the map as the first Ascended team to make the playoffs at a Kickoff event after taking down Titan 2-1 with a 13-10 on Bind.

Titan will fight against JD Gaming for a chance at making the Play-In.

EDG squeak past Wolves 2-1

Regional favourites EDG made their debut in VCT China as by far the team with the most experience at international events and success in domestic competition. Prior to franchising, EDG were champions at every Evolution event and took most series in dominant fashion.

On the other hand, Wolves came into the match as a mixture of rookies, with veteran player Yuicaw the only one to have touched the international stage.

Wolves kept things tight in the first half and responded quickly after a pistol loss with back-and-forth gun rounds in large part due to an excellent performance from Spring 's Omen. While fan-favorite ZmjjKK was relegated to KAY/O duty, EDG could trust in the trio of CHICHOO , Haodong , and Smoggy to get work done.

EDG held a narrow lead going into the second half at 7-5 but would find their attack to be a much simpler affair. Wolves would pick up just a single round versus EDG's bonus before the hometown heroes reached map point at 12-6. Spring continued to deliver to facilitate four more rounds for Wolves before fumbling an anti-eco to fall on the first map 13-10.

Wolves moved onto their own pick, Ascent, with their heads held high after a close performance on the first map. The underdogs took the first four rounds straight with the help of a bonus round 1v2 from pl1xx . Although ZmjjKK appeared much more comfortable back on Jett, Wolves' own Jett, Spring, continued to provide dividends. Wolves accrued a 6-2 lead before EDG managed to warm up.

A well-placed timeout from EDG coach AfteR brought his squad back into the swing of things and forced Wolves to look much more uncomfortable playing into EDG's Viper. EDG took the remainder of the first half rounds with ease to tie up the map at 6-6.

Despite losing the pistol, Wolves immediately answered back with a thrifty win thanks to more excellent shots from Spring with a Sheriff. Wolves carried this momentum throughout the second half and dropped just a single round before hitting map point at 12-8. A stellar 1v4 ace from ZmjjKK proved to just be a delay to the inevitable as Wolves took the Ascent 13-10 to force a third map.

Wolves got off to another excellent start on Breeze with a pistol win. Spring proved his development into a future superstar with a third straight top-fragging performance for his team. A timeout from EDG coach afteR at 6-1 down was the remedy EDG needed to come back into the game. ZmjjKK had fully activated by the later rounds in the first half and gave his team four more rounds before the switch to keep Breeze close at 7-5.

Wolves started the second half with another pistol and a win in the first gun round to look poised to complete the upset with a 10-6 lead. The nerves may have gotten to the Wolves as CHICHOO stole a thrifty 1v2 to bring the momentum back into EDG's hands. An excellently timed KAY/O knife from Smoggy interrupted a Yoru ultimate from pl1xx handed EDG the lead for the first time on Breeze 11-10. The rounds came to EDG convincingly for the rest of the series as Haodong's squad reached map and series point at 12-10. It was only a matter of time before EDG prevented the upset to take Breeze 13-11 and the series 2-1.

Despite losing the series in heartbreaking fashion, Wolves had much to be proud of as Spring ended the series with 269 ACS. On the other hand, ZmjjKK was explosive on Breeze with 28 kills and 321 ACS on the final map. EDG could look to their multiple stars to deliver occasional hero moments from all five players.

EDG have qualified for the VCT China Kickoff playoffs, while Wolves have been relegated to a decider rematch versus Bilibili Gaming Bilibili Gaming China Rank #5 B3ar Yang Zhanxiong (杨瞻雄) whzy Wang Haozhe (王昊哲) Levius Lu Yinzhong (卢胤中) Knight Liu Yuxiang (刘宇翔) Yosemite Wang Lei (王磊) Biank Zhong Jianfei (钟剑飞) .