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) overcame Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov in three maps to make it the 1-0 pool of the swiss stage at Masters Madrid. The number one seed from China is now just one game away from the playoffs while PRX face elimination.

The series began with a Sunset pick from Paper Rex. PRX have so far looked dominant on the map in 2024 after a 13-7 win over Gen.G at Kickoff. EDG's choice to start on the defense proved to be ill-fated as a pistol round win would provide a majority of the Chinese side's rounds for the entire half.

PRX's no-duelist comp was dominant throughout the half. something 's attack Operator provided frequent first kills while the Pacific representatives made Sage look like a meta pick. Even the heroics were going the way of PRX after a 1v2 from Monyet in round 11 and pivotal multikills from mindfreak .

EDG conceded the second pistol to go down 11-3 but were able to briefly bounce back into the game with a streak of five rounds. EDG were able to exploit the no-sentinel weakness in PRX's comp to find gaps in the defense and played out slower rounds to perfection to close the gap. Both timeouts were forced out of PRX coach alecks , with the second timeout at 11-8 proving to be the difference maker. The final two rounds were picked up by PRX with ease to close out the map 13-8 and lead the series 1-0.

“We gave them too much respect,” said alecks inbetween maps.

mindfreak frequently delivered PRX rounds with high impact multikills in crucial swing rounds and topped the server with 21 kills and 281 ACS.

Monyet won a vital clutch in a late half swing round.

The second map was Bind, EDG's map pick. An early lead off the back of an attack pistol from PRX was quickly diminished as EDG refused to concede a round after an initial 1-4 deficit. Back to back clutches from Haodong paved the way for seven straight rounds from EDG to end the half. Smoggy was 5-0 in first engagements in the first half while Haodong and CHICHOO continued to provide high-impact kills facilitated by ZmjjKK 's KAY/O utility.

PRX picked up the defensive pistol after a f0rsakeN Frenzy 4K to collect both pistols on Bind. However, this advantage was nullified by a continued strong performance from EDG. Haodong's lurk timings were perfect throughout the attack as EDG exploited PRX's continued aggression. EDG often took advantage of PRX's pushes resulting in weaknesses being left elsewhere on the map. A crisp 2K from ZmjjKK down long gave the Chinese side enough of an economic advantage to hit map point at a 12-7 lead.

EDG fumbled just two more rounds following a disjointed Brim ult play before taking the second map 13-9 to tie up the series at 1-1. CHICHOO excelled on Bind to top frag for his team, dropping 23 kills with 186 ADR. Despite nobody contributing just two kills on Bind, the rest of EDG stepped up to force a third map.

Haodong brought the momentum for EDG.

EDG carried over their momentum into the early rounds of Split and entirely neutralized the triple-duelist comp from PRX. A pistol round was followed up by a bonus win thanks to a nobody 3K with Smoggy cleaning up the leftovers in a 1v1 clutch. This short streak was broken up by an absurd play from f0rsaken. Left alone versus five, f0rsaken collected two quick openers with a Judge before handling the remaining three after picking up Haodong's Vandal to complete the 1v5 ace.

Unfortunately for the APAC side, the play was just a minor footnote in a half that continued to be dominated by EDG. The weaknesses of PRX's comp were exploited heavily by EDG as running no initiator forced PRX to largely face clear angles into prepared EDG players. An occasional PRX hero round broke up the multitude of rounds collected by EDG as they cruised to an 8-4 first half. ZmjjKK looked unstoppable and ended the half with 20 kills on Raze.

Paper Rex picked up the second pistol with a clinical A retake but could only trade rounds for the rest of the map. Continued hero plays from f0rsaken meant PRX could at the very least trade rounds, but a dominant first half meant EDG's lead held strong. A swing round at 10-8 came the way of EDG thanks to a read that exploited a weak A site. A lone d4v41 was unable to hold the line against the entire enemy team as China's number one seed easily won an anti-eco to pick up series point at 12-8.

A final multikill from f0rsaken gave PRX their final round before EDG closed out the series with a slow A hit to take Split 13-9 and the series 2-1. ZmjjKK dropped a monstrous 30 kills in just 22 rounds with an even more impressive 245 ADR to bring his team across the finish line and into the 1-0 pool. Despite his poor performance on Bind, nobody bounced back on Split to finish with an equal 1.46 rating to ZmjjKK.

f0rsaken's already got a clip-of-the-tournament contender.

EDG have moved onto the 1-0 pool and will match up with another 1-0 team for a spot in the playoffs. Paper Rex are now one game from elimination as they sit in the 0-1 pool in the swiss stage.

Day 2 Current Standings: