With a 2-0 victory against Wolves Esports Wolves Esports China Rank #5 SiuFatBB Pong Gaa Hei (庞加曦) Yuicaw Huang Yung-chieh (黃湧傑) Spring Liu Jiunting (刘俊霆) Lysoar Liang Youhao (梁优好) Juicy Tyler James Aeria , Xi Lai Gaming Xi Lai Gaming China Rank #2 Viva Lifan Ran (冉立凡) Rarga Arthur Churyumov happywei Deng Minwei (邓闵维) coconut Colin Patrick Chung (钟弘祖) has reached the VCT China Stage 1 grand final. Wolves remains in contention, next playing in the lower final against China's final Toronto representative.

This win continues XLG's seven match winning streak, which goes back to the beginning of the stage. They also have a clean sheet in playoffs, winning all their games without losing a single map.

The match began with Rarga dominating on Pearl, helping secure the pistol and anti-eco round. Wolves retaliated with a series of round wins, taking the upper hand early in their defense. The Chamber mirror eventually went XLG's way, which helped the Ascension team take over first picks and equalize the scoreline at 6-6 by the break.

XLG's aggression kept their opponents out of the game in the second half.

The second half saw happywei step up alongside Rarga, the duo completely denying any idea in Wolves' attacking playbook. Together, the pair ended with 9 and 13 eliminations respectively, and won half of all first engagements on defense. This led the newcomers to end the first map 13-7, sending the series to their own map pick with a 1-0 lead.

Lotus saw Wolves recover initially, taking the pistol round and denying opportunities in order to go up 4-0. A crucial triple kill from Viva on round five helped XLG crack open the defense. Finally able to get into post plants, they kept Wolves out of the scoreboard, winning seven rounds in a row. It took a triple flank retake crunch with Spring 's Viper's Pit to finally win another round for Wolves, ending the half 7-5 with XLG in the lead.

Xi Lai's coordination and teamplay in the first rounds of their defense and the last rounds of the map was night-and-day.

Not content with going home early, Juicy and Yuicaw kept the score close, taking the lead at 9-8 and forcing out XLG's timeout. It was not particularly effective, however, as Wolves prioritized map control to set up early kills, quick pivots, and favorable post plants. Despite Wolves reaching match point, XLG remained in the map, playing a more stable defense and not conceding fights early, eventually forcing overtime.

The fundamentals carried over into the extra rounds. Now on attack, XLG slowly took over B even after Juicy found the first kill onto Rarga, winning important gun fights and setting up an easy post plant. The next round, Xi Lai stopped a late C push, exploiting angles and positioning to keep Wolves from planting. The series ended with a simple 3v1, as XLG took their opponent's map pick 14-12 and booked a ticket to the final.

Xi Lai Gaming will await an opponent in the event's grand final, as the Ascension winning team looks to take their first tier 1 trophy. Wolves is currently on their best-ever run at an official event, and will next play against either Bilibili Gaming or EDward Gaming, as they look to further improve their placement and earn an opportunity at winning their first title.