Xi Lai Gaming climbs from Ascension to Stage 1 title in VCT China

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) , the Ascension winning team from the Chinese region, won their first regional title by defeating Bilibili Gaming Bilibili Gaming China Rank #3 whzy Wang Haozhe (王昊哲) Levius Lu Yinzhong (卢胤中) rushia Wang Xiaojie (王晓杰) nephh Marcus Tan Knight Liu Yuxiang (刘宇翔) 3-1 in the grand finals of the 2025 Stage 1 playoffs. For the first time in VCT China history, a regional title was not won by EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) CHICHOO Wan Shunzhi (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) Jieni7 Zhang Juntai (张君泰) , but instead by an entirely new roster proving themselves heading into Masters Toronto.

The series began on Fracture, with both teams locking in mirror Breach/Tejo compositions with their star Duelist on Neon. Bilibili won the first five rounds thanks to a bonus conversion, but XLG bounced back to win five of the next seven rounds to keep the map close at the half. BLG won the second pistol round to push themselves further in the lead, but some tense rounds were traded in sets until BLG reached map point up 12-10.

The hero who pulled XLG to overtime was Rarga , who rebounded from a rough overall performance on this first map and used patience with his Neon ult to kill two BLG players to make a tough round come down to a 1v1, which coconut secured.

The first overtime was nearly a fumble from XLG, but they took advantage of an overly aggressive BLG to tie Fracture up for the final time. A sneaky tuck from Viva put XLG in a winning position, and YOU arriving from Dish to help his team plant got three kills to win map one 15-13. YOU had an amazing overall performance on the defense side of Fracture, ending the map with a 1.94 map rating, 377 ACS, 23 kills, and an 86% KAST.

Next up was Lotus, with the teams showing a different look for the first time in the series. Both teams ran teams focused around the double Controller of Viper and Omen, but BLG were confident in the Neon pick from whzy , while XLG moved Rarga on Yoru with the hopes of a much stronger map two. Bilibili won the first pistol, but fumbled on the anti-eco to give XLG a great opportunity to take a significant lead on their defense side. Rarga and happywei led the way to an 8-4 half, with whzy as the biggest highlight on the other team.

BLG won the second pistol but lost their second anti-eco in a row, trying to force the game into overtime in the same fashion that their opponents did on Fracture but failing to do so. Lotus ended 13-10 for XLG, putting them on series and championship point with three attempts to close the game out. Rarga made up for his underwhelming performance on map one with an outstanding map two, ending Lotus with a 1.51 map rating, 316 ACS, 25 kills, and 193 ADR.

Pearl had to be the start of a long comeback for BLG. The two teams ran drastically different comps for the first time in the series, as Rarga moved to the Chamber and Viva moved off Tejo to Sova. That looked to have worked well when XLG won the pistol round and used that momentum to convert the bonus and win the first five rounds, putting all the pressure on BLG. There was the potential for a collapse, but BLG were strong and won 6 of the next 7 rounds to tie the map 6-6 at the half.

BLG won the second pistol round, but it was Knight on Fade who stepped up on BLG to dominate on the attack side and pull BLG to the first convincing map win of the series. Pearl ended 13-8, and BLG were not dead yet thanks to rushia once again. His performance on Astra in his last series was unrelenting, and this map was his best so far, ending with a 1.41 map rating, 285 ACS, 24 kills, and 81% KAST.

The sweep was over, so Haven was next. For the second time in the series, the teams ran mirror compositions with Breach and Tejo, but the Duelist matchup was on the Yoru instead of the Neon. The first pistol was quickly won with a triple kill from whzy, and some good aim from the retake from Rarga simply bled too much of the clock. BLG took the early lead and prevented that anti-eco round loss that struck them in both halves on Lotus.

More aggression from whzy allowed for a bonus round conversion, pushing for an ace with the Spectre he bought on round two.

The position looked great for BLG, but XLG did what they do best and won a thrifty round to try and shift the momentum. XLG won five rounds in a row thanks to some stalwart defense from happywei and coconut, but some BLG A site post-plant aggression stopped the run with an important thrifty round win of their own. The half ended at 7-5 in favor of XLG, which was a tough look for BLG after a bonus round win, but remained within reach.

BLG won the second pistol round of Haven, but struggled to convert the bonus round. The first true gun round between the teams was over in a flash, as three quick kills from Rarga and coconut forced a save and a timeout from the BLG side. XLG ran one of the fastest round wins post-timeout, thanks to happywei running deep into the C site, and the championship was quickly falling out of sight for BLG.

The lead for XLG grew from 8-7 to 11-7, forcing BLG to throw their final punches if they kept hope for a comeback. As was needed, whzy and rushia were the instruments to win three consecutive rounds to keep the map within reach, and despite XLG reaching series point, BLG showed their resilience to force overtime.

XLG won the first overtime round confidently thanks to a strong crunch at garage, and the comeback officially was over. Xi Lai Gaming won Haven 14-12, the series 3-1, and raised the Stage 1 trophy over their heads. With this win, XLG even surpassed the other standout Ascension team, G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #1 jawgemo Alexander Mor trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio JonahP Jonah Pulice leaf Nathan Orf , by winning a regional trophy in their first year in tier one competition.

The series MVP was Rarga, who stood out despite a great overall team performance from XLG, with different standouts on almost every map in this grand final. He ended his grand finals debut with a 1.06 series rating, leading his team with 236 ACS, 78 kills, 149 ADR, and a match-leading 39% headshot accuracy.

With this win, XLG secures the top seed from VCT China heading into their international debut at Masters Toronto, while Bilibili will have the second seed in their return to an international.