The VCT China Stage 2 playoffs continued today with two lower bracket matches between overdogs and underdogs. The playoffs newcomers TYLOO TYLOO China Rank #12 splash Moses Christophe Jonathan Scales Zhang Zhen (张震) sword9 Li Wei (李卫) slowly Kelun Sun (孙科伦) Yoyo Xu Youxiang (徐佑翔) and All Gamers All Gamers China Rank #17 Shr1mp Yang Yong (杨勇) Spitfires Xin Mingyan (辛明阳) HanChe Huang Jingxuan (黄敬轩) K1ra Huang Zhihao (黄志豪) challenged 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) cb Wang Qingchuan (王庆川) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) Jieni7 Zhang Juntai (张君泰) and Xi Lai Gaming Xi Lai Gaming China Rank #3 WsLeo Huang Pinwei (黄品维) Lysoar Liang Youhao (梁优好) NoMan James Man Rarga Arthur Churyumov happywei Deng Minwei (邓闵维) coconut Colin Patrick Chung (钟弘祖) respectively for a chance to continue on the road to Champions Paris, but it was both of the overdogs who claimed victory to lock themselves and Dragon Ranger Gaming Dragon Ranger Gaming China Rank #4 Flex1n Lo Rui (罗瑞) vo0kashu Ilya Ushakov Akeman Zhang Haoran (张浩然) Nicc Shao Yi-qun (邵逸群) SpiritZ1 Lin Dingyu (林定宇) into the remaining spots.

EDward Gaming routs TYLOO, qualifies for Champions

The first match of the day was guaranteed to lock in a Champions representative. If EDG won, they would secure their spot, but if TYLOO won, XLG would qualify instead. In the end, EDG won in 2-0 fashion, punching their tickets to Paris to defend their Champions title and continuing to not drop a single map to TYLOO in their history as a team.

The match kicked off on TYLOO's pick of Haven. After previously playing a Viper composition against JDG Esports, EDG opted to change to a double-Duelist composition. The biggest surprise, however, was that ZmjjKK picked Yoru for the first time since Stage 1, while Jieni7 was the one on Neon.

The map started scrappy, with both teams winning back-to-back ecos in rounds 2 and 3. EDG stabilized from there, winning eight rounds in a row to lead 9-3 at the half. Scales put up an impressive individual performance on Iso with 17 kills at the half, but TYLOO was ultimately unable to close out rounds against the clutch power of EDG.

A pistol win for EDG in the second half allowed them to quickly close out the map 13-3. Both of the team's duelists topped the scoreboard, ZmjjKK ending with 20 kills, 203 ADR, and a 1.88 rating, and Jieni7 following suit with 21 kills, 204 ADR, and a 1.52 rating.

The second map was Ascent, where both teams utilized standard Sova-KAY/O compositions. TYLOO started their defense strong with a pistol win and bonus conversion, but EDG flipped the momentum with a round 4 eco win to take a 5-3 lead. The half ended 7-5 in favor of EDG off the back of coordinated site hits and solid fragging from ZmjjKK and nobody .

Faced with the threat of their season ending, TYLOO held on, converting a second pistol and bonus but dropping yet another eco for an 8-8 deadlock. A 1v3 ace from slowly in round 18 drew things at 9-9, but EDG ultimately proved superior in the buy rounds and won Ascent 13-11.

Champions now out of their grasp, TYLOO ends their season in the top six after a major turnaround from Stage 1 to Stage 2, while EDG forges onward in the lower bracket in hopes for a better seed.

Xi Lai Gaming defeats All Gamers to lock in remaining Champions representatives

With EDG having won their match, XLG's 2-1 defeat over AG locked in both XLG and DRG for the final two Champions slots for China. Both Ascension teams qualifying to Champions means that whichever team performs better in Paris will guarantee their spot in VCT 2026, while the other team will still have to defend their spot in Ascension later this year.

The series began on XLG's pick of Ascent, pitting their Chamber-Vyse composition against AG's Deadlock-Cypher. AG won the pistol, but XLG won the eco and started a snowball with their ultimates to turn a 2-2 score into a comfortable 9-3 on their attack side.

AG managed to close the gap considerably in the second half despite dropping the second pistol, turning XLG's 11-3 lead into a closer 12-8, but the deficit caught up to them and XLG took Ascent 13-8. Viva was the standout for his team from start to finish, putting up 24 kills to 10 deaths, 203 ADR, and a 1.78 rating on Sova.

Next up was AG's pick of Icebox. While AG struggled with their defense on Ascent, they thrived on Icebox, clearly reading XLG's movements around the map and shutting them down at almost every turn with sound retakes and plant denial tactics. XLG scraped a couple rounds with A hits, but the half eventually ended 9-3 in favor of AG.

Much like the first map, XLG began closing the gap in the second half, getting the score as close as 11-9, but AG successfully capitalized on their lead to win Icebox 13-9. K1ra ruled the server on Viper with a 26/14/3 KDA and 204 ADR.

The decider came down to Lotus, where XLG once again brought out the triple-Sentinel composition that they lost 12-14 to DRG with just yesterday. This time, with Champions on the line, they utterly outclassed AG, steamrolling to an 11-1 attack half that AG could find no response to and closing it out 13-1. Rarga put up an unbelievable 23 kills to only four deaths on Sage, while happywei trailed with 16 kills to six deaths on Cypher.

All Gamers' season is over, confirming China's four Champions representatives as Bilibili Gaming Bilibili Gaming China Rank #2 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) , EDward Gaming, Xi Lai Gaming, and Dragon Ranger Gaming.

However, the playoffs are far from over; all four teams will continue to battle for glory and more favorable seeding. BLG and DRG will face off tomorrow for top two in the upper final, while EDG and XLG will fight for survival in the lower bracket.