The first round of the China Kickoff middle bracket concluded today with Trace Esports Trace Esports China Rank #13 LuoK1ng Zhang Zhanpeng (张展鹏) Kai Lu Zhinan (卢智楠) FengF Song Xuefeng (宋学锋) FKEY Ke Chen deLb Delbert Tanoto defeating JD Gaming JD Gaming China Rank #7 jkuro Yong Haochong (杨浩聪) zhe Niu Zhe (牛哲) Yuicaw Huang Yung-chieh (黃湧傑) crownfisher Li Ao (李翱) BerLIN Zhang Bolin (張柏霖) 2-1 and Bilibili Gaming Bilibili Gaming China Rank #8 whzy Wang Haozhe (王昊哲) rushia Wang Xiaojie (王晓杰) nephh Marcus Tan yilai Gu Yiming (顾依铭) Knight Liu Yuxiang (刘宇翔) bud Yang Renyu (杨韧余) FT Yan Shuaibo (闫帅博) finding a 2-0 win over FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix China Rank #10 AAAAY Zhang Yang (张杨) coconut Colin Patrick Chung (钟弘祖) Xlele Zhao Yanbo (赵炎博) 77even Richard Venskevychius Setrod Ou Taigeng (欧泰赓) .

Trace sends JDG down to lower bracket in 2-1 bout

Trace and JDG each found themselves in the middle bracket after losses to Wolves Esports Wolves Esports China Rank #21 glacier Liang Zhekai (梁哲恺) yosemite Wang Lei (王磊) Spring Liu Jiunting (刘俊霆) aluba Zhong Haojun (钟皓钧) and Dragon Ranger Gaming Dragon Ranger Gaming China Rank #9 Flex1n Lo Rui (罗瑞) Life Qu Donghao (瞿东豪) Nicc Shao Yi-qun (邵逸群) Verse Zhou Zijun (周子钧) SpiritZ1 Lin Dingyu (林定宇) , with JDG set as the higher seed thanks to their opening win over Titan Esports Club Titan Esports Club China Rank #12 Dynamite Zhao Zihao (赵梓浩) ra1ny Chen Baohuan (陈葆桓) Coco Ding Dajian (丁达建) . However, Trace were the ones who found their footing, staying afloat in the middle bracket while JDG descended to the lower bracket.

The first map was Split, a first for both teams in this event. Both teams opted into double-Duelist compositions, with Trace going for Waylay and Neon and JDG going for a more standard Raze and Yoru.

Trace opened with a 4-0 start on their attack side, with Kai on Neon leaning into Judge purchases for his entry kills. JDG recovered, stringing together three rounds in a row to get back to 4-3, eventually taking the half to 7-5 in favor of Trace off the back of a low buy win in round 10.

JDG won the second pistol, but Trace won the eco round immediately after and utilized the economic advantage to extend their lead to 9-6 and then 12-6. JDG swung back in with overwhelmingly fast site hits, bringing the score all the way back to 12-11, but Trace managed to close out the map in regulation and took Split 13-11.

Pearl, another first-time showing for both teams, was a blowout. Trace could find no answers to the pace behind JDG's Yoru-Neon composition and the multikills their players racked up, finding their first round win only after losing nine. Their only other rounds on the map came from the second pistol round as JDG won 13-3. jkuro and Yuicaw stood out statistically, with the former going 17/4/11 with a 2.01 rating on Astra and the latter going 16/5/4 with a 1.64 rating on Killjoy.

The decider of Corrode was equally one-sided, but in the opposite direction. FengF won a 1v1 to earn his side a bonus round for another 4-0 start and, unlike Split, JDG were unable to find a way back in as the individuals from Trace came out on top in almost every round, resulting in a 10-2 first half.

A desperate Stinger force buy after losing the pistol netted JDG a couple more rounds, but Trace ultimately made the map a simple 13-4. FengF dominated on KAY/O, going 19/9/4 with 280 ACS and a 1.62 rating.

Bilibili cement 2-0 victory over FunPlus Phoenix after extended overtime

Two previous regional powerhouses in Bilibili and FPX found themselves facing each other after being swept by All Gamers All Gamers China Rank #6 Shr1mp Yang Yong (杨勇) K1ra Huang Zhihao (黄志豪) f4ngeer Roman Smirnov iamgrq Gao Ruiqi (高锐琦) and TYLOO TYLOO China Rank #2 splash Moses Christophe Jonathan Scales Zhang Zhen (张震) Erv Shen Zhiwei slowly Kelun Sun (孙科伦) SiuFatBB Pong Gaa Hei (庞加曦) xihe Peng Wenbo (彭文博) , with the loser set to be threatened with an early elimination in the lower bracket.

Bilibili picked Pearl as the first map, where both teams demonstrated double-Initiator looks that used Tejo. FPX won a pistol and a bonus, but Bilibili responded with a full Sheriff thrifty that led to eight unanswered round wins, ending the half 8-4 in their favor.

Bilibili held fast to their lead in the second half, winning the second pistol round and responding to FPX's attempts to get back into the game. rushia , who excelled on Astra with a 20/14/12 KDA and 180 ADR, found a 3K in the find round to close the map out 13-9.

The second map was FPX's pick of Bind, where they fielded Raze and Yoru against Bilibili's Fade and KAY/O. Things started similarly to Pearl as FPX won the first bonus round but lost the round four anti-eco to allow Bilibili back into the game. This time, however, FPX stabilized, taking a narrow 7-5 lead at halftime.

The rest of the map was a tense back-and-forth, with Bilibili having two chances to close out in regulation at 12-10 but losing both to take the game into overtime.

Overtime went on for several rounds, with both sides struggling more on defense, but the key difference-maker for Bilibili was two separate 3v5 wins at 15-15 and then 17-15 to close out the game. whzy went above and beyond on Raze, recording a monumental 40 kills, 13 of which came in overtime, also earning himself the accolade of 2,000 lifetime kills in VCT CN.

Trace and Bilibili move on in the middle bracket and will clash tomorrow for the right to remain in the middle bracket. Meanwhile, JDG and FPX will face off on Sunday, Feb. 1, with one of the two teams destined for an early elimination.

China Kickoff continues tomorrow with the following matches:

• TYLOO vs. Titan Esports Club (Middle Round 2)
• Trace Esports vs. Bilibili Gaming (Middle Round 2)