In the first round of the lower bracket at the VCT China 2026 Stage 1 playoffs, TYLOO TYLOO China Rank #6 splash Moses Christophe Jonathan Scales Zhang Zhen (张震) Erv Shen Zhiwei sword9 Li Wei (李卫) slowly Kelun Sun (孙科伦) and Dragon Ranger Gaming Dragon Ranger Gaming China Rank #3 Flex1n Lo Rui (罗瑞) Life Qu Donghao (瞿东豪) vo0kashu Ilya Ushakov Akeman Zhang Haoran (张浩然) Nicc Shao Yi-qun (邵逸群) SpiritZ1 Lin Dingyu (林定宇) defeated Titan Esports Club Titan Esports Club China Rank #18 Haodong Guo Haodong (郭浩东) lucas Yunkun Lu (路昀昆) Spitfires Xin Mingyan (辛明阳) Dynamite Zhao Zihao (赵梓浩) Coco Ding Dajian (丁达建) and Trace Esports Trace Esports China Rank #15 LuoK1ng Zhang Zhanpeng (张展鹏) Kai Lu Zhinan (卢智楠) Xlele Zhao Yanbo (赵炎博) Abo Han Bohao (韩博皓) Viva Lifan Ran (冉立凡) deLb Delbert Tanoto , respectively, to keep their playoff runs alive.

TYLOO squeaks by TEC in close three-map series

The first elimination game of Stage 1 was between TYLOO and TEC, the third and fourth seeds from Group Alpha. Starting on Pearl, both teams ran similar double-Duelist compositions with the Sentinel as the key difference. TYLOO earned the first pistol, lost the antieco, then won round three to secure the most chaotic first three rounds possible. Running up to a 4-1 lead, TEC fought back to take its own lead late in the half, with Dynamite on Phoenix once again impressing as TEC reached the half up 7-5.

TYLOO won the second pistol round to tie the game at 7-7, but was unable to convert the bonus round to take the lead. Where Dynamite was the star on the attack side, lucas was amazing on the defense side to only lose one gun round, ending the half with 12 kills in 9 rounds. TEC comfortably took map one 13-8, putting pressure on TYLOO to win the next two maps consecutively to stay alive.

Fracture was next up, with both teams once again running similar compositions, but the big difference stylistically was the double-Duelist from TEC, while TYLOO opted for double-Initiator. TEC took the first pistol, but TYLOO won the antieco and used that thrifty to take control of the first half. TYLOO relied heavily on splash 's Neon, and that worked wonders on the defense side. Ending the half up 9-3, splash completed the first half with 19 kills.

TYLOO then quickly rushed to map point with a pistol win and a bonus conversion, up 12-3. The map was nearly a complete blowout, but TEC put together a stretch of six round wins to at least make the scoreline look better. TYLOO only needed one round win to take the series to map three, and the team did so, ending Fracture 13-9.

The series came down to Split, the final Stage 1 map for one of these teams. For the third time in the series, the teams' compositions only varied by one agent choice, this time both running double-Duelist with a different secondary Duelist. TYLOO won the first pistol, and despite losing the bonus round, dominated retakes to jolt ahead on map three. For the second map in a row, splash was amazing in the first half, leading TYLOO to another 9-3 lead.

Yet, with its playoff hopes on the line, TEC bounced back to win the first pistol and keep the map within reach. Even as TYLOO reached an 11-5 lead, TEC converted six round wins in seven attempts, needing to win round 24 to take it to overtime. Alas, it wasn't meant to be, as a post-plant Viper ultimate proved too much to overcome, as TYLOO secured the map 13-11 and the series 2-1.

The star of the series was slowly , who played three different Controllers across all three maps and still consistently fragged alongside splash. He ended the series with a 1.24 match rating, 84% KAST, and eight first kills to only two first deaths, a crucial stat for a smokes player in a close series.

With this win, TYLOO continue in the lower bracket, while TEC is officially eliminated from both the Stage 1 playoffs and Masters London contention.

DRG eliminates Trace in a quick sweep

The second elimination match of the day was a lot quicker, between a strong DRG squad and the fourth seed Trace Esports. The series began on Ascent, a returning map for the map pool, and both teams opted for slightly modified double-Duelist compositions with a solo Sentinel and a Sova. DRG started the game near perfectly, with a pistol win and a bonus conversion to run away with a 6-1 lead in the blink of an eye. Abo was doing his best on Vyse to lead his team to round wins, but vo0kashu was frying on his signature Cypher pick in the first half. DRG ended the defense half up 10-2, forcing Trace to replicate a dominant defense half just to take the map to OT.

Trace did start well with a pistol win and a bonus round conversion, even reaching a position where the map was winnable down 11-7. However, after DRG reached map point, SpiritZ1 nailed a close post-plant clutch to secure the map 13-7.

Lotus was next, with DRG running a double-Duelist comp with Neon and Waylay as Trace opted for the same Duelists but a different Sentinel and Initiator. After DRG won the first pistol and lost the bonus, the map was close until a key round six win from Trace snowballed into a 6-3 lead. DRG fought hard to reach the half tied at 6-6, holding back a strong first half from deLb .

However, despite the tie at the half, DRG dominated as soon as the team moved to the attack side, with Life showing up on Neon to win DRG the pistol, the bonus, and the rest of the half 13-6.

Despite an amazing overall team performance statistically from DRG, the star of the series was Nicc , who ended the series with a lobby-leading 1.44 match rating, and died the least of all players with only 21 deaths across 39 rounds.

With this win, DRG will move on in the lower bracket, while Trace Esports is officially eliminated from Stage 1 and Masters London.