In the lower bracket quarterfinals of the VCT China 2026 Stage 1 playoffs, Dragon Ranger Gaming Dragon Ranger Gaming China Rank #5 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) and All Gamers All Gamers China Rank #3 Septem7 Liu Zhening (刘哲宁) Shr1mp Yang Yong (杨勇) Youze K1ra Huang Zhihao (黄志豪) f4ngeer Roman Smirnov iamgrq Gao Ruiqi (高锐琦) came out victorious, confirming a matchup against each other for the final China slot at Masters London.

Dragon Ranger Gaming sweeps JDG Esports after dominant Lotus

The first lower bracket quarterfinal was between DRG and JDG Esports JDG Esports China Rank #8 stew Park Young-chan (박영찬) jkuro Yong Haochong (杨浩聪) zhe Niu Zhe (牛哲) Yuicaw Huang Yung-chieh (黃湧傑) coconut Colin Patrick Chung (钟弘祖) , with DRG looking to complete the full lower bracket run after losing its first game to EDG, while JDG is looking to make an international tournament for the first time.

Map one of Haven started with DRG running double-Duelist with Neon and Waylay alongside Cypher, which JDG matched, aside from a different Initiator choice with Sova instead of Skye. Starting on the attack side, JDG earned the first pistol win, and despite losing the bonus round, rocketed out to a 6-1 lead. The star early in this series was coconut , who stepped up as the solo Initiator to end the half with 16 kills as JDG entered the half up 8-4.

For a second, after JDG won the second pistol round, the map seemed over. As it turns out, it was, as DRG converted a big eco afterward to shift momentum entirely in its way. The attack was defined by both vo0kashu and SpiritZ1 shooting down anything JDG attempted on defense as DRG won map one 13-9.

Lotus had to be a rebound for JDG, as the team ran double-Duelist with Neon, Raze, and Vyse. DRG chose to run more double-Duelist with Neon, Waylay, and Cypher, and the comp paid off with a pistol win and a strong start. While SpiritZ1 continued to play well, Lotus's start was defined by Flex1n dominating JDG, entering the half up 9-3.

Moving to the attack side, DRG won the pistol and converted the bonus to reach map and series point up 12-3. Even as JDG forced and converted the next round, DRG quickly ended the series 13-4, completing the sweep.

The star of the series was SpiritZ1, who had a monster Waylay performance across both maps. He ended the series with a 1.53 match rating, 44 kills, 305 ACS, and 182 ADR.

With this win, DRG will face the victor of the second lower quarterfinal, while JDG is eliminated from both the Stage 1 playoffs and Masters London contention.

All Gamers fights for a three-map win over TYLOO

The second game of the day, between AG and 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) , was a battle of rookies, with both teams playing with game-changing talent that arrived in VCT China just this year.

Fracture was the start, with AG running double-Duelist with Neon, Raze, and f4ngeer on Chamber. TYLOO opted for double-Initiator with solo Neon instead, which seemed to start well after a pistol round win and a 3-1 lead. However, as AG built some momentum, the team proved to be hard to slow down. On the attack side, f4ngeer continued to fry as he reached 17 kills, helping AG reach the half up 8-4.

Then, after AG won the second pistol and converted the bonus to confidently end map one 13-4, hinting at a potentially quick series after reaching a 1-0 series lead.

Next up was Haven, with AG swapping to double-Sentinel by keeping f4ngeer on Chamber, while TYLOO ran double-Duelist with Neon and Waylay. This time, TYLOO needed a strong start that the team could hold, and a pistol win alongside some clean shots from slowly placed TYLOO in a 6-2 lead. In a flip of map one, now TYLOO entered the half up 8-4, in prime position to take the series to map three.

While AG converted the second pistol, TYLOO prevented the bonus round win to run up to an 11-6 lead. Just as it looked like AG might be completing the comeback to end the series in a sweep, Erv nailed one of the best Sheriff clips in VCT history.

That ace took TYLOO to map point, which the team quickly confirmed to end the map 13-10, forcing map three on Split.

Map three of Split started out close, with AG moving f4ngeer to Jett for a different double-Duelist comp as TYLOO stuck to Neon and Waylay. The first pistol went the way of AG, but a prevented bonus conversion kept the first half close. TYLOO played well as a team in the rounds it won, but f4ngeer was providing star moments for AG, reaching the half tied 6-6.

The second half started ideally for AG, with a pistol win and a bonus conversion thanks to an important 1v2 clutch win from Shr1mp . The economy for AG was flourishing as the team quickly sprinted to a 12-6 lead, on match and series point, before TYLOO earned its first defense round win. Splash did his best to help TYLOO fight back, pulling the score to 12-10 with a clean retake through a Viper ultimate from Bai . Yet, a smart timeout from AG and a won duel from f4ngeer ended the map 13-10 and the series 2-1.

The star of the series was f4ngeer, who closed out the series with great aim that he held throughout all three maps. Playing both Chamber and Jett, he ended the series with a 1.41 match rating, 286 ACS, 65 kills, and 169 ADR.

With this win, AG will face DRG in the lower bracket semifinal, and with the top three teams of the tournament making it to Masters London, these two teams will fight for the final available slot. As for TYLOO, the team is now officially eliminated from both the Stage 1 playoffs and Masters London contention.