Earning the final spot in the Masters London playoffs, Xi Lai Gaming Xi Lai Gaming China Rank #2 WsLeo Huang Pinwei (黄品维) Lysoar Liang Youhao (梁优好) NoMan James Man Rarga Arthur Churyumov happywei Deng Minwei (邓闵维) defeated Global Esports Global Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #5 PatMen Patrick Mendoza UdoTan Go Kyung-won (고경원) Kr1stal Savva Fedorov xavi8k Xavier Juan Autumn Kale Dunne in an intense 2-1 series.

Dueling for the final playoff spot was two teams with a strong relationship. Several players that were once teammates found themselves on opposite sides of the stage. Kr1stal was part of XLG alongside Rarga and happywei when they won Ascension, with NoMan and UdoTan being together with Rare Atom Rare Atom China Rank #5 Potter Sutthichai Promsrikaew Guran Zhou Minyan (周铭言) nnono Croudy Ben1Ley Shi Benyu Z1yan Liu Zihan (刘紫涵) on the opposite side of that grand final. Autumn and Lysoar were also once teammates as part of FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix China Rank #13 AAAAY Zhang Yang (张杨) KovaQ Blendi Kovaci Setrod Ou Taigeng (欧泰赓) during their 2024 campaign. Friends and scrim partners as they may be, only one team would have the chance at playoffs.

GE opted into Haven as their map pick, one that XLG had just gotten stomped on by Dragon Ranger Gaming Dragon Ranger Gaming China Rank #4 Flex1n Lo Rui (罗瑞) Life Qu Donghao (瞿东豪) vo0kashu Ilya Ushakov Nicc Shao Yi-qun (邵逸群) Verse Zhou Zijun (周子钧) SpiritZ1 Lin Dingyu (林定宇) a day prior. Given that, the expectation was a comfortable win for GE, which looked like it was going to be the case when they jumped out to a 5-2 lead. However, XLG found their bearings on the map, and aided by NoMan's cracking sites open on Jett, were able to make a full comeback and actually lead the map 7-5 at halftime.

GE's IGL xavi8k gets a clean 3k from behind.

XLG was not as successful on their Defense, only being able to stop GE's attack three times. A strong performances from PatMen let GE secure the map 13-10.

Next up was XLG's best map of Lotus, one which they were dominant on throughout their run through China, only narrowly taking their first loss earlier this tournament to NRG NRG North America Rank #3 keiko Georgio Sanassy brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold . GE were bold for leaving it in the map pool, but it seemed like they came prepared, actually coming out ahead on the first half 7-5.

Kr1stal continues to be a clutch master.

They pushed their lead further to 9-5 with a win on the pistol round, but that was all they would get. XLG's stronger side was attack, and they showed why as they ran over GE for the whole half. All of GE's retakes fell flat, even when they were up in numbers. On their home map, XLG evened up the series with a 13-9 win.

This left Breeze to decide which team would advance to playoffs. It started out rough for GE, getting thrashed on the attack by XLG, leaving them with a 4-8 deficit at halftime. A pistol round win gave GE the momentum they needed to tie the map up at 9-9. Two traded rounds later the teams tied up again at 10-10, both gripping on tightly to their playoff chances. However, XLG would finally pull ahead, narrowly avoiding a 1v3 from Kr1stal to take the lead.

5 hp makes all the difference as Lysoar gives his team the edge.

That was the breakpoint that XLG needed, as they handedly took the next two rounds to book their spot in playoffs.

GE are now eliminated from Masters London, being the second Pacific team to fall. XLG move on to playoffs, bringing a second Chinese to the playoffs for the first time since Masters Toronto. They will challenge Americas top seeded G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #2 jawgemo Alexander Mor BABYBAY Andrej Francisty trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio leaf Nathan Orf in their opening match of playoffs.