Two new squads are joining VCT China 2026 for the Stage 2 play-ins, as KeepBest Gaming KeepBest Gaming China Rank #10 Akeman Zhang Haoran (张浩然) sibeastw0w Anton Govorukhin Tonk Ying Wang Chenxu (王晨旭) Krst1Ng and A Team A Team China Unranked monk Wang Haoyu (王浩宇) Eren Yang Zhengwei (杨曾威) Folykiki Dingwei Wei Dingwei (魏定伟) Layla Hoàng Đức Hùng qualified through the China Nationals for a chance to play at Champions 2026.

Starting on August 5, KeepBest and A Team will face Titan Esports Club Titan Esports Club China Rank #15 Haodong Guo Haodong (郭浩东) lucas Yunkun Lu (路昀昆) Spitfires Xin Mingyan (辛明阳) Dynamite Zhao Zihao (赵梓浩) ra1ny Chen Baohuan (陈葆桓) Coco Ding Dajian (丁达建) and Trace Esports Trace Esports China Rank #16 LuoK1ng Zhang Zhanpeng (张展鹏) Kai Lu Zhinan (卢智楠) FengF Song Xuefeng (宋学锋) Toosy Wu Yufeng (吴雨峰) FKEY Ke Chen deLb Delbert Tanoto , respectively, as some players return to the top tier while others make their debut.

Here is a short recap of the two teams' stories heading into the play-ins:

KeepBest Gaming KeepBest Gaming China Rank #10 Akeman Zhang Haoran (张浩然) sibeastw0w Anton Govorukhin Tonk Ying Wang Chenxu (王晨旭) Krst1Ng (#1 seed from CN Nationals)

KeepBest Gaming logo The logo of KeepBest Gaming, the top seed from China tier-two in 2026. (Image via VCT CN)

2026 has been an amazing year for the top seed from Chinese tier-two play. KBG ended on top of the Pro Division competition, in China's equivalent of the Challengers circuit, before sweeping A Team to end the Pro Qualifier in the top spot.

Ending the groups 4-2, KBG stormed through the upper bracket in both tournament victories this year, showing skill when it mattered most.

Akeman is one of the recognizable names on the roster, formerly playing for Dragon Ranger Gaming Dragon Ranger Gaming China Rank #8 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) and earning international experience with his time at Champions 2025. After Kickoff this year, Akeman moved to KBG, where he led the team to continued success.

Another interesting player is sibeastw0w , a Russian import Initiator, joining a league with plenty of other star Russian players. The other three KBG teammates, Tonk , Ying , and Krst1Ng , round out the core of the CN National champs.

Looking at experience, coach Naint worked for Wolves Esports Wolves Esports China Rank #19 glacier Liang Zhekai (梁哲恺) yosemite Wang Lei (王磊) Spring Liu Jiunting (刘俊霆) Deryeon Derrick Yee aluba Zhong Haojun (钟皓钧) for the first half of 2024, but aside from Akeman, the rest of the team will be rookies in the tier-one scene at these play-ins. The team enters the play-ins as a team on form, and will have to defeat a TEC squad who lost six of its last seven games regionally.

A Team A Team China Unranked monk Wang Haoyu (王浩宇) Eren Yang Zhengwei (杨曾威) Folykiki Dingwei Wei Dingwei (魏定伟) Layla Hoàng Đức Hùng (#2 seed from CN Nationals)

A Team logo The logo of A Team, the second seed from China tier-two in 2026. (Image via VCT CN)

A Team did not start 2026 nearly as well as KBG, ending 1-5 and missing the playoffs in the Pro Division. However, the team made one roster move and improved to 4-2 for the Pro Qualifier, the split that determined who made it to the play-ins. In a lower bracket run to remember, after losing to KBG in the upper quarterfinals, the team ran through lowers and defeated Any Questions Gaming Any Questions Gaming China Rank #13 Juicy Tyler James Aeria S1Mon Hsien Meng-Hsun (谢孟勋) 5CM Ding Xuanpeng (丁宣鹏) FFs Leung Cheuk Nam (梁卓南) Dannyy to earn the final play-in slot.

Four players and the coach stuck around in this sudden regional improvement, including familiar names in monk and Eren .

First, monk played on Attacking Soul Esports Attacking Soul Esports Inactive monk Wang Haoyu (王浩宇) Yuicaw Huang Yung-chieh (黃湧傑) YHchen Chen Yuhan (陳昱瀚) Zero1 Meng Zhen Ren (任梦真) as far back as 2021, and moved to All Gamers All Gamers China Rank #4 Shr1mp Yang Yong (杨勇) K1ra Huang Zhihao (黄志豪) Bai Zhang Zeyang (张泽洋) f4ngeer Roman Smirnov iamgrq Gao Ruiqi (高锐琦) and Nova Esports Nova Esports China Rank #2 qiutiaN Bijan Moeinzadeh (慕英毕强) cb Wang Qingchuan (王庆川) Ezeir Zhao Zejun (赵泽骏) GuanG Guang Honglin (光洪霖) swagzor Mikhail Vaniushin before moving to tier-two. Eren also played for a long time regionally, starting in 2021 with Shenzhen NTER Shenzhen NTER Inactive AC Wei Jiacong (韦家聪) Scales Zhang Zhen (张震) Fuller Lin Yifan (林逸凡) before moving to Ninjas In Pyjamas Ninjas In Pyjamas Inactive YRSelect Eren Yang Zhengwei (杨曾威) JayH Wong Jia Heng SiuFatBB Pong Gaa Hei (庞加曦) , TYLOO TYLOO China Rank #6 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) , and Octagonal Disposition Gaming Octagonal Disposition Gaming China Rank #18 XyuS YHchen Chen Yuhan (陳昱瀚) ZiXuan Liu Junwei (刘俊伟) W1nner Tsai Hong-wei (蔡宏偉) , before ending with A Team.

Only one other player made noise at higher levels, and that was Dingwei . Dingwei spent a little time with DRG, helping them win Ascension in 2023 and playing for the team at the 2024 Kickoff as a flex Initiator who supported talent like vo0kashu and TvirusLuke . Even the coach, Malix , moved through a lot of tier-two teams before finding success with A Team.

The change that spurred this run was moving Layla onto the team and rotating Pink to a substitute. Layla played for teams Malix coached in the past, including CERBERUS Esports CERBERUS Esports Inactive viness Nguyễn Trung Tín Layla Hoàng Đức Hùng ting2k5 Dường Mạnh Thắng and Team Flash Team Flash Inactive Mihlog Tô Minh Long bucute K1LLERS Nguyễn Văn Thiện ting2k5 Dường Mạnh Thắng Layla Hoàng Đức Hùng in Asia-Pacific, and that connection paid dividends as A Team completed the underdog lower bracket run.

Despite another sweep loss to KBG in the finals, the team now has a chance for Champs, but that begins with a series against Trace Esports. Trace was on a six-game losing streak before sweeping TEC in the seeding match for the play-ins, earning the chance to face the weaker of the two CN National teams. Malix, Dingwei, monk, and Eren will need to step up to defeat an experienced Trace team if the squad wants to make it to Shanghai.

Up next

As is standard for VCT China, the region begins its playoffs earlier than any other, but not as far ahead as before. The China play-ins begin on August 5, one day before the EMEA play-ins. Matches are as follows:

The victors move on in the upper bracket, but the losers continue in the lower bracket with a second chance for playoff qualification, and by extension, Champs qualification. A long run ahead for these new VCT squads, just like every other tier-two squad at a play-in this year, but not impossible.