XLG Esports has been crowned the VCT China Stage 1 champions following a 3-1 victory against Bilibili Gaming in yesterday’s Grand Final.
The 2024 Ascension winner has now secured a direct Playoffs seed at the upcoming Masters Toronto in June.
VCT China Stage 1 featured 12 teams competing for qualification to Masters Toronto and the region’s VCT Points, which may grant a spot at the 2025 Champions tournament. From March 13th until April 13th, the Group Stage saw 2024 Champions winners EDward Gaming (EDG) and Bilibili Gaming come out on top of Groups Alpha and Omega, respectively.
As the runner-up team from Group Omega, XLG began its Playoffs journey in the upper bracket. The roster then defeated Nova Esports (2-0), EDG (2-0) and Wolves Esports (2-0) all in a dominant fashion.
During the best-of-five Grand Final against Bilibili, the Ascension team proved its resilience by persevering through multiple maps with overtime. XLG first took Fracture (15-13) and Lotus (13-10). While Bilibili managed to shortly bounce back with a victory on Pearl (8-13), XLG closed out the series on Haven (14-12).
XLG Surprises During VCT China Stage 1
XLG achieved its unexpected Stage 1 victory, dropping only a single match throughout the tournament. After losing to Bilibili in its first Group Stage series, XLG went on an eight-win streak to take revenge in the Grand Final.
The team’s duelist player Arthur ‘Rarga’ Churyumov became the Finals MVP, leading Stage 1 with a total of six Match MVP awards. His teammate and in-game leader Ran ‘Viva’ Lifan shared in the post-finals interview: “I can honestly say I’ve never had an experience like this before. […]
Having been in the professional scene for such a long time and having seen many finals, winning the championship and lifting the trophy for the first time, I can only say that it still feels a bit unbelievable right now.”
VCT China Stage 1 has concluded with several surprising results. In addition to XLG taking the trophy, 2025 Kickoff winner Edward Gaming failed to qualify for Masters Toronto. Instead, Wolves Esports will be the region’s third team to attend the second international event of the year from June 6th-22nd.
However, EDG still has a chance to make it to the season-ending Champions tournament. The team has earned ten VCT China Points so far, slightly ahead of XLG (9 points) and Bilibili (8 points).