VCT China is one of the 4 leagues in the VCT Partnership League, with fans worldwide speculating which teams would make it to the playoff phase of this tournament. Currently, 11 teams at the VCT China Kickoff will face each other in a GSL tournament format. The teams that win both their matches in their group stages will qualify for the playoff phase of the tournament. The first day of the event consisted of two very thrilling matches which kept fans on their toes. Here's an in-depth recap of Day 1 of the VCT China Kickoff Group Stage.
Also Read: VCT EMEA Kickoff Group Stage Day 1 Recap
Trace Esports Defeat TYLOO In Dominant Fashion
The First match of the VCT China Kickoff was between Trace Esports & TYLOO. The first map was Ascent which was the map pick of TYLOO. They won the first round of the game with ease but finished the first half of the map down 4-8. Trace Esports were incredible in this game, being able to defuse the spike 5 times from their 8 round wins, proving that they are unstoppable on the post-plant.
They went on to win the first 5 rounds of the second half of the map while they were on the attack. Each of these rounds ended with all 5 players of TYLOO being killed before the spike exploded. The players who stole the spotlight on this map were none other than heybay with a KDA of 17/15/12 and Flex1n with a KDA of 16/10/9.
Map 2 was played on Lotus and this was another one-sided affair. On their map pick, Trace Esports won the first 9 rounds of the game on defense. They ended the first half with a score of 11-1 and the match on a score of 13-3. The player to watch on this map was none other than FengF who played Raze. He had an ACS of 373 as well as a KDA of 21/9/6.
FunPlus Phoenix Prove Why They Are One Of the Favourites
The next game was between FunPlus Phoenix & Nova Esports. FunPlus Phoenix is widely remembered for its time in the EMEA region. They had shifted back to China in 2023 and were announced to be a part of the newly made VCT China League. The first match was played on the map of Sunset, the map pick by Nova Esports.
Nova Esports started the map by winning the pistol round. Nova Esports couldn’t keep up the momentum and only won a total of 5 rounds in their defensive half. FunPlus Phoenix on their defensive half took advantage of the hesitation in their opponents. After round 20, the scores were tied at 10-10. From that moment, FunPlus Phoenix went into a frenzy & won 3 rounds in a row to take the first Map. The player to watch was actually from Nova Esports and it was GuanG. He was the primary duelist for his team. On this map, he played Neon and ended the game with a KDA of 29/17/5.
The second map was Lotus and FunPlus Phoenix simply dominated on their map pick. The first half ended with a score of 7-5. On the attack, they went all guns blazing and did the same that Trace did against TYLOO. They won the next 6 rounds in a row and won the game with a score of 13-5. The player to watch was none other than Lysoar who played Viper for his team. He had a KDA of 20/10/6. The next set of fixtures for Group A are as follows:
- Trace Esports VS FunPlus Phoenix on the 25th of February at 12:30 PM IST ( Winner qualifies for Playoffs )
- TYLOO VS Nova Esports on the 24th of February at 2:30 PM IST ( Loser gets eliminated)
