First-ever VCT China League set to Kickoff

The VCT China League Kickoff will be the first official partnership league in the region.

In a few days time will be the start of the VCT China League Kickoff, the first-ever partnership between the VCT and China. The region has produced some notable teams in a short amount of time with EDward Gaming being one of the standouts. Its international performances last year highlighted just how underrated the Chinese scene has become and has since seen the partnership league expand its borders.

And of the four major regions, China is the last to start, but that is just the beginning as there will also be a Masters Shanghai later in the year. But for now, the focus will be on Masters Madrid with every region receiving two slots to the first international event of the year. There is plenty of untapped potential in China when it comes to VALORANT and EDG could very well just be the tip of the iceberg.

The likes of Bilibili Gaming was able to show what they were made of at Champs last year when they took down NRG twice in the group stage, which also eliminated one of the North American favourites. FunPlus Phoenix was another Chinese team that made its international debut at Champs last year but unlike BLG, they failed to make it past the group stage. Overall there are plenty of other notable organisations from China that will be making its VCT debut in the coming days, which will surely bring even further traction to the region.

VCT China League Kickoff - Format & Schedule

Like its other regions, the VCT China League Kickoff will be an 11-team tournament that starts with the group stage, followed by the play-in stage, and lastly the playoffs. The group stage takes place later today from February 22nd to 26th, which will determine the top-placed teams that will head straight to the playoffs. As for the teams that placed second, they will instead go to the play-in stage first to play one another to see the fourth and final team that will go through. The play-in stage will be on February 27th while the playoffs will be on March 1st and 2nd.

Seeing as there are 11 teams, there will be two groups of four and a single group of three. EDward Gaming is part of the three-team Group C alongside Bilibili Gaming and Wolves Esports. And given that EDG had the highest placement at Champs last season, they will get a bye in the first round. This means that EDG will just have to play one best-of-three series to see if they will head straight to the playoffs or not.

All games will be a best-of-three setting, even in the playoffs except for the grand finals, which will be a best-of-five. At the end of it all, only the final two teams that made it to the grand finals will qualify for Masters Madrid. And that will just be 12 days out for the region, who will then have to prep for the first international LAN right after.

VCT China League Kickoff - Teams

Of the 11 teams in the tournament, most of the attention will go towards EDward Gaming and whether it can live up to its performances from last season. However, the Chinese teams have had to play more matches as opposed to other regions like three acts of the VALORANT China Evolution Series, all of which EDG won convincingly. They managed to defeat Rare Atom twice in the finals as well as Trace Esports, further solidifying its position as the best team in China.

But aside from the obvious that EDG will be held to a certain standard, the same can be said for other notable teams on the list like Bilibili Gaming, a team many VCT Americas fans will be familiar with after they managed to defeat NRG twice in the group stage with the second game eventually knocking them out of Champs as well. And aside from competing in the VALORANT China Evolution Series, BLG also had to compete in the open qualifiers and the play-ins.

As for the 11th team on the list, it will be Dragon Ranger Gaming who made it all the way from VCT Ascension China where they had to overcome the likes of Rare Atom and Attacking Soul Esports to name a few. While the former has come in second multiple times last season, the latter actually competed at Masters Tokyo but could not get past the group stage. But in regard to DRG, it will be exciting to see what they will bring to the table with the other top dogs.

Group C will still be the most enticing of the three given that it features teams like EDG and BLG to go up against debutants, Wolves Esports. Imagine the scenes if Wolves were to actually defeat BLG twice to qualify for the play-in stage. While the chances of that happening are slim, it is still within reach for the esports arm of the English Premier League team.

Group A

Group B

Group C

The VCT China League Kickoff is the last of the four partnered regions to start the 2024 season and it won't be too long before we see two representatives make it to Spain in a few weeks time. Be sure to catch all the games on the official VCT Twitch channel.

Author

Teh "GravityWillFall" Wi-LiamA failed pro-am gamer turned into a filthy casual with an unhealthy obsession for keyboards and sneakers.