EDward Gaming’s stunning victory over NAVI at VCT Masters Tokyo marks the first time a team from China has won a VALORANT match at an international event. However, the team’s young superstar says this is only the beginning, and promises another upset tomorrow.
The EDG win versus NAVI is by all means an upset. Not only had EDG lost all four chances at an international win prior to today’s match, but they faced arguably the most decorated team in the competition, with a Champions or Masters trophy in the hardware cabinet of each player on the NAVI roster.
Despite an early EDG lead on Pearl, NAVI fought back on their own map pick to take a 12-9 lead, but EDG rallied three rounds in a row at the end of a dismal defensive side to send it to overtime. After splitting the first three overtime periods, EDG finally got across the finish line, with Zheng “ZmjjKK” Yongkang and Zhang “Smoggy” Zhao each finishing with 30+ kills. Bind went to overtime as well, but EDG needed only one OT period to secure the upset series win.
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Following the match, EDG’s 19-year-old Jett superstar ZmjjKK was asked about what this means for Chinese VALORANT as a whole, which he succinctly called just “a beginning.” But when asked about what’s going to happen in the rematch against T1 tomorrow, the young dynamic playmaker passionately yelled that they’re going to send T1 home.
Just getting to 1-1 at the tournament hasn’t been easy at all for EDG; three of their five maps have gone to OT, but while they ultimately fell in OT on Pearl to fall to T1 at the end of their first meeting, they emerged victorious from on both Pearl and Bind against NAVI. All of this is via a team playing from a region where VALORANT still hasn’t been officially released, as the game is still in closed beta in China.
EDG’s chance at revenge versus T1, and their final opportunity to make playoffs, is scheduled for June 14 at 1 am CT.
