The Chinese region once again sends their best in hopes to impress at Masters Tokyo

The two events in which the Chinese teams participated previously were Champions 2022 and this year's VCT LOCK//IN. On both occasions they were eliminated in the first round of play. Both the players and the fans must be hoping for an improved result this time around, but it won’t come easy. As 2023 is the first year in which there are only 4 main regions, the quality of competition will only increase, the best of the best will be present at each international VALORANT LAN.

Previously, the Chinese representatives had difficulty going through the first round against teams that are of lower quality than those present in Tokyo. At LOCK//IN, EDward Gaming and FunPlus Phoenix lost against 100Thieves and Karmine Corp respectively, the former putting up quite a good fight, which seemed promising at the time. However, both of those teams have gone on to underperform massively during the regular season, once again, raising question marks on the relative quality of the Chinese teams compared to the other regions.

While Attacking Soul Esports are a big unknown to the international audience, EDward Gaming have demonstrated their qualities at two international events already, garnering a lot of new fans in the process for their flashy Paper Rex-like playstyle. And they do seem like a Paper Rex-lite, hoping to catch a structured opponent off guard by throwing unexpected plays at them.

EDG’s improvement over the course of the past two events has been noticeable, and the fact they haven’t yet managed to win a match doesn’t do their competitiveness justice. They were extremely close to beating a star-studded 100Thieves at LOCK//IN and have looked dominant in the Chinese region in the past year. With the likes of Zheng "ZmjjKK" Yongkang and in-game leader Guo "Haodong" Haodong, they do have the potential to transfer this to the international stage.

However, during the qualification process of Masters Tokyo, a surprise occurred with the relatively unknown Attacking Soul Esports besting EDward Gaming in a nail-biting Bo5 final. Since then, another event has been held in China, albeit with lower stakes. FGC Act 2 saw the best teams in China competing for a spot at LCQ, from which a whopping 3 teams will qualify for Champions 2023. In this event, EDward Gaming once again showed they still had a firm grip on the regional competition.

Attacking Soul Esports, however, showed weaknesses by losing to Bilibili Gaming in the upper final, after which hopelessly going under in 3-0-fashion against EDward Gaming in the lower final. Was their FGC Act 1 run a one-time wonder or will they be able to show a similar performance at Masters Tokyo? The draw has been favourable to them, as they seem to have avoided the group of death.

ASE’s group, next to themselves, consists of DRX, Evil Geniuses and FUT Esports, 3 teams of which the quality cannot be understated. ASE will have a hard time either way and will need a miracle run to get out of groups, let alone impress in the later stages of the tournament. Whatever the outcome, we’ll get to enjoy casters trying to pronounce Zhang "zjc" Juncheng’s name either way.

If the Chinese teams had been drawn in opposite groups, EDward Gaming would fancy their chances of progressing through groups. However, their current group seems extremely tough with NRG and Natus Vincere the heavy favourites to progress. EDward Gaming could still put up a good fight against T1, who they have most likely practiced against oftentimes.

Realistically, the Chinese teams should need more time to actually have a chance at progressing through the group stage. While they have made strides to improve their game, the overall strength in the other regions has also increased. Most importantly, this event once again gives the international public the opportunity to enjoy the relative novelty of Chinese VALORANT.