Dragon Ranger Gaming wins China Ascension, defends VCT spot

Dragon Ranger Gaming

Dragon Ranger Gaming

China
Rank #4

Flex1n
Lo Rui (罗瑞)








vo0kashu
Ilya Ushakov








Akeman
Zhang Haoran (张浩然)








Nicc
Shao Yi-qun (邵逸群)








SpiritZ1
Lin Dingyu (林定宇)

has emerged victorious at China Ascension 2025, securing themselves a 3rd yr of competitors in VCT CN with a 3-0 win over

Rare Atom

Rare Atom

China
Rank #6

Guran
Zhou Minyan (周铭言)








zhe
Niu Zhe (牛哲)








nnono









Satoshi
Fei Zhixian (费郅贤)








Midnight
Wang Yingjie (王英杰)

within the grand ultimate.

DRG lifts a second Ascension trophy two years after their first. (Photo by Riot Games)

Eight groups certified to compete in China Ascension. After 9 days of competitors, the ultimate standings have been as follows:

After having to play in Ascension regardless of qualifying for Champions Paris resulting from

Xi Lai Gaming

Xi Lai Gaming

China
Rank #2

Viva
Lifan Ran (冉立凡)








NoMan
James Man








Rarga
Arthur Churyumov








happywei
Deng Minwei (邓闵维)








coconut
Colin Patrick Chung (钟弘祖)

putting greater than them on the occasion, DRG entered the event as favorites with a goal on their backs. Primed to problem them have been Rare Atom, who led the circuit level standings by a large margin, and Any Questions Gaming, who featured 2024 world champion

S1Mon
on their roster.

The group stage divided the eight groups into two double-elimination teams. Placed into reverse teams, the 2 grand finalists of DRG and Rare Atom stormed via their respective higher brackets in 2-0 vogue, neither dropping a map within the course of.

The final two playoff spots have been stuffed by Octagonal Disposition Gaming, who received a rematch towards Zhu Chao Gaming within the group decider after dropping to them of their opening recreation, and AQG, who defeated Ambitious Legend Gaming to qualify.

Playoffs kicked off with Rare Atom comfortably defeating ODG to progress to the higher ultimate and proceed their undefeated run. The subsequent match was a significant upset, with AQG defeating DRG in an in depth 13-11, 14-12 collection to ship them right down to the decrease bracket.

iamgrq
and

Dannyy
every had a powerful collection, each going +18.

In the higher ultimate, Rare Atom swept AQG in yet one more 2-0, not dropping a single map all the way in which to their third consecutive Ascension grand ultimate. Their major Duelist

zhe
, who was the statistical star for his crew all occasion, put up an amazing efficiency, going 21/6/2 within the first map of Sunset to steer his crew to a 13-3 win. He ended the collection +23, with a 43/20/5 KDA and 306 ACS.

Down within the decrease bracket, DRG’s expertise shone via with a simple 13-3, 13-7 stomp over ODG to eradicate them from the event and set themselves up for a rematch towards AQG within the decrease ultimate.

It appeared like exacting revenge can be a easy activity for DRG as they opened the best-of-five collection with 13-6 and 13-5 map wins, however AQG refused to surrender simply, threatening a reverse sweep with a 13-11 on Haven and a powerful 13-5 exhibiting on Abyss. The final map got here right down to Lotus, the place DRG received 13-7 to disclaim the reverse sweep and e book their tickets to a decisive grand ultimate towards Rare Atom.

The final time DRG and Rare Atom had confronted off was the grand ultimate of China Ascension 2023, the place DRG received 3-1 to ascend to VCT for the primary time, albeit with very totally different rosters on each side. This time, DRG displayed their caliber as a crew, trouncing Rare Atom in a 3-0 that included a 13-1 win on their permaban of Bind, the place they fielded

SpiritZ1
on Reyna and

Akeman
on Jett.

SpiritZ1 cleans up Rare Atom as Reyna with a easy 4K.

With this win, DRG has obtained one other Ascension trophy, earned the suitable to return to VCT, and delivered Rare Atom a 3rd second-place end in China Ascension. Statistically, SpiritZ1 led the occasion by a large margin with 261 ACS, 0.94 KPR, and a 1.29 Ok:D and was awarded the title of event MVP.