Photo by Colin Young Wolff/Riot Games

Season 7 of the Valorant China National Tournament has just ended, giving us the two teams that will advance to the VCT China Stage 2 Play-Ins under the new format. KeepBest Gaming and A Team, who finished first and second, both have powerful rosters, which include some faces that may be familiar to those who have followed VCT CN in the past.

Here’s a look at both rosters:

KeepBest Gaming

KBG was the first to qualify for its Play-Ins spot, completing a flawless run through to the Grand Final in the upper bracket and winning that match 3-0. The win was KBG’s second consecutive VCNT title, winning seasons six and seven.

Looking at the KBG roster, there is immediately a name many should recognize.

Akeman was a crucial player on Dragon Ranger Gaming not too long ago, acting as the team’s secondary Duelist alongside SpiritZ1. After joining the team right before Stage 2 in 2025, Akeman helped the team achieve a second-place finish, which secured a spot at Champions Paris.

After a rough time at Champions, which saw Xi Lai Gaming outperform DRG and lose their spot in VCT CN, DRG went through Ascension once again. They did so by defeating Rare Atom, the same team that they had once beaten in 2023, in 3-0 fashion to make it back to Tier 1.

Things went downhill for DRG after this win, though. The team put up a good fight in Kickoff, but eventually lost to EDward Gaming in the lower bracket. After missing out on Masters Santiago, the team decided there needed to be a change.

After negotiations with FunPlus Phoenix, DRG acquired Duelist player Life, who replaced Akeman in the starting roster. As a result, the team qualified for Masters London. On June 29, Akeman officially left the team.

On that same day, KBG announced that Akeman would join its ranks, stating that his ability to “integrate his individual skills with the team’s cohesion, maintaining a clear sense of teamwork” would be key to their roster.

Since then, Akeman has found great success on his new team, winning two VCNT trophies with standout performances on both Jett and Neon. He will now have the opportunity to face his old team, with DRG also needing to fight through the Play-Ins to advance to the Stage 2 playoffs.

A lesser-known player who was also once a part of the DRG roster is Ying, who currently acts as the secondary Duelist of KBG. Although he has never played on the main stage of VCT CN, he was a substitute player throughout 2025, playing his only game during Act 1 of the China Evolution Series that year. He is now finding his success on the KBG roster, with memorable performances on agents like Phoenix and Waylay.

While Akeman and Ying both played for DRG in the past, they never crossed paths before joining KBG. These next two players are different, having played side by side long before joining.

Tonk and Krist1Ng were both a part of the XLG secondary roster in 2025, a roster that had a brief stint against VCT China teams during Act 3 of the 2025 China EVO Series. They played a single match against JDG Esports, losing 2-0 and being eliminated from the event.

The pair joined KBG together in March of 2026, both taking up different roles from when they were at XLG. Tonk, who had played the Duelist role, now takes up a flex position, going between the Sentinel and Controller roles. Krist1Ng, who showed an affinity for Sentinel agents like Chamber and Vyse, now plays a purely Controller role with a strong preference for Omen.

The final piece of the puzzle for KBG is Sibeastw0wm, a Russian import who had previously played for teams outside of China like Oxuji and AlQadsiah Esports. He played under current head coach Naint back when they were on NASR Esports, a factor that likely aided him in joining KBG.

He plays the Initiator role, a change from when he first joined the team and mostly played Yoru and Raze. He also takes up the additional responsibility of being one of the primary callers of the team despite the language barrier.

After a disappointing performance during Act 2 of the 2026 China EVO Series, KBG has shown a drive to improve, with results in the past two VCNT tournaments speaking for themselves.

KBG now has a chance to show its potential on the big stage of VCT CN, with the goal of the playoffs within reach. Their first opponent will be Titan Esports Club, who ended the group stage in 12th.

A Team

The second team to secure a spot in the Play-Ins is A Team, a name that many may find less familiar. After forming a Valorant team in late 2025, A Team has played a total of 26 matches. A Team’s most recent match was the victory over Any Questions Gaming in the VCNT Lower Final, which granted them a spot in the Play-Ins.

AQ was by far the favorite to make it to the Play-Ins, with former world champion S1mon and Juicy, who competed on the Wolves Esports team that made a run at Masters Toronto. It was quite a shock to most when A Team pulled out the victory after a long back-and-forth, going all five maps against AQG. The A Team players proved their skill and stamina during the match, impressively earning their Play-Ins spot.

Despite not having quite as big a following as other Tier 2 teams, A Team has quite the collection of well-loved previous Tier 1 players on its roster.

The first of these players is monk, who has played for many Tier 1 teams, including Attacking Soul Esports when they were active, All Gamers, and, most recently, Nova Esports. He will get a chance to face off against many of his past teammates from each of these rosters during the Play-Ins.

After joining A Team in March of this year, monk has moved away from the flex role, now mainly playing Controller agents. For the past three months, he has almost exclusively picked Omen, with the only breaks being the occasional Astra pick.

Another player whose name may ring a bell for those who follow VCT CN is Eren, who previously played for TYLOO. He was with the team during Stages 1 and 2 of 2024, as well as Kickoff of 2025. After leaving TYLOO, he had a brief run with Octagonal Disposition Gaming, playing in China Ascension 2025 with them and ending in a respectable fourth place before leaving for his current team.

On A Team, Eren takes up a flex role, having played a rotation of eight different eagents in the last three months. His most picked agent is Cypher, while his best-performing ones have been Neon and Viper.

It seems as if the Play-Ins are shaping up to be quite the DRG reunion, as in addition to the two previously mentioned players on KBG, there is also A Team’s Dingwei.

He was a part of the DRG roster that won China Ascension in 2023, giving them a spot in VCT in the 2024 season. He played in Kickoff with the team that year before being benched, then went on a hiatus, only returning toward the end of 2025 for Team China in the China-ASEAN Esports Competition.

Dingwei has been with A Team since March of 2026, and after a disappointing debut performance with the team, has bounced back by taking second place in VCNT. The result gives him the chance to face many old teammates in the VCT CN circuit and show his continued proficiency in the Initiator role, with his Sova and Fade crucial to the team.

A player that Dingwei played alongside during the China-ASEAN Esports Competition who remained his teammate after moving to A Team is Folykiki. He has been a Duelist player for his entire career, putting up high numbers on his preferred agent of Neon since 2025 with Radiant Virtue, his team at the time.

A Team’s import is Layla, a player from Vietnam who made his professional debut in 2021. He has played in multiple Challengers League tournaments across the Pacific region, most recently competing with Vietnamese Challengers side Team Flash.

Since arriving in China, Layla has shown great performances on a variety of Sentinel agents, such as Chamber and Sage. He is also one of the few players who picks and performs well on Veto. His experience and skill on those agents brought him to the top of the scoreboard in A Team’s win over AQG, which resulted in the team reaching the Play-Ins.

Although the A Team players lost 3-0 in the Grand Final, they will be given another opportunity to show their capabilities as a roster. Their first match of the Play-Ins will be against Trace Esports, a team that struggled heavily during the group stage.

Up next

The teams coming up from VCNT are not to be ignored in the upcoming Play-Ins. Both lineups are full of talent, whether it be the players from previous Tier 1 rosters or the ones who are eager to prove themselves on the big stage for the first time.

With the Play-Ins starting on August 5 in the beautiful city of Chengdu, these teams will get a chance to test their skill against some of the strongest in the region, including previous world champions EDG. Whether they can stand tall against the experience of these Tier 1 teams or whether they will crumble under the pressure remains to be seen.

Both teams will play on August 5, with A Team vs. Trace the opening match of the Play-Ins, and KeepBest vs. Titan Esports Club coming shortly after.