Photo by Riot Games/VCT China

As the VCT China Stage 2 Play-Ins draw to a close, we must say goodbye to three teams who have played their final matches in 2026. These teams are Wolves Esports, FunPlus Phoenix, and Dragon Ranger Gaming. 

Although Edward Gaming was also eliminated from the Stage 2 play-ins, they were able to secure a spot in Champions Shanghai through points during the group stage. Their 2026 season will continue after a brief break while VCT CN continues.

The three departing teams have worked hard throughout the year, playing through roster changes and rough patches to show their talent and potential on the big stage. 

Let’s take a look back at what the 2026 year held for each of them:

Wolves Esports

Wolves went through several iterations of its roster this year, with changes in personnel after every stage.

The Kickoff roster included two remaining pieces of WOL 2025 SiuFatBB and Spring, along with the additions of yosemite, jowa, qiutiaN, and Satoshi as a sub.

Veteran players SiuFatBB and Spring had been teammates since Stage 2 of 2024, playing side by side through the team’s Masters Toronto run, where they placed third. The two were very close, with Spring saying his goal was “to win a championship with SiuFatBB.”

yosemite was the other player on the roster who had extensive experience in the VCT CN circuit, previously playing for Bilibili Gaming and FunPlus Phoenix. He has always been a consistent player who has made his name known throughout the region.

jowa joined the team after moving from his home of Canada to play in China. He had previously played for SaD Esports, but this was his first time on a Tier 1 team. Although he, by his own admission, struggled with the change in environment after moving to China, he performed well, putting up solid numbers in his debut performance.

Related: Champs Points Roundup: China race heats up in Play-Ins

qiutiaN was also a rookie player to the Tier 1 stage, joining WOL right before Kickoff began and showing his potential not just as a player but as an emotional leader of the team. He showed great chemistry with the team almost immediately, being there to hype up his teammates on stage.

WOL ended Kickoff in 9th-10th, with wins against Trace Esports and Nova Esports. The team was eliminated during its rematch against TE in the lower bracket.

Going into Stage 1, both Satoshi and qiutiaN found paths that led them away from WOL. After playing his last game with the team during Act 1 of the 2026 EVO Series, Satoshi left for Tier 2 team Weibo Gaming. qiutiaN departed around the same time, joining NOVA, where he still plays.

glacier, who is the younger cousin of Spring, joined ahead of Stage 1. The team had been waiting for him to turn 18 in order to comply with the VCT age limit, and with his birthday landing on the same day that Stage 1 was set to start, he was able to officially join the team and compete alongside his cousin on his birthday.

WOL struggled during Stage 1 after the numerous roster and role changes, finishing 11th-12th without a single win. This failure led to a series of serious adjustments within the team.

Shortly after exiting the tournament, the entire coaching staff was overhauled, with head coach Fayde as well as assistant coach Maark and analyst Ominous leaving the team. Fayde later joined Xi Lai Gaming as an assistant coach, while Ominous joined TYLOO. In Fayde’s place, WOL signed former NOVA head coach alexRr.

These were not the only changes to the team, as both SiuFatBB and jowa left WOL before the beginning of Stage 2. Longtime WOL player SiuFatBB, once a core member of the roster, joined TYLOO shortly after, reuniting with Ominous and taking up the in-game leader role on his new team. jowa landed with World Sports Invictus Gaming, competing through the most recent Valorant China National Tournament.

After many trials, the two players who were chosen to fill these vacated spots were aluba, who had previously played on WOL, and Deryeon, who was an import. Additionally, the team signed nothing, who acted as the sixth man.

aluba played with WOL for the entirety of 2024, leaving in November of that year to join Ambitious Legend Gaming. He returned to the team ahead of Stage 2, this time taking up the now-vacant IGL role.

Deryeon had never previously played in China, but brought experience from being on many notable rosters such as Bleed Esports, Global Esports, and Motiv Esports. He had an amazing debut performance on the CN stage, going 45/23 with a 296 ACS and bringing WOL their first victory in two stages.

After losing to EDG in the lower bracket of the Play-Ins and ending Stage 2 in 7th-8th, WOL’s 2026 season has officially drawn to a close.

FunPlus Phoenix

FunPlus Phoenix is another team that has struggled in 2026, with the team’s performance falling short of the bar it set back in 2024. 

The team started the year at Kickoff with a roster consisting of veteran players Life, AAAAY, and BerLIN, along with the addition of Setrod and sScary.

Life, AAAAY, and BerLIN acted as the core of the team, having played together on FPX since the beginning of 2024. The duo of AAAAY and BerLIN had been teammates for even longer, going back to January of 2023. 

The three of them brought the team many impressive achievements, being second only to EDG during all three stages of 2024. They attended many internationals together, most notably recording a win on their home stage at Masters Shanghai.

Setrod joined the team in November of 2025 as a rookie to the Tier 1 scene. He was a part of the roster that won the 2025 EVO Series Epilogue with solid performances throughout the tournament. During the team’s short run at Kickoff, he showed some nerves being up on the main stage for the first time, but kept up well with the rest of his team.

sScary was an import player from the Pacific region who had previously played for BLEED. Assistant coach York competed in his place during the pre-Kickoff EVO Series, but he arrived in China in time for Kickoff.

With a roster that had not been able to practice together for very long, FPX left Kickoff winless, finishing 11th-12th.

After Kickoff, FPX made a couple of changes, with Life and sScary departing the roster. Life, whose name had almost become synonymous with FPX after his standout performances in 2024, left for DRG. sScary left around the same time, but has not joined another team since.

Related: Chengdu Station: Everything you need to know for VCT China’s Play-ins and Playoffs

Ahead of Stage 1, FPX brought in import player KovaQ and Ben1Ley. The two of them were able to play with the team almost immediately, making their FPX debuts during CN EVO Act 1.

KovaQ came from EMEA, having previously played for Team Vitality in 2025. Shortly after joining FPX, he took on the IGL role, relieving BerLIN of his calling duties.

Ben1Ley was a new player to the Tier 1 circuit, having previously only played in VCNT matches with 5FW. While he had a rough start, he adapted to Tier 1 play soon after.

Despite the changes, FPX once again finished 11th-12th in Stage 1. They finished at the bottom of Group Alpha in a three-way tie of 2-3 teams with Titan Esports Club and BiliBili Gaming.

In the offseason tournaments FPX played after Stage 1, including EVO Act 2, BerLIN was absent from the starting roster. This change was believed to be temporary until it wasn’t, with the team announcing BerLIN’s departure after four years fighting under the FPX banner. He transferred to JDG shortly after this, expressing his wish to experience playing on a new team.

His exit left AAAAY as the only remaining piece of the legendary FPX 2024 roster.

Ben1Ley also left the team around this time, finding a new home at Rare Atom and competing with them in the most recent VCNT. To complete its roster for Stage 2, FPX acquired coconut and Xlele.

coconut brought in previous experience on the international stage, playing for XLG in 2025 and attending Masters Toronto and Champions Paris. He played for JDG during the first half of the year and was traded to FPX for BerLIN.

Xlele had been a reserve player for Trace Esports since May of 2025 and was briefly loaned to Thunder Gaming toward the end of the year. He played Kickoff and Stage 1 with Trace before joining FPX ahead of Stage 2.

FPX finished its Play-Ins with a 2-0 loss to TE, ending its year ranked 7th-8th in the region. With two last-placed finishes in 2026, FPX has certainly not had a year to remember.

Dragon Ranger Gaming

After winning the China Ascension grand finals against RA for a second time, DRG secured its VCT CN spot in 2026. 

The team chose not to make any adjustments going into Kickoff, with the roster consisting of SpiritZ1, Flex1n, Nicc, Akeman, and vo0kashu as it did at the end of 2025.

Of the five, Nicc had been with the team the longest, joining DRG in March of 2023. vo0kashu joined in September of that year, and the two of them were a part of the DRG roster that first won Ascension.

SpiritZ1 and Flex1n both joined toward the end of 2024. SpiritZ1 was a rookie to the Tier 1 scene, while Flex1n had experience on a variety of rosters including TE, TYLOO, and BLG. Both players were key to helping the team retain its Tier 1 spot for 2026. SpiritZ1 performed amazingly in Ascension, earning MVP in the finals while Flex1n, as the IGL, called the team to complete the sweep against RA.

Akeman was the latest to the party, joining DRG after Stage 1 in 2025, from the secondary roster. Despite not having any experience in Tier 1, he settled in quickly.

DRG ended Kickoff in fifth place, missing out on Masters Santiago by two places after being eliminated by EDG.

After Kickoff, DRG signed Life, reuniting him with head coach NaThanD, whom he had previously worked with on FPX. Life brought in experience, having played on the aforementioned FPX, Attacking Soul Esports, and EDG. Once he joined, he took Akeman’s place on the starting roster.

Akeman remained on DRG through Stage 1 and left after Masters London for KeepBest Gaming. There, he was able to win two straight VCNT trophies, even returning to the VCT CN stage briefly with his new team during the Stage 2 Play-Ins.

DRG performed well in Stage 1, finishing in third and qualifying to Masters London in their home city of Beijing. However, the team struggled on the international stage, losing to XLG as they did in the Stage 1 Lower Final. DRG walked away from London without a single win.

With the issues they faced in London fresh in their minds, DRG made changes to its roster, with Flex1n benched and Nicc returning to the IGL position once more.

The team added Verse to its starting roster, a player who had joined the secondary roster the previous year. He had played in Act 3 of EVO 2025 as well as Act 2 of EVO 2026 with that roster before being given a chance to join the main team on the VCT CN stage.

After a 1-2 loss against TE in the Stage 2 Play-Ins, DRG’s 2026 season has come to an abrupt and unexpected end. This result, after feeling the atmosphere of the international stage only two months prior, will have been a massive disappointment to the team.

Up Next

With the changes coming to the partnership of VCT in 2027, it is unclear whether we will see these three teams on the big stage again. At the very least, they will have to wait for the next season to get a chance to prove themselves once again.

For the teams who made it through the grueling challenge that was the Play-Ins, the playoffs quickly approach, with play starting August 14. These games will decide who represents the region at Champions Shanghai, the final international of the year held in their home country.