MANILA, Philippines – VCT Pacific returned last weekend for Stage 1, with all 12 teams taking the stage for their opening matches.
Global Esports upset Gen.G
The big story of Pacific’s opening week happened early, in the very first series of the season.
The Korean team came off a rocky Kickoff tournament, losing their first matches as they dropped down to the Mid and Lower Bracket, eventually getting eliminated by Global Esports (GE).
GE on the other hand, had been on the rise. Despite also eventually dropping out, their offseason roster shakeup was looking like a big step up from their previous years.
That improvement manifested in their first match of Stage 1, where they went up against Pacific mainstays Gen.G (GEN).
They started off with GE’s map pick of Bind. GEN started off with pistol and buy round wins, but GE answered back with a bonus round, which enabled them to rally four more rounds.
With a few more rounds traded between the two, the half finished 7-5 with GE in the lead. Global’s double initiator comp proved useful even in their defense half, where they were able to hold off GEN’s executes cleanly.
Off the back of Patrick “PatMen” Mendoza’s 20/15/2 Gekko and Xavier “xavi8k” Juan’s 17/13/6 KAY/O, GE took Bind 13-8.
GE stepped on the gas even harder on Split, GEN’s map pick. A strong double controller comp paired with Kale “autumn” Dunne on Veto helped GE mount a strong first half on defense.
Strong rotations and retakes secured 10 rounds for GE, only allowing two from GEN. Despite trading rounds in the second half, GE were able to close out the Korean powerhouses 13-4, giving GE the clean sweep to kick off their Stage 1 campaign.
Paper Rex get revenge on Nongshim RedForce
Day 2 kicked off with a Masters Santiago rematch featuring Paper Rex (PRX) and Nongshim RedForce (NS).
The two teams picked up where they left off, starting off with an action-packed PRX map pick of Fracture.
PRX’s Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie went off on his signature Raze pick, getting 36/19/7 on 364 ACS, but it was not enough to secure the win.
Four NS players dropped over 20 kills each, as the Masters winners took the first map in overtime, 15-13.
Paper Rex quickly bounced back in a Split comfort pick. Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto went all-in on his Omen safe pick, which paid off with a game-high 20 kills on 257 ACS.
The rest of the team also finished with positive +/- scores as PRX held off NS 13-10 and tied up the series.
The deciding map was Lotus, a map that PRX was very familiar with, holding a 64% (37-21) win rate. A back-and-forth first half ended 6-6, but the second half was completely owned by PRX.
Jinggg popped off once again, dropping 22/12/4 on 306 ACS. Adrian “invy” Reyes’ Fade was vital support, as he dropped 18 kills on 256 ACS.
Jinggg finished the series 76/47/17 (+29) on 305 ACS.
Team Secret’s rocky start
Headed into Stage 1, Team Secret (TS) added Dwine “Rimuru” Enriquez to their starting lineup, hoping to add some additional firepower to the team.
In their opening match, the PH team went up against KRX, formerly known as DRX, rebranding in the offseason after partnering with South Korean financial services company KIWOOM Securities.
KRX ran a double duelist lineup on Pearl, with Song “HYUNMIN” Hyunmin’s Phoenix and No “free1ng” Hajun’s first-ever game of Neon. KRX’s experience and own firepower proved too overwhelming, as they took the first map 13-5.
Fracture, KRX’s pick, was much closer. A strong opener from TS secured the pistol, buy, and bonus rounds. Although KRX answered back with two defuse win rounds, TS rallied back with five straight round wins and ended the half 8-4.
Momentum was on KRX’s side however, as they won their pistol and buy rounds. The two teams traded rallies, as the map ended up going to overtime.
A full-stack B-site fake from TS caught HYUNMIN off guard, giving the Filipino squad a numbers advantage to start off OT. A quick rotate to A gave them the site, and they were able to hold off the retake to go up 13-12, forcing KRX to take a timeout.
KRX’s reset proved to be effective, as Kang “BeYN” Habin and Kim “Yong” Hoyong held down sites and fragged out to secure three straight rounds to close out the series, 15-13.
Other matches
Elsewhere in the league, T1 defeated VARREL in a clean sweep. Yu “BuZz” Byung-chul and Kim “Meteor” Tae-oh finished with 41 kills on 296 ACS and 38 kills on 262 ACS across the two maps, respectively.
Newcomers FULL SENSE took down DetonatioN FocusMe 2-0. Papaphat “Primmie” Sriprapha dropped 22 kills on 308 ACS in Pearl, and 19 kills on 260 ACS in Bind.
The week closed out with RRQ winning against ZETA DIVISION in a 2-1 thriller. Maksim “Jemkin” Batorov finished with a 58/36/14 KDA for a +/- of 22.