All three of the Pacific Region's slots for Masters Toronto have finally been claimed, with Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #3 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov coming out on top over DRX DRX Korea Rank #1 MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) free1ng No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) Estrella Park Gun (박건) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈) in the 'RX Derby', while Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #2 Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) Ash Ha Hyun-cheol (하현철) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) Suggest Seo Jae-young (서재영) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) cemented a spot in the VCT Pacific Stage 1 grand final with a win over Rex Regum Qeon Rex Regum Qeon Asia-Pacific Rank #4 Monyet Cahya Nugraha xffero David Monangin Jemkin Maksim Batorov Kushy Bryan Carlos Setiawan crazyguy Ngô Công Anh .

Friday's matches were highlighted by two different rivalries — one with historical clashes and one that's been relatively one-sided. Entering the arena, Gen.G was 6-1 all-time against RRQ, with three of those wins being elimination wins for the Korean side. The second map showcased the 'RX Derby', which has been a clash of the region's titans since the beginning of franchising.

With a top-two finish, Gen.G also claims one of the region's four Esports World Cup slots, while PRX qualifies for Masters Toronto.

Gen.G stomps RRQ to advance to Stage 1 grand final

The series opened on Gen.G's pick of Lotus. The map has been one of their trademarks dating back to last year. This stage, the map has been one of the most banned maps of Gen.G opponents. Because of that, they've played on it just three times, winning all three times.

Gen.G began the map on a full sprint, winning the first eight rounds before dropping four straight to RRQ. Turning over to their defender side, eight rounds seemed to be more than enough. In all of Gen.G's Lotus appearances in 2025, their worst defender side performance saw them pick up six rounds in an eventual loss to T1 T1 Korea Rank #3 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Meteor Kim Tae-oh (김태오) Sylvan Go Young-sup (고영섭) BuZz Yu Byeong-cheol (유병철) DH Kang Dong-ho (강동호) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) .

Clean defensive protocols secured Gen.G a 13-5 win at the end, moving the series to Icebox. In recent weeks, RRQ claimed wins on Icebox over T1 and DRX DRX Korea Rank #1 MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) free1ng No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) Estrella Park Gun (박건) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈) , though the map isn't exactly a strong suit of either of those squads. On the other hand, the map has been a frequent ban of Gen.G's, resulting in it being played just once for the squad.

While the map is relatively attacker-sided, Gen.G appeared to have done their homework on RRQ. They finished their defender side up 7-5, with a 17-kill first half from star Duelist t3xture leading the way.

The map played host to a head-to-head battle between the team's two Duelists, with Jemkin on his iconic Jett pick dueling with t3xture's Yoru. While the Korean Duelist's Yoru has taken a while to gel, his showing on Icebox displayed a complete understanding of the agent, making the most of his Gatecrashes and Dimensional Drifts to help lead Gen.G to a clean 2-0 win.

Gen.G's ability to midround on Icebox was especially impressive. RRQ had 11 first kills on the map, as opposed to Gen.G's 10. Despite that, Munchkin and Gen.G were able to maneuver the map, winning despite being outnumbered.

After starting the year with a stutter, Gen.G has hit its stride in the Stage 1 playoffs, dropping just one map to reach the grand final. t3xture ended the series with a server-high 43 kills along with a 1.42 rating and 294 ACS. Every player on Gen.G's side finished with a positive K/D, while Jemkin (36/31) was the only player to go positive for RRQ.

The PRX train rolls over DRX in the RX Derby

PRX and DRX opened their series on PRX's pick of Lotus. On the same map just the week before, they dominantly defeated T1, winning 13-2. The groundwork for the win was laid out with a dominant 10-2 defender side from PRX, which was highlighted by their overwhelming pushes and well-coordinated retakes.

PRX ended their defense half ahead 7-5, but it wasn't achieved in quite the same fashion as their T1 win. They deployed a more calm, disciplined defensive structure, which was spearheaded by something 's Operator. It was smooth sailing on the attack side for PRX. Their double Duelist comp paired something's Yoru with Jinggg 's Raze

DRX did look to slow down the Duelist duo with a double Sentinel comp of their own, centered around Estrella 's Vyse and BeYN 's Deadlock, but it ultimately was not enough. Both teams went on four-round runs to open the half, and while a late DRX push would make things close, PRX came out on top 13-11.

While Icebox hasn't exactly been DRX's strongest map this year, a recent 13-4 thrashing of TALON TALON Asia-Pacific Rank #7 Killua Tanate Teerasawad thyy Anupong Preamsak Crws Thanamethk Mahatthananuyut JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam primmie Papaphat Sriprapha seemed to have instilled confidence in the map for the team. Across all ten players on the map, no agents had true flashes, with Jinggg's Omen Paranoia the closest thing to a flash.

PRX flourished with a free, more open battleground to play on. Again, they had a solid defense half on a map widely considered to be more attacker-sided.

PRX entered halftime with a 7-5 lead, and a standout performance from rookie PatMen saw the rookie expertly pick apart the map, playing around his Viper utility to cloud his position on the map and catch DRX players off guard.

The former NAOS NAOS Asia-Pacific Rank #12 PTC Kititkawin Rattanasukol xavi8k Xavier Juan Mojer Jerome Literal ValdyN Rivaldy Nafian Xan player led the way for PRX on the map with a 1.33 rating, while something was his usual self with a server-high 19 kills.

The moment that the Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #3 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov train hammered its rails for Toronto.

After once possessing one of the world's longest international appearance streaks, PRX returns to the international stage with the win, while DRX will be sidelined until Stage 2.

Up Next

With DRX and T1 eliminated, Pacific becomes the second region to send an all-new lineup of teams to Masters Toronto. They join China, who saw Trace Esports Trace Esports China Rank #4 LuoK1ng Zhang Zhanpeng (张展鹏) Midi Zhang Jiajun (手张嘉俊) Kai Lu Zhinan (卢智楠) Xlele Zhao Yanbo (赵炎博) FengF Song Xuefeng (宋学锋) heybay Ho Shun Hei Biank Zhong Jianfei (钟剑飞) and EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) CHICHOO Wan Shunzhi (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) Jieni7 Zhang Juntai (张君泰) miss out on back-to-back Masters appearances.

After securing a Masters Toronto slot, PRX will fight for an EWC slot with a best-of-five lower final clash with Rex Regum Qeon.

VCT Pacific Stage 1 will wrap up with the following matches:

• Rex Regum Qeon vs. Paper Rex (Lower final)
• Gen.G vs. Rex Regum Qeon/Paper Rex (Grand final)