Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #2 Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) Meteor Kim Tae-O (김태오) Lakia Kim Jong-min (김종민) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) have triumphed over both Team Secret Team Secret Asia-Pacific Rank #6 invy Adrian Jiggs Reyes BORKUM Jim Timbreza JessieVash Jessie Cuyco Jremy Jeremy Cabrera NDG Noel De Guia and ZETA DIVISION ZETA DIVISION Japan Rank #7 Laz Ushida Koji yuran Yushin Hato hiroronn Hiroki Yanai Dep Yuma Hashimoto SugarZ3ro Shota Watanabe in the VCT 2024 Pacific Kickoff play-ins, earning their spot in the playoff stage. After beating Team Secret in a close 2-1 series, they then swept ZETA DIVISION 2-0 to keep their hopes of Masters Madrid alive.

Gen.G grab victory from the jaws of brutal defeat

Gen.G celebrate after beating Team Secret at the VCT 2024 Pacific Kickoff. (Image via Riot Games)

When the series began, with the map picks of Breeze from Team Secret, Lotus from Gen.G, and Icebox as the decider, compositions were key. In Breeze, Gen.G had a tough time with the solo initiator Skye, while the KAYO and Sova from Team Secret was crucial in their playstyle.

Throughout the entire attack half, Gen.G only got the bomb planted twice, and were only able to win one round on their defense. 13-5 was kind to Gen.G, as Team Secret looked in prime position to win the series quickly, especially with how strong Jeremy " Jremy " Cabrera was on Jett.

Lotus had to be the turning point for Gen.G, and the big difference in the teams was the initiators once again. Team Secret decided to run the solo Skye, while Gen.G rocked the solo Fade. Jremy kept his form up, and the first half ended 8-4 for Team Secret, looking to close the series out.

However, two players on Gen.G just didn't feel like losing anymore, as Kim " Meteor " Tae-o led his team with six first bloods and zero first deaths on the Killjoy, while Kim " t3xture " Na-ra led the charge on Raze. Both combined to lead a comeback on their attack side, starting down 8-4 but only losing one round, ending the map 13-9 and tying the series.

It all came down to Icebox, where Gen.G looked to have ripped the momentum from Team Secret's hands. Starting on defense, Gen.G took the lead, with Byeon " Munchkin " Sang-beom on the KAYO dropping 18 kills in the first half alone. Another 8-4 half was prime to lead to an easy map, but Team Secret used their defense to nearly take the game up 12-10. Gen.G had to win the final two rounds just to take it to overtime, which they just managed to do.

Soon as overtime came around, it all came down to the smallest of factors. The first two overtime rounds were traded to each team, but then Gen.G used a solid defense on A site and a Kim " Lakia " Jong-min duel to get the map and the series win.

Team Secret demolishes ZETA in quick 2-0 sweep

Team Secret, after sweeping ZETA at the VCT 2024 Pacific Kickoff. (Image via Riot Games)

For this matchup, Team Secret started with Icebox, a repeat of their last map from the match against Gen.G, one they lost. ZETA DIVISION picked Ascent, leaving Lotus as the decider for the series.

While Team Secret ran the same comp they did against Gen.G, ZETA decided to swap the Sage for a Harbor for more smokes. While the pick itself can be valuable, ZETA began the game slow, looking like last year's team with very passive holds focusing on retakes. The ideas behind ZETA weren't bad, but Team Secret took every inch of space ZETA offered and focused Yuma " Dep " Hashimoto, allowing for their talent to pop off to a 9-0 lead. It took a monster round from Dep to stop the potential 13-0, but the half still ended in Team Secret's favor, up 11-1.

It was funny to see Dep leading the scoreboard on both teams despite only winning one round, with 15 kills, but he was the only one on ZETA hitting important shots. A 4K from Jessie Cristy " JessieVash " Cuyco on pistols and an ace from Jremy on the final round put the nail in the coffin, with a near-perfect 13-1 map win.

Ascent was up next, and a won pistol from ZETA already matched the amount of round wins from Icebox. All jokes aside, the compositions were mirrored, once again putting the pressure on the Jett players to push on attack, or the Killjoy on defense. Dep kept his form early on Ascent, with everyone else on ZETA stepping up to take a significant 5-1 lead. Team Secret fought back, but ZETA ended the half up 7-5, moving to the defense side.

A pistol win and a bonus conversion put Team Secret back on top, with multiple key solo duels from Adrian " invy " Reyes proving the difference. ZETA looked improved over map one, but Team Secret took their game time from Gen.G and rode it to another confident map win, 13-8.

Gen.G sweep ZETA to lock in Kickoff playoff spot

With how the previous two games went, ZETA was effectively eliminated from the Kickoff playoffs due to losing both maps, and in significant fashion. This meant that even if they won this final game, they would not qualify due to map differential being in Secret or Gen.G's favor. With that in mind, this game was win and in for Gen.G, but lose and out, with Team Secret taking that playoff slot instead.

For maps, Gen.G picked Icebox, ZETA picked Ascent, leaving Lotus as the potential decider.

Starting on Icebox, its third appearance of the day, both ZETA and Gen.G ran the same comps they had earlier in the play-ins. That meant Harbor for ZETA, while Lakia went back to the Gekko. Off the bat, it looked like déjà vu for ZETA, starting slow, while Meteor continued his strong form from earlier in the day. ZETA snuck a defuse to get their first round down 4-1, then Gen.G proceeded to fumble two rounds in a row, keeping ZETA alive. It didn't change the fact that Gen.G went into the half up, but only 8-4.

On their attack side, ZETA won a crucial pistol to keep the map within reach. Gen.G were playing well on retakes as soon as both teams had even weaponry, using Gekko's utility to get through Harbor's smokes with much less worry. What seemed like a pushback was a mirage, as Gen.G won the map 13-6.

Ascent was next, with the teams yet again mirroring each other with the double initiator. Gen.G won the first pistol and converted the bonus round, thanks to t3xture and his Sheriff wallbangs. For the fourth map in a row, ZETA started the map behind, reaching the half down 10-2. One of the standouts, much like earlier in the day, was Munchkin, helping knock ZETA down every time they had hope of pushing A site.

Gen.G, after qualifying to the VCT 2024 Pacific Kickoff playoffs. (Image via Riot Games)

It was effectively curtains when Gen.G reached double digits on the first half, closing out the map 13-4, series 2-0, and play-in portion of the tournament. After the match, Meteor talked about the grind of the play-in day, and

"It was tough, difficult, and we gave everything in that series against Team Secret," Meteor said post-match. "I was nervous that we would run out of energy, but we got that last ticket to the playoffs."

Gen.G will compete alongside T1 T1 Korea Rank #3 Sayaplayer Ha Jeong-woo (하정우) Rossy Daniel Abedrabbo Carpe Lee Jae-hyeok (이재혁) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) xccurate Kevin Susanto , DRX DRX Korea Rank #1 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) BuZz Yu Byung-chul (유병철) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈) , and Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov in the Pacific Kickoff playoffs, with two teams making it to Masters Madrid.