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 extended their upset streak with a 3-1 victory over Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov . As the Pacific Kickoff winners, they have earned a top seed for Masters: Madrid and three Championship Points for Champions 2024 qualification.

The two teams previously met in the Group C Winner's match, looking to earn a spot in the Kickoff playoffs. Also a close series, Paper Rex was able to close out the score 2-1. The loss meant Gen.G was forced to qualify through the play-ins, playing every possible match their schedule offered to reach this stage.

Gen.G set the pace on Ascent

The match began on Ascent, Gen.G's map pick. They went into the map with the standard team comp, while Paper Rex kept the same double controller, double initiator they had picked previously.

A pacey push from Paper Rex gave them the pistol round, and a similar attack followed for round 2. Back-to-back quad kills from t3xture gave the Korean team the lead, and forced a timeout from the opposing coach, alecks .

Gen.G continued extending their lead. It wasn't until round 8 that Paper Rex started fighting back, switching their offense to B. The new plan worked out, but it was too little, too late for the half, as the Korean squad's lead set the score 7-5.

The second half was not close. Gen.G seemed ready for every idea Paper Rex had, and using up both of their pauses in the first half benefitted the Korean squad greatly. Munchkin's lurking through mid helped win a couple of rounds, but t3xture continued being the top performer for his team. He ended the attack with an 11/2 KD, and totalled a 1.59 rating for the map. Karon, who was crucial for their defense, was close behind, with a 1.49 rating.

Paper Rex bounce back with their triple duelist comp

Five out of ten agents picked on Split were duelists. Paper Rex continued their triple duelist from their match against T1, and Meteor returned to Jett. The South East Asian representatives gave an attacking masterclass. A brute force onto B site gave them the bonus, and they continued their streak. Mirroring Paper Rex on map one, Gen.G coach solo saw the need to use his team's second timeout early.

Round 7 came down to the wire, but Gen.G was able to leverage their player advantage to get their first round win. Down to a half buy, something found three to win them the round. Gen.G answered with their own half buy win, finding their second round. The half ended 8-4, setting up Paper Rex for a comfortable defense.

The pistol came down to a 1v2 from f0rsakeN , and it was all downhill from there for Gen.G. Identifying their opponent's weak economy, Paper Rex went for a double Outlaw setup, functionally an Operator for the remaining five rounds of the map.

Together, Paper Rex's triple duelist earned them 11 first kills, compared to Gen.G's total of five. The Jetts' performance was night-and-day, with something ending the map on a 1.30 rating and 6/1 first kills against Meteor's 0.55 rating and a 0/4 first kill to first death ratio.

Gen.G halt Paper Rex's comeback

Returning to a Gen.G map pick, Lotus saw something 's first Reyna of the year. The Korean team took an early lead, continuing the game's trend of teams winning their bonus round. Paper Rex found the next five rounds, working the map to their advantage and regulating their aggression appropriately.

Gen.G were able to tie the map in the second half, setting the score at 7-7 after the pistol and anti-eco. Paper Rex won the bonus, down to a 2v1, followed by a Gen.G round win that prompted a timeout from their opponents. Paper Rex guessed correctly for their A gamble stack, but their eco was no match to Gen.G's rifles.

The back-and-forth continued. Paper Rex broke their opponent's Viper's Pit post-plant, only to be answered by Munchkin stealing t3xture's ace the next round. Eventually, Gen.G reached match point, a string of unlikely wins from Paper Rex almost closing the gap. In the end a quick entry into B sealed the deal, giving Gen.G a 13-11 win on their map.

The upset is completed on Bind

The fourth map, Bind, was a strong start for Gen.G, winning the first four rounds of the half. The new setting saw them pick up the pace for their offense, with few rotations and committing to sites within the first 40 seconds of every round. Taking advantage of their proactivity, a triple kill from mindfreak granted his team their first round, but they only won three rounds afterwards.

Those four rounds would be the last that Paper Rex would win. Lakia won a 1v1 in the pistol round, and the controller duo easily cleaned up the anti-eco. Confident as ever, Gen.G continued to “out-aggress” the aggressors, pushing out of B in their bonus and finishing Paper Rex off in seconds. A half buy was nearly successful, but double eliminations from Meteor and Karon dealt with the push.

The final round of the final was a myriad of trades, but once again it was Karon who helped win the round. With only a classic in hand, he anticipated Paper Rex's teleport rotation, killing something and bringing Monyet down to 33 hp. That ended up being enough damage to hand t3xture the clutch on a silver platter.

“I couldn't even dream about being a champion,” t3xture said after the match. “I've just been playing VCT because I really love the game,” he said. “I just can't believe it.”

Munchkin and HSK attributed their success to the coaching staff. “My coaching staff really believed in [my direction], and actually molded me and my direction into a title win” the in-game leader said. “We knew we had all the right players, however there was just something missing”, HSK added. “Once we got solo as head coach, I started to feel we just can't lose a match.”