In the upper semifinals of the VCT Pacific Stage 1 playoffs, 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) and 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 came out victorious, claiming the region's first two tickets to Masters Toronto. The pair of results also set the two teams up for an upper final showdown between the two teams, with a shot at the stage's grand final on the line. The losing teams are sent down to the lower bracket, and forced to win two straight games to earn passage to the year's second Masters event.

Gen.G overcomes demons to down BOOM Esports 2-0

In a rematch of one of the stage's opening matches, 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) and BOOM Esports BOOM Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #5 dos9 Zhumagali Dastan Famouz Fikri Zaki Hamdani Shiro Hildegard Arnaldo NcSlasher Sheldon Andersen Chandra BerserX Rizkie Adla Kusuma clashed, with the stakes higher than they were a month ago. Gen.G was coming off a three-map victory over TALON TALON Asia-Pacific Rank #14 Killua Tanate Teerasawad thyy Anupong Preamsak Crws Thanamethk Mahatthananuyut JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam primmie Papaphat Sriprapha , while BOOM had been out of action for around a week after securing Group Alpha's top seed thanks to a 5-0 showing in league play. The two teams met in one of the first matches of the stage, when BOOM upset Gen.G 2-0.

The match opened on Split, which saw Gen.G move away from its short-lived double Duelist team comp. With star Duelist t3xture on the fast-paced Neon, Gen.G dominated on their opening attacker side, grabbing 10 rounds out of 12 to seize the momentum in the series.

t3xture with a clean triple kill to lead a dominant 6-0 start for Gen.G.

t3xture recorded a map-high seven multi-kills on Split, including a pair of triple kills to help lead what was a successful attack side for the Korean tigers. While BOOM's attack side, headlined by Controller pair dos9 and BerserX , opened the second half with great momentum, Gen.G found the three rounds necessary to close out their map pick.

The series moved on to Ascent, where BOOM previously dismantled Gen.G 13-8. This match was seemingly a wake-up call for Gen.G's comp on Ascent. In the first map, the Korean side fielded a slightly uncomfortable comp centered around Tejo and Cypher. The resulting showings on Ascent saw them experiment with Sova and Yoru, but the Gen.G players went back into their comfort picks, with in-game leader Munchkin on KAY/O, and academy call-up Ash on Tejo.

Gen.G started the map on the defender side, and was nothing short of dominant. They swept the stage's most dominant team 12-0 in the half, and after giving up six rounds to BOOM's defender side, finally took care of business to wrap up a dominant 2-0 sweep.

Gen.G could (literally) not put a wrong foot down on Ascent defense.

With the win, Gen.G moves on and reclaims its spot towards the top of the Pacific region by claiming one of its three Masters slots, reviving its run of international LANs reached after missing out on Masters Bangkok.

Rex Regum Qeon downs DRX to qualify for first-ever LAN

In a stunning turn of events, 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 downed DRX in a three-map thriller to move on to the upper finals and qualify for their first-ever Masters event.

The wait has been a long time coming for RRQ, which, after a disappointing Pacific Kickoff, brought on crazyguy as its new in-game leader to lead a team star-studded by some of the hottest Southeast Asian stars. The match against DRX saw RRQ go up against its former IGL Estrella , who has since taken up IGL duties with the Korean squad.

The series opened up with DRX's pick of Fracture. DRX opened on the defender side, and claimed seven rounds on the map that has been historically attacker-sided. While RRQ caught on to DRX's attack as the map progressed, DRX closed the map 13-11. Monyet played Neon on the map, shifting Jemkin to play Brimstone, but the roles would switch on the next map.

RRQ highlighted a gap in DRX's armor on Icebox, exposing their attack side struggles. The Korean squad managed just four rounds on the relatively attack-sided, cold map. Once RRQ switched over to the attack side, they were able to snowball quickly, backed by a high-flying performance from Jemkin on Jett.

The beginning of the end for DRX on Icebox.

That left the series to be decided on Lotus, a map that both teams have had mixed results on in recent weeks. In their last three outings, DRX and RRQ have both gone 2-1 on the map. DRX suffered a 13-8 loss to Gen.G on the map, while RRQ were dealt a 13-9 loss to a then-winless Team Secret Team Secret Asia-Pacific Rank #18 invy Adrian Jiggs Reyes n1zzy Nguyễn Tấn Thành stand-in ZesBeeW Sha Mohtar stand-in kellyS Kelly Sedillo stand-in Wild0reoo Brheyanne Christ Reyes on the map.

DRX finished their attacker side with just five rounds, which ended up being just enough. RRQ stumbled into the sharpshooting free1ng 's Killjoy often, which eventually led both teams to a 12-12 tiebreak.

Overtime was forced thanks to a 3-0 run from DRX, but RRQ managed two hard-nose rounds to push past the Pacific Kickoff champions and qualify for their first-ever international LAN.

The moment RRQ qualified for its first-ever Masters event.

Lower bracket gauntlet

With BOOM Esports and DRX losing, the lower bracket becomes even more loaded. Both of the region's Masters Bangkok teams, T1 T1 Korea Rank #4 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) and DRX, join the group stage's most dominant team in BOOM, also joined by perennial powerhouses Paper Rex. The lower bracket will continue next week, with Gen.G and RRQ's upper final matchup not for another two weekends.

VCT Pacific will continue next week with the following matches: