The first set of lower bracket matches in the VCT Pacific Stage 1 playoffs began with a pair of two of the tournament's most intriguing matchups.

The first match saw two of the region's youngest teams go head to head, resulting in 2024 Pacific Ascension winners missing out on yet another international event. The second match saw one of the region's perennial powerhouses topple the defending Masters Bangkok winners as they continue to build back towards their former glory.

TALON defeats Nongshim RedForce 2-1 for a third time in 2025

In the third meeting this season between TALON TALON Asia-Pacific Rank #14 Killua Tanate Teerasawad thyy Anupong Preamsak Crws Thanamethk Mahatthananuyut JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam primmie Papaphat Sriprapha and Nongshim RedForce Nongshim RedForce Korea Rank #3 Persia Yang Zi-on (양지온) Francis Kim Mu-bin (김무빈) margaret Kim Ji-woo (김지우) Dambi Lee Hyuk-kyu (이혁규) Ivy Park Sung-hyeon (박성현) , the budding Thai team came out on top yet again, eliminating the high-speed Ascension squad from yet another tournament. The teams met in the lower bracket of Pacific Kickoff and were placed in the same groups for Stage 1.

The series opened on Haven, a map that has been a strong one for the new all-Thai iteration of TALON's roster. In the buildup to this match, TALON had secured wins against 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 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) on the three-site map, both by a comfortable 13-6 scoreline.

It looked like a similar outcome was poised to happen in this match, with the Thai team grabbing eight straight rounds on attack after dropping the pistol and ending the half up 9-3. After winning the pistol and anti-eco on their defense half, Nongshim threatened a comeback of their own with a 6-0 run of their own, but eventually fell 13-9.

Star Duelist primmie could do no wrong, at least on TALON's attack half. He went 19/5 on that side of the map. He finished with a 25/13 scoreline and a 300 ACS, far and away the best performer of the map.

primmie mode activated.

On their map pick of Pearl, Nongshim flipped the script on TALON, exploding out of the gates with a 9-3 half attacking half of their own. They stayed true to their go-to double Sentinel comp, pairing Killjoy and Vyse while in-game leader Francis was on Sova instead of Tejo.

While recent signing Killua had a solid map for TALON, his team-leading 14 kills matched the lowest amount that any Nongshim player had once the scoreline read 13-7.

The series then moved to Ascent, which has been avoided by both teams for a good portion of the stage. Entering the match, both teams had only played it once in league play, and both lost 13-5. While TALON fielded a more meta double Sentinel comp, Nongshim looked to do something new with a double Controller comp centered around Omen and Harbor.

The map was streaky until the end. Nonshim won the opening four rounds on the attacker side, only for TALON to respond with eight straight to close the half. Nongshim tied things up soon after with another 4-0 run, but as if on cue, TALON clinched four straight to reach match point. After a bit of heroics from the side of Nongshim, TALON closed things out 13-9 off the back of a stellar performance from Killua. His 1.08 rating for the series was a team-high in the victory, while primmie's server-high 51 kills set the tone for his squad.

TALON moves on to play 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) , who was bested by 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 in the upper bracket the previous week. Nongshim is eliminated, making a Champions Paris qualification through Stage 2 that much more important with a potential relegation awaiting them at the end of the year.

Paper Rex eliminates T1 in blowout-filled series

Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #2 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov has been a shell of its former self in 2025. After a subpar Kickoff and a nearly disastrous group stage, Paper Rex entered the Stage 1 playoffs as a fourth seed, meaning they'd need to survive the lower bracket gauntlet to qualify for Masters Toronto. T1, while still the reigning Masters Bangkok champions, has been out of form as of late, too. They finished the group stage with a 3-2 record and a map differential of just +1. After suffering a loss to fellow countrymen DRX in the upper bracket, they too needed a lower bracket run to reach a second straight Masters.

The three-map series was full of blowouts and high-energy moments, with the opening map of Fracture fittingly chaotic. While the map was Paper Rex's pick, it seemed anything but that to kick things off. T1 started as the defenders, but flipped the map onto PRX, with aggressive pushes and stalwart holds picking apart Paper Rex attackers.

BuZz with a pretty ace to finish the first half up 10-2.

T1 rode the momentum from a strong defense half to wrap things up 13-3, threatening to make the series a short one on their pick of Ascent. However, there was another twist. While Paper Rex was dealt a knockdown blow in the first map of the series, they swung back and hit hard.

The traditionally defender-sided map favored Paper Rex's first half, as they went up 8-4, giving up what could be called reasonable rounds. Of the four rounds given up, two were from lighter T1 buys, while one was Paper Rex's bonus, and the other was a full buy round. With the teams switching sides, the question of whether an 8-4 lead was enough lingered, but was soon erased.

A superb performance from something on his trademark agent of Jett saw PRX clinch five straight attack rounds to recover from a blowout with a blowout of their own, stealing T1's map pick 13-4.

A trademark something round.

Paper Rex, historically known for its aggressive "W-gaming" displayed it for the first time in a seemingly long time on Lotus. They did to T1 what T1 did to them on Fracture, suffocating the attackers. With a double Duelist comp placing something on Yoru and Jinggg on Raze, Paper Rex easily seized control of A main. d4v41 's Vyse utility kept a grip on the B site, while the C site was always one Yoru Gatecrash or five-man retake away from being Paper Rex's.

A 10-2 first half was followed up with aggressive discipline, giving Paper Rex arguably their best win of the year and a longer lease at life in the lower bracket. They move on to play 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 , who, after a 5-0 group stage showing, lost to Gen.G in their opening match of the playoffs.

VCT Pacific Stage 1 will continue with the following matches: