With a 2-0 win, Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #1 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) has defeated Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 PatMen Patrick Mendoza Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov , advancing to playoffs without dropping a single map. Having reached the knockout via the Swiss format, they will next play against one of the regional top seeds. Paper Rex remains in the tournament, awaiting the results of the next round of the Swiss stage for their opponent.

This match was only the second time the teams had faced off in the 2025 season, with Gen.G taking the win during the Stage 1 regular season, tying the teams' overall VCT head-to-head 4-4. The teams had only played each other once before in an international tournament, a meeting in which Gen.G came out on top during the Masters: Madrid playoffs.

“I'm happy that whoever wins, a Pacific team will proceed to the playoffs,” PatMen said ahead of the series.

“This is just a warmup,” Munchkin agreed.

The match began with Gen.G's map pick, Ascent. The Korean squad took an early 7-0 lead on their attack, narrowly avoiding a t3xture ace on round six thanks to Karon finding the final kill. Paper Rex stopped the bleeding temporarily, with f0rsaken denying a 1v4 clutch from Karon to keep Gen.G from running away with the half.

Karon denies his teammate's ace.

The Southeast Asian lineup was able to stabilize in the second half, but Gen.G's lead, bolstered by winning both pistol rounds, was too much to handle. Ultimately, the Shanghai-winning team won Ascent 13-11, one map away from playoffs.

Icebox continued the series, with Gen.G picking up where they left off in map one with another strong start. After taking the pistol round, they were able to snowball their defense, shutting down any attempts to enter the site by Paper Rex. The Killjoy-Viper combo took over the first half, with 13 and 14 eliminations, respectively, including an ace from Munchkin.

Munchkin locks down the site.

Going into the second half, Gen.G did not take their foot off the gas, winning the fourth and final pistol round of the series and taking the remaining rounds without much resistance, closing out Icebox 13-3 and winning the match 2-0.

After the series, star player t3xture talked about his pep talk for the team's newcomers. “I always tell Foxy9 and Ash that I don't want to go home,” t3xture said. “That mindset is what they need.”

Gen.G, now in playoffs, will next play against one of the top seeded teams. The winners of each international league received a bye into the playoffs, and will be able to select their opponent following the conclusion of the Swiss stage.

“I would like to face G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #1 jawgemo Alexander Mor trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio JonahP Jonah Pulice leaf Nathan Orf ,” t3xture said, hoping to avoid a regional rematch against Rex Regum Qeon Rex Regum Qeon Asia-Pacific Rank #6 Monyet Cahya Nugraha xffero David Monangin Jemkin Maksim Batorov Kushy Bryan Carlos Setiawan crazyguy Ngô Công Anh .

Paper Rex remains in the tournament, and will next play an elimination series against one of the remaining teams in the Swiss stage, should they wish to join Gen.G and RRQ in the knockout bracket.