In a battle between one of the world's hottest teams heading into Champions Paris and the region's defending champions, Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 PatMen Patrick Mendoza Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov and Rex Regum Qeon Rex Regum Qeon Asia-Pacific Rank #3 Monyet Cahya Nugraha xffero David Monangin Jemkin Maksim Batorov Kushy Bryan Carlos Setiawan crazyguy Ngô Công Anh met in the grand final to crown the winner of VCT Pacific Stage 2. RRQ had the unique opportunity to become the region's first back-to-back champions, while Paper Rex was determined to secure its first regional championship in over a year.

As the team advancing from the upper bracket, Paper Rex had the double map veto. They used it to ban Corrode and Icebox, two of RRQ's better maps. In the lower final the day before, the two maps were the two opening wins during RRQ's reverse sweep win over TALON TALON Asia-Pacific Rank #7 Killua Tanate Teerasawad thyy Anupong Preamsak Crws Thanamethk Mahatthananuyut JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam primmie Papaphat Sriprapha .

Paper Rex won the series 3-1, which was played out on Bind, Ascent, Lotus, and Haven. PRX won Bind 13-8, Ascent 13-7, RRQ won Lotus 13-6, and PRX won Haven 13-7, leaving Sunset unnecessary.

Bind was the opening map of the lower final, which RRQ lost 13-4 to TALON. RRQ tweaked their team comp, moving away from the double-Duelist to a double-Initiator look, shifting in-game leader crazyguy onto Tejo and Monyet onto Astra. PRX played with the double-Duelist comp that it has played for most of Stage 2, placing something on Yoru and Jinggg on Raze.

Paper Rex won the opening pistol and anti-eco, and despite losing the following two rounds, started on attack without ever looking uncomfortable. They entered halftime up 9-3, and swiftly reached 11-3 with another pistol and anti-eco conversion. RRQ, however, did not go down without a fight. They won five of the next six rounds, beginning to snowball a series of strong buys but also letting Paper Rex reach map point in the process.

Eventually, PRX closed things out after letting RRQ threaten a comeback, winning 13-7. PRX head coach alecks was quick to give credit to FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #1 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder for the team's double-Duelist comp, which PRX has used for all of its Bind appearances in Stage 2.

"We came out with a new comp. We know FNATIC uses it, we have watched it a little bit," alecks said. "It's good that we managed to adapt really fast."

Ascent, the second map of the series, promised its fair share of viewing points. Paper Rex had yet to play the map in Stage 2, having banned it five times, while RRQ has had a love-hate relationship with it throughout the course of the year. Ascent was one of RRQ's strongest maps to start the year, particularly throughout the course of its Stage 1-winning campaign, but Stage 2 has not brought that same level of dominance. Experimentations with double-Sentinel, double-Duelist, and double-Initiator comps have made the map a question mark of sorts for RRQ, who went 1-3 on it in Stage 2.

RRQ went with a double-Initiator comp pairing Kushy 's Sova with crazyguy 's Tejo, a comp that they heavily relied on in Stage 1. Paper Rex, meanwhile, abandoned its Stage 1 Ascent comp for a new one befitting its playstyle. With Jinggg on Sage creating unpredictable angles and scenarios, and something on Yoru for the second straight map, RRQ may have had a good idea of how PRX wanted to play, but would have been starved of any information with little film to work off of on Ascent.

Paper Rex again got off to a fast start, but much faster and much more dominant than on Bind. After winning the pistol yet again to extend the lead in pistol rounds to 3-0, PRX went on to win the next nine rounds to reach 10-0. While RRQ found some consolation in winning a round before the change of sides, the halftime score was 11-1. Paper Rex again won the pistol round to open its attacker side, but a successful RRQ force buy, which marked PRX's first post-pistol anti-eco loss of the stage, got the Indonesian side out to six straight wins. An alecks timeout looked to slow down some of RRQ's momentum, and it eventually got PRX across the finish line, winning 13-7.

Suppressed by the Stealth Drone. Tagged by the Owl Drone. Standing in the Guided Salvo. Doesn't phase f0rsakeN .

If Ascent was PRX's opportunity to show what it improved, Lotus was RRQ's. The three-site map was a Stage 2 permanent ban of theirs, with it being banned in all 10 matches. RRQ had a double-Duelist, double-Controller comp with no Sentinel, while PRX opted for the usual Yoru-Raze Duelist pairing. PRX ended its defender side tied 6-6, a solid opportunity to build with a double-Duelist comp moving over to attack and up against no Sentinels.

It felt as though PRX was in prime position to win the map and sweep the series, but RRQ had other plans. RRQ claimed its first pistol of the series, and seemed to turn a new leaf. Monyet led the charge for the team, earning 12 of his 18 kills on defense to help RRQ to PRX out in the second half and win 13-6.

Monyet with an explosive 3K against a few of his former teammates.

Haven, the next map, was a map that RRQ needed a bounce-back on. They lost to TALON on it the day before, 13-4. RRQ stuck with its usual double-Duelist comp, while PRX also continued with a familiar comp. The disruptive Waylay-Yoru pairing, which first caught attention from an overtime victory over 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) Lakia Kim Jong-min (김종민) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) to start the stage, has seen PRX go a perfect 4-0 on Haven.

As opposed to other double Duelist comps, which find most of their success on attack, PRX's Waylay-Yoru comp has been well-known for its aggression on defense. That trend continued against RRQ in the grand final, as PRX wrapped up an 8-4 defending half. Haven was another map that saw the dinos pick up both pistols, bringing the pistol round score from the day to 7-1, eventually building up to PRX reaching an 11-4 lead. RRQ, who have been dubbed as the comeback kings for their bounce-back abilities in 2025, won three of the next four rounds to threaten a comeback, but a well-timed Paper Rex timeout once again got the boys in pink locked in to secure a 13-7 victory.

Despite Jemkin's best efforts with arguably his best weapon, PatMen drives the final nail in the coffin to wrap up the series.

something was named the MVP following the match. His 1.28 rating and 250 ACS were the highest in the server, while his 69 kills were the second-highest behind only f0rsakeN . He went 20-10 in first duels while playing Yoru on all four maps, playing an essential role as the spear of Paper Rex's attack while also assisting as the team's primary source of flashes. His efforts helped PRX reclaim its seat atop the Pacific region for the first time since winning Stage 1 in 2024.

Champions Paris qualifiers

With Stage 2 wrapping up, the focus now turns to Champions Paris.

The Pacific region's four representatives in the City of Light are: