The first eliminations of the main event at Home Ground 2025 are done, with T1 T1 Korea Rank #2 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Meteor Kim Tae-oh (김태오) BuZz Yu Byeong-cheol (유병철) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) and G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #2 jawgemo Alexander Mor BABYBAY Andrej Francisty trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio leaf Nathan Orf staying alive while Cubert Academy Cubert Academy North America Rank #7 Kess Drew Lee stand-in zander Alexander Dituri stand-in NiSMO Marc-Andre Tayar nightz Christian Smith satellite and Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Rank #8 Xeppaa Erick Bach v1c Victor Truong Zellsis Jordan Montemurro penny Erik Penny OXY Francis Hoang are done at the off-season tournament.

Cubert Academy vs. T1 (13-7)

In the first elimination match of the Home Ground, T1 faced off against Cubert Academy. The map of choice for this best-of-one was Sunset, and T1 ran a double-Controller composition against the Cubert Academy composition of double-Duelist. Both teams ran Sage to block off those tight chokes on both sites, and T1 won two retakes to win the pistol and the anti-eco before Cubert stopped the bonus conversion. Kess , playing Sova, helped his team take the lead with two round wins after a tech pause, but BuZz swung right back with an Operator and his Neon ultimate. Just the round after, iZu got four kills on Sage to stop any attacking chance from Cubert and take a 5-3 lead.

The plays across the T1 team, especially the unchecked flanks, were great as T1 took a 9-3 lead at the half.

Cubert won the second half pistol to start the potential comeback, but stax prevented the bonus round win to keep a five-round lead. That lead waned a little, but stax kept the momentum going for T1 as the team reached map point up 12-7 and closed it out the next round. T1 moved on to the second round of the lower bracket, while Cubert Academy is officially gone from the main event of Red Bull Home Ground 2025.

Cloud9 vs. G2 Esports (13-11)

The sole map for this matchup between two VCT Americas teams was Haven, with C9 starting on the attack side. Both teams ran double-Controller, with C9 running Neon while G2 ran Yoru. C9 won the first pistol and antieco without much worry, but jawgemo prevented the bonus round win. The slow pace from C9 led to some struggles from G2, with jawgemo as the sole standout on the defense side. The first half ended up 8-4 for C9, with G2 needing to improve on the attack side.

C9 won the second pistol on Haven to take a larger lead, but G2 pulled out the classic Stinger buy to convert an eco. That moment was a turning point, as G2 took that economic advantage to go on a run and tie the map 9-9, with jawgemo getting an ace and valyn stepping up in both calls and shots.

Even a late timeout proved to do little as G2 reached map and match point up 12-10, as C9 had two opportunities to take the map to overtime. It was v1c shooting two through a smoke to get the first round win, but jawgemo ended the map hot to win the map 13-11. G2 stay alive at the Red Bull Home Ground, while C9 are eliminated.