The third day of VCT Pacific Kickoff saw the run of sweeps end, with Nongshim RedForce Nongshim RedForce Korea Rank #1 Xross Jeonghwan (정환) Rb Goo Sang-min (구상민) Francis Kim Mu-bin (김무빈) Dambi Lee Hyuk-kyu (이혁규) Ivy Park Sung-hyeon (박성현) defeating 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 FULL SENSE FULL SENSE Asia-Pacific Rank #8 Leviathan Thanyathon Nakmee Killua Tanate Teerasawad thyy Anupong Preamsak primmie Papaphat Sriprapha JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam defeating DRX DRX Korea Rank #3 Hermes Ahn Byeong-wook (안병욱) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) free1ng No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈) . In both series, the higher seed fell, with the lower-seeded teams seeming to bring in some momentum from their opening round victories.

Nongshim RedForce downs T1, Pacific's newest superteam

The first series of the day brought forth the first three-map series of the event. In a back-and-forth affair, Nongshim, fresh off of a dominant 2-0 victory over Team Secret Team Secret Asia-Pacific Rank #174 kellyS Kelly Sedillo JessieVash Jessie Cuyco TenTen Kim Tae-young (김태영) Sylvan Go Young-sup (고영섭) BerserX Rizkie Adla Kusuma , took down the Pacific region's newest superteam, 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) . Nongshim's only change after the 2025 season was elevating reserve player Xross to the starting lineup, while the Masters Bangkok champions added former Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #4 Lakia Kim Jong-min (김종민) ZynX Kim Dong-ha (김동하) Ash Ha Hyun-cheol (하현철) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) IGL Munchkin as its newest Controller player.

The series opened on Nongshim's pick of Split. Both teams went with near-mirror comps, with the Viper-Omen-Fade trio supplemented by a double-Duelist pair. While T1 went for the more conventional Yoru-Raze, Nongshim went for Yoru and Neon, a pick that is par for the course with Dambi on the squad. While putting the star Duelist on his comfort pick has paid off in the past, that did not seem to be the case on Split.

From the get-go, the series looked to be a strong one for T1 Duelist BuZz . On Raze, he picked up 15 kills in the opening defense half to help T1 stand strong and enter halftime tied 6-6. While Dambi struggled to get heat under his tires, BuZz and iZu were strong, combining to go 11-1 in first duels while the former went a map-best 28-11 to help T1 steal its opponents' map pick 13-9.

The series shifted to T1's pick of Haven, Munchkin's former playground, from when he called the shots for Gen.G. Nongshim elected to start on attack, and took full advantage of having Dambi on the front foot. If BuZz was the standout on Split, it was Dambi on Haven. While the early goings on the map were close, Nongshim stayed on the front foot, kicking an 8-4 halftime lead into overdrive and playing proactive Valorant on defense to close the map 13-4.

You can't out-Neon the Neon guy. You just can't.

Similar to Split, both teams fielded similar comps on the decider map of Corrode, settling on the Omen, Viper, Fade, and Yoru. The difference came in the second Duelist, as T1 put Meteor on Waylay and Dambi stayed on Neon. An early hot start saw the Ascension team claim a 4-0 lead on attack, then enter halftime up 8-4. To start the second half, Nongshim claimed its fifth pistol round of the series to inch towards the finish line, eventually claiming a 13-9 win to stay alive in the upper bracket.

Against stronger opposition, the Nongshim squad seemed comfortable, with in-game leader Rb 's move to the Controller role and Xross's move to Initiator appearing seamless. Meanwhile, T1 seems to still be adjusting to life with Munchkin, with iZu shifting into the Controller role. T1 slides to the middle bracket, where a Korean derby against Gen.G awaits them, while Nongshim will play...

primmie flirts with the record book as FULL SENSE defeats DRX in three

While the FULL SENSE team is playing under a different banner, the entirety of the TALON TALON Inactive Killua Tanate Teerasawad thyy Anupong Preamsak Crws Thanamethk Mahatthananuyut JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam primmie Papaphat Sriprapha core was shifted into the new uniform. The TALON-DRX matchup boiled over into a rivalry over the past two seasons, and while a friendly fist bump between the two head coaches showed no bad blood between the two teams, the play in the server remained as heated as ever.

FULL SENSE began its debut season in VCT with a 2-0 win over ZETA DIVISION ZETA DIVISION Japan Rank #10 Absol Kazuki Fujinoki SyouTa Shota Aoki SugarZ3ro Shota Watanabe eKo Yeom Wang-ryong (염왕룡) Xdll Yuto Mizomori , which saw the team drop just six rounds. Towards the end of the offseason, DRX saw Flashback retire, and in an effort to replace him, picked up former FEARX FEARX Korea Unranked Felix Park Hyeon-ho (박현호) empty Lee Won-bin (이원빈) player Hermes . Additionally, the team shifted MaKo off of IGL duties, moving Initiator player BeYN into the middle seat.

The series opened on FS's pick of Pearl, and while DRX went for a Jett-Yoru, Astra-Viper comp, FULL SENSE went for an off-meta double-Duelist comp with Vyse instead of Viper. Off the bat, FULL SENSE appeared to struggle. A quick 5-0 DRX start forced IGL-turned-head coach Crws to call a timeout, and while FULL SENSE clawed back a few rounds, the scoreboard read 12-5 not too long after in the second half. primmie , on Yoru, put up his best effort with his back against the wall, dropping a game-high 31 kills to get FULL SENSE to 10 rounds, only to fall in the end 13-10.

Moving to DRX's pick of Pearl, the two teams seemed to change tempos. After giving up a fast start on Breeze, FULL SENSE got out to a 4-0 lead on Pearl, which eventually snowballed into an 8-2 lead. primmie continued to fry on Yoru. After ending map one +16, he continued to lead the way for his squad on both sides of the map, going 8-1 in first duels to help build serious momentum. After dropping the pistol and anti-ecos in the second half and allowing DRX to get within two rounds, FULL SENSE pulled away 13-8, with primmie dropping 25 kills and going +13.

The series was set to be decided on Split, the very map that FULL SENSE downed ZETA 13-2 just two days earlier. The two sides fielded similar comps, with FULL SENSE sticking with its Omen, Viper, Yoru, Raze, and Fade comp. The only difference for DRX's comp was HYUNMIN on Neon in place of Raze. After picking up four straight to start Pearl, FS did the same on Split, opening with four straight rounds to force an early timeout from termi . After claiming a 6-1 lead, FULL SENSE's grip on the game faltered a bit, as DRX clawed a few rounds back to end the first half down just 7-5, and claimed a pistol to tie things up 7-7 soon after.

With FULL SENSE defending and DRX attacking, the map became the latter chasing the former. With primmie chasing aspas 's BO3 kill record, FULL SENSE looked unstoppable. DRX tying the score at 7 apiece was the closest they would ever get on Split, as clean protocol and flicky shots got FULL SENSE to a 13-8 win to close the series out.

No kill record for primmie, but the series is claimed and FULL SENSE moves on.

primmie's 79 kills left him three short of tying aspas's global record of 82, but set a new record in VCT Pacific. His effort was paramount for his side, as no other FULL SENSE player had more than 50 kills in the series. For DRX, free1ng showed flashes as a strong anchor, notching a joint-team-high 54 kills and a 1.19 rating, while MaKo showed flashes of his pre-IGL self with 54 of his own.

FULL SENSE moves on to play Nongshim RedForce, while DRX slides to the middle bracket to play VARREL VARREL Korea Rank #5 C1ndeR Ko Jae-hyuk (고재혁) Klaus Kim Min-hyuk (김민혁) XuNa Kim Tae-geon (김태건) oonzmlp Shin Sang-beom (신상범) Zexy Jang Suk-hyun (장석현) .

Up next

VCT Pacific Kickoff will continue tomorrow with the following matches: