The first week of VCT Pacific Kickoff wrapped up with the upper bracket's top four teams decided. In a tight three-map series, Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 invy Adrian Jiggs Reyes Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov found the edge over a rising Global Esports Global Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #12 PatMen Patrick Mendoza UdoTan Go Kyung-won (고경원) Kr1stal Savva Fedorov xavi8k Xavier Juan Autumn Kale Dunne team, while 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 rolled a first map comeback into a 2-0 sweep over DetonatioN FocusMe DetonatioN FocusMe Japan Rank #2 Meiy Ibuki Seki SSeeS Tomonori Okimura yatsuka Kazuya Ikeda Caedye Amon Mateus Okakura Akame Yu Gwang-hui (유광희) .

Paper Rex fends off Global Esports in three-map clash

In what can be regarded as the PatMen derby, Paper Rex defeated Global Esports in a tight three-map series, stealing each other's map pick and reuniting former teammates of last year's Masters Toronto-winning PRX squad.

The series opened on Global's pick of Breeze. Global appeared to continue on their permanent picks with UdoTan on Veto and Autumn on Yoru, while PRX went with a Brimstone-Viper double-Controller comp, with Jinggg on Jett and something on Yoru.

The game showed a clash of styles, with PRX stretching the GE defense thin on attack after wrapping up a 7-5 defense half. GE seemed out of it once PRX seized a 10-5 lead, but did not go down without a fight. The score was forced as close as 11-8 with some heroics from the likes of PatMen, but PRX pulled away in the end, 13-10. With plenty of momentum and Jinggg coming off of a 23-kill map, PRX entered its map pick of Split, looking to close out the day quickly.

A pistol round win to open the map seemed to get the ball rolling early, but PRX faltered as the map went on. PRX claimed just five rounds in its defense half, and Global's defense proved too tough to break down. With the double-Controller comp cementing plenty of control over the map on a large scale, the Veto also provided plenty of shut-down ability, with the utility-heavy PRX attack being shut down on a number of occasions.

With Split being a map that invites disorder, Global Esports found a way to control that chaos, stealing PRX's map pick 13-5. One of the biggest narratives driving the map was the first bloods. The teams went an even nine to nine in first bloods, but PRX failed to capitalize when having numbers advantages, while GE clawed back from being a man down.

On Bind, Global raised eyebrows with its agent selection. They opted against the popular double-Controller comp, instead shifting PatMen onto Waylay while keeping IGL xavi8k on Astra, the only agent he has played throughout all of Kickoff. Global claimed an early 4-1 lead on the map, threatening to pull off what would have been a big upset over the 2025 Stage 2 champions, but once an Operator was put into the hands of something, the game seemed to cool down for PRX. He ended the map with six Operator kills, shutting down long angles while partner in crime Jinggg wreaked chaos on his iconic Raze.

A 7-5 PRX lead was extended to 10-5 with a quick start to the second half, but Global didn't quite go down without a fight. With Veto once again working wonders to delay site executions, Global claimed four straight rounds to threaten a comeback, stringing together a series of well-executed retakes to test the PRX attack. In the end, the battle of fine margins was won by the more battle-tested team.

While PRX walked away with the victory, Global appeared to show that its Astra-Yoru-Veto comp had its merits, pushing PRX to three maps and nearly pulling off the upset. The loss sends Global to the middle bracket, where it will play ZETA DIVISION ZETA DIVISION Japan Rank #10 Absol Kazuki Fujinoki SyouTa Shota Aoki SugarZ3ro Shota Watanabe eKo Yeom Wang-ryong (염왕룡) Xdll Yuto Mizomori , while PRX continues in the upper bracket to play...

Rex Regum Qeon snowballs 10-4 comeback into 2-0 series win over DFM

After pulling off an unexpected 2-0 win over Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #3 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) in its opening match, DFM entered its second-round map against RRQ looking to pull off another upset. As one of the region's top four seeds, RRQ maintained its four-man roster from 2025, with the only notable change being former TALON TALON Inactive Killua Tanate Teerasawad thyy Anupong Preamsak Crws Thanamethk Mahatthananuyut JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam primmie Papaphat Sriprapha assistant Jovi joining as head coach to replace Ewok .

In the span of two days, DFM's approach appeared to change. After placing Meiy on the more disruptive Duelists, such as Waylay or Neon, against Gen.G, the team opted to put him on Yoru in both maps against RRQ, and additionally moved yatsuka , who played Yoru against Gen.G, onto Chamber in both maps. Sentinel player Caedye played Phoenix on both maps as well, seemingly in an attempt to catch RRQ off guard.

On the opening map of Haven, which was DFM's pick, RRQ's agent comp sparked no surprises. Jemkin continued in the Duelist role, while the team went with a double-Controller comp that put in-game leader crazyguy on Omen.

DFM, starting on attack, immediately impressed. yatsuka cycled through his Tour de Force and Operator buys to shut down long angles, claiming six kills with the long-range, heavy-duty sniper on the map. With his sniping ability and some coordinated retakes, DFM was able to end the first half up 8-4, which put them in a good position entering the second half with two Duelists.

DFM claimed the pistol round of its attacking half to threaten a quick win on its map pick, but soon ran into problems. An insistence on using the Operator on attack seemed to slow down the positives that a double-Duelist comp might provide, while xffero went an eye-popping 18/3 on defense to cycle through several Lockdowns. After going down 10-4, RRQ stormed back to steal DFM's map pick, winning 13-10. xffero went 25/11 on the map, and was backed up by Kushy 's 23/12. In the losing effort, yatsuka 23/15, which included a 6-2 record in first duels.

After losing its map pick in comeback fashion, DFM appeared to lose any heat that it had built up through 14 rounds on Haven. Since last year, RRQ has had one of the Pacific region's strongest Corrodes, and that reputation seemed to stand strong in 2026.

Jemkin, well-known for his abilities on the Operator, was on Chamber for the map, inviting a Chamber-versus-Chamber showdown against yatsuka. Meanwhile, Monyet shifted onto Neon for RRQ's double-Controller comp. Despite claiming nine first bloods on defense, DFM only had two rounds to show for those first picks by the end of the half. Any attempt to build up momentum or any economy were shut down by RRQ, as a 10-0 run to start the map spelled the beginning of the end.

While DFM did its job to respond by winning the last two rounds of its defending half and winning the pistol, anti-eco, and bonus rounds on attack, RRQ was quick to find its footing once an Operator was in Jemkin's hands. While the first half of Haven showed flashes of brilliance, RRQ proved to be too much for DFM, as the Champions Paris attendees closed out the map 13-5.

Kushy and xffero tallied 42 and 40 kills in the win, while Meiy's 33 kills led DFM in the loss. RRQ earns a one-week break as a result of the win, while DFM will play Team Secret Team Secret Asia-Pacific Rank #171 kellyS Kelly Sedillo JessieVash Jessie Cuyco TenTen Kim Tae-young (김태영) Sylvan Go Young-sup (고영섭) BerserX Rizkie Adla Kusuma in the middle bracket.

Up next

With week one of action finished, VCT Pacific Kickoff will return for week two with the following matches, beginning with play in the middle bracket:

• Team Secret vs. DetonatioN FocusMe (Middle Round 1)
• ZETA DIVISION vs. Global Esports (Middle Round 1)
• VARREL vs. DRX (Middle Round 1)
• Gen.G vs. T1 (Middle Round 1)