With a dominant 2-0 sweep, 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) has defeated DetonatioN FocusMe DetonatioN FocusMe Japan Rank #4 Meiy Ibuki Seki SSeeS Tomonori Okimura yatsuka Kazuya Ikeda Caedye Amon Mateus Okakura Akame Yu Gwang-hui (유광희) to advance to VCT Pacific Kickoff's Middle Final.

In a matchup of mirror comps, the series was played out on DFM's pick of Pearl and T1's pick of Split. T1 won Pearl 13-7, and then won Split 13-10, leaving the decider map of Bind unnecessary.

The series opened on DFM's pick of Pearl, a map that has become a trademark of the Japanese team's pool throughout the course of the event. The map, while not one of T1's strongest, has been the site of some fond memories, too. Most famously, T1 lifted the Masters Bangkok trophy against G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #2 jawgemo Alexander Mor BABYBAY Andrej Francisty trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio leaf Nathan Orf on Pearl.

Up until the team's 2-1 win over FULL SENSE FULL SENSE Asia-Pacific Rank #6 Leviathan Thanyathon Nakmee Killua Tanate Teerasawad thyy Anupong Preamsak primmie Papaphat Sriprapha JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam , DFM showed strength on both sides of the map, showing some flexibility with its Yoru-Neon double-Duelist comp that has Caedye on Killjoy. That was the same comp for T1, which used the strengths of an in-form BuZz and a sharpshooting iZu .

Play opened on DFM on attack, and early on, the goings were close. DFM won the opening pistol round, which would go on to become its only pistol of the series, but a shutdown in the would-be bonus round was the beginning of a back-and-forth map. DFM went a strong six for eight on its post plants, and ended the first half tied 6-6/

Munchkin with a masterclass in isolating gunfights to convert the 1v4 clutch.

DFM appeared to have a perfect start to the second half, threatening to take another pistol away from a T1 that went 4/6 in them against 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 . However, heroics from in-game leader Munchkin, who clinched his 30th clutch in VCT Pacific — the most of any player in the region. As the map rolled on, a consistent trend of struggles persisted for DFM. Despite picking off the first enemy, lapses and mistakes plagued the team's attempts to form strong retakes or fights on barrier drop.

T1 won the opening six rounds of its attack half to claim map point, and converted it two rounds later to win 13-7. T1 proved to be far more clinical on Pearl, going a perfect 7/7 on its post plants. It all happened while working from behind, too; DFM had 11 first bloods on the map to T1's nine.

The focus then shifted to T1's map pick of Split, a map that both teams have shown flashes of brilliance on. T1 captured wins over 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) and DRX DRX Korea Rank #5 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) with its double-Duelist, double-Controller comp that put BuZz on Raze and kept iZu on Yoru. The two teams again had mirror comps, as DFM opted for star Duelist Meiy on Raze while budding rookie yatsuka was on Yoru.

The map started smoothly for the Korean squad. After winning a second-straight pistol round, T1 dropped just one of the first six rounds, snowballing an early 5-1 lead on attack. However, led by Akame , DFM did not go down without a fight. The Initiator player had a joint-high 14 kills on the map, tied with Meteor , to draw the score to an even 6-6 at half without having to use a single timeout.

While Korean teams have shown uncharacteristic weakness through Kickoff in the pistol rounds, T1 showed strength to open the halves against DFM, claiming its third of four total pistol rounds to begin its defense on the right foot. T1 gave up two straight DFM rounds following its bonus round conversion, but the fight became easier as the game went on.

Led by IGL SSeeS , DFM showed some inexperience, leaving gaps across the map and allowing for players like Munchkin and iZu to get onto proactive angles and shut down alternate routes for the attacking DFM. Critical mistakes, such as failing to clear corners, misusing ultimate abilities, or falling victim to tunnel vision, saw DFM fight against the clock in some situations, allowing T1 to claim three straight to find series point.

Despite going up by two players early, DFM struggles to convert against the weaker T1 buy.

Like it did on Pearl, T1 converted match point three rounds after claiming it, going on to win 13-10.

Meteor was one of the standout performers in the series, picking up a series-high 41 kills in 43 rounds. iZu, who seems to improve in T1's Yoru role with every passing game, impressed with a 35 kills as well, but his biggest value came in his 10-3 first duels record, which was the best of any player in the lobby. In the loss, Akame's match-high 1.36 rating and joint-second-best 35 kills were not enough for DFM.

Up next

T1 now moves one series win away from punching its ticket to Masters Santiago. It awaits the losing team between Nongshim RedForce and Rex Regum Qeon Rex Regum Qeon Asia-Pacific Rank #5 Monyet Cahya Nugraha xffero David Monangin Jemkin Maksim Batorov Kushy Bryan Carlos Setiawan crazyguy Ngô Công Anh in the Middle Final, which will be played tomorrow. Meanwhile, DFM falls to the lower bracket. As it did in last year's Pacific Kickoff lower bracket, it will go up against Paper Rex to fight for a spot in the Lower Final.

VCT Pacific Kickoff will continue with the following matches: