The Pacific Stage 2 Play-Ins have concluded, with the final two playoff spots being claimed. The day started with two Challengers teams squaring off, with ONSIDE GAMING ONSIDE GAMING Korea Rank #6 Xiesta Jung Si-hwan (정시환) loan Hermes Ahn Byeong-wook (안병욱) Ray Oh Eun-hyuk (오은혁) Cloudy Koo Min-jae (구민재) Wolverine Cho Hyun-tae (조현태) defeating Sharper Esports Sharper Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #2 Kadoom Kantapong Kingthong Apinya Apinya Laotaew Laz Kittikawin Jirawatkakan PTC Kititkawin Rattanasukol NIZ in a three-map thriller. In the second match of the day, T1 T1 Korea Rank #3 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Meteor Kim Tae-oh (김태오) BuZz Yu Byeong-cheol (유병철) DH Kang Dong-ho (강동호) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) got revenge over a group stage loss to DetonatioN FocusMe DetonatioN FocusMe Japan Rank #3 Meiy Ibuki Seki SSeeS Tomonori Okimura yatsuka Kazuya Ikeda Caedye Amon Mateus Okakura Akame Yu Gwang-hui (유광희) in a clean 2-0 win.

Here's a closer look at how both matches played out:

ONSIDE GAMING downs Sharper to advance to playoffs

Both ONSIDE and Sharper entered this do-or-die match with 2-1 records in the Play-Ins. While ONSIDE lost its opening game to KIWOOM DRX KIWOOM DRX Korea Rank #5 MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) free1ng No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) Flicker Kim Tae-hee (김태희) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈) in the upper bracket, Sharper had won two matches in the upper bracket before falling to KRX in a playoff qualification match.

Between Sharper and ONSIDE are two teams who, evidently, know what they are good at. Sharper dominated its pick of Ascent and ONSIDE dominated its pick of Haven. In its 2-1 loss to KRX, Sharper forced a third map by winning on Haven 14-12.

SP used its Sage-Cypher, double-Sentinel comp to engineer a masterful attack side, going up 10-2 before switching over onto defense, where nothing ONG did could stop them. A 13-2 result on the map gave the Thai side all of the momentum heading into map two.

ONG's Haven, like SP's Ascent, was also proven previously, as the team used it in its 2-0 win over FULL SENSE FULL SENSE Asia-Pacific Rank #13 Killua Tanate Teerasawad primmie Papaphat Sriprapha JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam seph1roth Chinnakrit Phoojaroen the day before. SP looked to throw a wrench into the ONG engine, switching from its Yoru-Neon to the Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #2 Ash Ha Hyun-cheol (하현철) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) Efina Kim Nak-yeon (김낙연) Raxcal Kim Min-seok (김민석) -inspired Omen-Viper-Killjoy comp. On attack, the comp did not seem to work out in SP's favor. While ONG's start wasn't quite as dominant as SP's on Ascent, a 9-3 defender half on Haven will always be considered a hot start. Notably, the map saw young star Xiesta play just his fourth map ever on an agent that is not Neon, while Ray took over Neon duties. The pair showed off great synergy, with Xiesta's Phoenix Curveballs setting Ray and the rest of ONG up perfectly.

After a 13-5 win on Haven, both teams went into Breeze. SP stayed with its Harbor-Viper, Phoenix-Neon comp, while ONG tweaked things. After previously playing a Jett-Neon comp in Challengers Korea, ONG took a page out of the NRG NRG North America Rank #1 keiko Georgio Sanassy brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold book, playing Harbor-Viper with Ray on Harbor and a KAY/O-Sova Initiator pair.

Ray picks up the ace in his first-ever game on Harbor.

SP picked up eight rounds on attack, and looked to have things figured out. However, a run of six straight rounds gave ONG the lead on the map and a second lease at life. Difficulties converting buy rounds plagued what could have been a shorter map, as SP forced overtime thanks to heroics from NIZ 's Hunter's Fury. While SP had the momentum heading into OT, ONG was clean, staying more composed in the high-pressure moments to squeeze out a 14-12 win.

Ray was the standout performer in the series, dropping series-high marks with 53 kills and a 1.22 rating while going 9-2 in first engagements. ONG now advances to the playoffs, where it will enter play in the lower bracket.

T1 makes quick work of DetonatioN FocusMe to keep the pressure on

In what could have very well been the last match of T1's 2026 season, T1 shut down an in-form DetonatioN FocusMe to keep its Champions Shanghai hopes alive. Stage 2 has been up-and-down for T1, with player swaps, role swaps, and IGL shifts telling the story of an underperforming split. Currently at third in the Championship Points standings behind Nongshim, nothing is guaranteed yet for T1. DFM, after spending much of the late portion of 2025 and 2026 being one of the best in Pacific's middle of the pack, capped off a quick 26-7 win over ZETA DIVISION ZETA DIVISION Japan Rank #9 Absol Kazuki Fujinoki SyouTa Shota Aoki SugarZ3ro Shota Watanabe eKo Yeom Wang-ryong (염왕룡) Xdll Yuto Mizomori the day before.

The series started on DFM's pick of Ascent, the same map that DFM mauled ZETA 13-4 the day before. DFM had a dominant attack against its Japanese counterparts, but that attack was not as fruitful against T1. A 7-5 T1 defender side was followed up by T1's own dominant attack side, which saw the Korean squad close out the map 13-7.

T1 used its Yoru-Neon comp on Haven and seemed poised to make the series a quick one. After winning the pistol, anti-eco, and bonus on defense, T1 dropped two rounds before going on a run of six straight, entering halftime up 9-3. T1 won its second pistol of the map and third of the series to inch towards victory, but DFM had a last-gasp effort.

The Japanese squad won five of the next six rounds, using one timeout of its own and forcing a T1 timeout in the process. In the end, though, DFM couldn't hold up against a five-person hit onto the A site, which ended with all five T1 players standing.

The winning moment for T1.

BuZz was the player of the series. In arguably his best performance since returning to his original Duelist role, he dropped a series-high 43 kills with a 1.46 rating, while Meiy 's 35 kills ended up not being enough.

Up next

With T1 and ONG's wins, six teams comprised of Korean player shave now claimed their spots in the Stage 2 playoffs.

The playoff bracket, as revealed on broadcast, will see ONG and T1 begin in the lower bracket, while the Play-In's upper bracket-winning teams will begin in the upper bracket with two lives. Nongshim RedForce Nongshim RedForce Korea Rank #1 WoohyuN Moon Woo-hyun (문우현) Xross Jeonghwan (정환) Rb Goo Sang-min (구상민) Francis Kim Mu-bin (김무빈) Dambi Lee Hyuk-kyu (이혁규) Ivy Park Sung-hyeon (박성현) will go up 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 for the right to play Gen.G, while KIWOOM DRX KIWOOM DRX Korea Rank #5 MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) free1ng No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) Flicker Kim Tae-hee (김태희) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈) will go against Global Esports Global Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #4 PatMen Patrick Mendoza UdoTan Go Kyung-won (고경원) Kr1stal Savva Fedorov xavi8k Xavier Juan Autumn Kale Dunne for the chance to play VARREL VARREL Japan Rank #1 Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) 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) .

The playoffs will begin on Wednesday, with the schedule as follows: