The VCT Pacific Stage 2 playoffs have kicked off, with two teams getting to within one win of finals weekend in Busan and inching towards qualification for Champions Shanghai. 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) made quick work of Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #2 invy Adrian Jiggs Reyes Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov to start,

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

Nongshim sends Paper Rex to lower bracket

Nongshim RedForce will have left the map veto process feeling like they had the upper hand. Paper Rex chose to float Abyss and ban Haven on the first round of bans, leaving it open for Nongshim to pick. Last time Abyss was in the map pool, it was a rough map for PRX and a reinvented one for NS. To start, NS picked Abyss and went on a run of eight straight rounds on attack, forcing PRX head coach alecks to burn both of his timeouts early.

With a Yoru-Waylay mosquito comp, Nongshim was sharp on Abyss. Despite pulling off an eco to follow up on Nongshim's second-half pistol, PRX struggled to get back into the map, and struggled to make the most with its Harbor-Astra comp. The flow of the game saw players like Dambi and Francis , who combined for 43 kills on the map, simply out-shoot PRX on Abyss to close out a 13-7 win.

On PRX's pick of Split, mirror comps took to the stage, with an Omen-Viper double-Controller comp rounded out with Fade and a Duelist pairing of Yoru and Neon. Like Abyss, Nongshim started hot. An eco round win following PRX's pistol round win helped derail the PRX economy early. The Korean side picked up six of the next seven rounds on attack, entering halftime with a narrow 7-5 advantage. While honors were even for much of the second half, Nongshim ultimately took the tighter wins round by round, showing a more complete and cohesive version of itself, closing out the map 13-10 to take a clean 2-0 win.

Nongshim pulls off a flawless retake thanks to three from Ivy .

On Abyss, PRX head coach alecks shared that the map, one of the team's former go-to bans, was used as an opportunity to test the team on the map.

"We took it as a 'We have to learn how to play Abyss' kind of thing. This is the result of it, I think," alecks told VLR following the match. "I think we skipped a lot of steps. I think it was a big problem that we had... That shows to me that we are not ready first of all, and second of all we just need to spend a lot more time on it."

Paper Rex, of course, is the first team in Pacific to have qualified for Champions Shanghai, meaning while the loss could end up hurting potential seeding paths to the event, it can also be used as a learning moment.

"I don't think I like anything to be honest, but at least the opportunity to work on it is valuable," Alecks said of Abyss.

Dambi's 41 kills and Francis's 37 kills played an instrumental role in the win, while PRX's f0rsakeN had a team-high 33 in the losing effort while handling Controller duties in this series. Nongshim sets up a Korean derby against Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #3 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) in the Upper Semifinal, while PRX will head to the lower bracket to take on ONSIDE GAMING ONSIDE GAMING Korea Rank #4 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) .

GE goes the distance to claim first-ever win over KRX

Entering this match, Global Esports had never won against KRX in its history. Over five meetings in VCT play dating back to 2023, GE had not even taken a map from KRX. That changed with the first map in Wednesday's series. On KRX's pick of Lotus, which GE had banned in all five of its Stage 2 matches, GE used an off-meta comp that seemed to throw KRX for a loop.

A double-Initiator look centered around Skye-Tejo with Veto, Astra, and Waylay did not look good to start. KRX opened the map with a 5-0 run, but a Platoon timeout changed the rhythm of the entire map. The timeout helped salvage GE's attacker side, with the score at halftime an even 6-6.

After losing control of the map, KRX seemed to steady things up by winning four of the opening five rounds to start its own attack, but that pace proved to be hard to sustain. A dominant sprint to the finish line from down 10-7 saw Global run away with things, winning 13-11 to steal KRX's map pick.

On its pick of Ascent, Global had what could be called a more on-meta comp, with Yoru-Jett and Killjoy, while KRX opted for Jett-Phoenix and Cypher. The tone on Ascent was set early by KRX, with seven rounds on attack picked up thanks to excellent cycling of HYUNMIN 's Run It Back. While GE looked to get things going on its own attack side, DRX took full advantage of the defender-sided map, closing things out 13-8.

On the winner-takes-all Abyss, GE was tasked with shutting down a map that has historically been one of DRX's best. All-time, the Korean team was 15-2 on Abyss entering this series. While KRX went with the Yoru-Waylay comp again with Omen, Cypher, and Sova, GE went with a double-orb smokes comp with Astra and Omen while UdoTan and Autumn filled out the mosquito comp.

GE started the map, going up 5-1 early and threatening to run away with the map and the series. From there, though, KRX seemed to find a second wind, clawing back six straight rounds to end its attacker side and move onto defense with a narrow lead. Once PatMen and GE got onto attack, it was the beginning of the end. An anti-eco round with five Classics shut down DRX's half from the start, and KRX was seemingly never able to regain its footing. Just one more round was picked up by KRX through the rest of the map. GE closed out the map 13-9 thanks to some sharp shooting and excellent control of the map, something that was made possible thanks to its double-Controller comp.

The moment Global got its first-ever win over KRX.

In-game leader xavi8k had a series-high 56 kills in the win, while UdoTan and PatMen were not far behind with 51 apiece. On the KRX side of the stage, HYUNMIN's 54 and yong 's 51 proved not to be enough. Global stays in the upper bracket and will take on 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) , while KRX slides down to the lower bracket for a Korean derby against T1 T1 Korea Rank #2 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) .

Up next

The playoffs will continue on Thursday with play in the upper bracket. After almost three weeks on the sideline, Gen.G and 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) will take to the stage against Nongshim and Global, respectively.

The Stage 2 playoffs will continue with the following matches: