The first two seats for the VCT Pacific Stage 2 playoffs' finals weekend in Busan have been claimed, with Global Esports Global Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #1 PatMen Patrick Mendoza UdoTan Go Kyung-won (고경원) Kr1stal Savva Fedorov xavi8k Xavier Juan Autumn Kale Dunne and 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) coming out on top. Nongshim defeated 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) to start the day, with a thriller three-map series seeing the Ascension squad squeaking out a 13-11 win on the decider map. In the second series, GE downed 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) with ease, stealing the opposing team's map pick and then flexing its strong Summit to secure a top-three finish.

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

Nongshim downs Gen.G, qualifies for Busan and Shanghai

The last time Gen.G and Nongshim RedForce met, it was in the Stage 2 group stage, with a new-look Gen.G closing out a 2-1 win. Entering this match, though, Gen.G had 20 days of rest, while Nongshim went a perfect 2-0 in the Play-Ins. That time away from the stage was apparent early on.

The series started on Nongshim's pick of Ascent, where Gen.G seemingly changed its comp in preparation for Dambi. A move away from Phoenix-Neon to a mirror Yoru-Neon comp with t3xture on Yoru saw Gen.G struggle on defense. After entering halftime down 7-5, Gen.G was unable to get into a rhythm. Nongshim simply looked like the sharper team on Ascent, with set plays and stellar team fighting the difference despite Gen.G holding a 14-7 advantage in first duels. Nongshim took the map 13-8, but had some trouble on map two.

Gen.G's pick of Summit was a map that Nongshim had just played once, while Gen.G has shown a higher level of comfort on it. Gen.G stayed with its guns, a double-Sentinel Chamber-Sage comp, while Nongshim remained on its Astra-Viper comp. Gen.G's historically stronger attack side was seemingly thwarted in the first half, with Ivy and Xross leading the way in a 7-5 half for the Ascension side. Once Gen.G got onto attack, though, the Tiger Nation was dominant.

With strong retakes and an excellent record in first engagements (8-2 on defense), Gen.G had just two slip-ups on defense, working the map well to surround or shut out Nongshim's attack en route to a 13-9 win.

Sunset, a map that has been strong for Gen.G in Stage 2, promised some surprises. While Nongshim went with a Yoru-Neon comp similar to its Abyss comp, Gen.G opted for its usual Chamber-Sage comp. Nongshim was aggressive on defense, with combinations of the Waylay Saturate and the Yoru Blindside taking Tiles on numerous occasions, while Gen.G, at times, looked lost in attack. Gen.G managed just four rounds on attack, but seemed to have a second wind on defense. After having a quieter series to that point, Rb went nuclear on the first half of Sunset, dropping multi-kill after multi-kill to go 17/7 and get NS an 8-4 lead.

A second pistol on the map and a bonus round victory threatened a snowball, but Gen.G fell victim to yet another fourth-round thrifty, just as it did on Summit. From that point on, Gen.G seemed to lose control of the map, losing a slide of three straight rounds that saw Nongshim work the map well by taking the middle of the map. Gen.G, however, didn't go down without a fight.

A t3xture 4K in the midst of a 2v3 retake and yet another 4K on a set-play in mid instantly turned the tide for Gen.G, tying the score at 11-11 after trailing by as many as four. Nongshim won a crucial round to reach match point first, and the final round was trademark Nongshim, with fast trades on a fast site hit.

A chaotic finish to the series, with Nongshim standing four strong at the finish line.

"We made too many mistakes we shouldn't have, so it's very disappointing," solo said following the match.

That sentiment was shared by t3xture in the postgame press conference. Across two maps on Chamber and one on Yoru, he dropped a match-high 70 kills with a 1.28 rating, while Nongshim IGL Rb had a team-high 55 kills in a well-rounded performance for the team.

With the win and a top-three finish secured, Nongshim, a team comprised of four former Tier 2 and Tier 3 players, has picked up enough Championship Points to qualify for Champions Shanghai.

Global Esports steamrolls VARREL

Both Global and VARREL entered the playoffs after nearly three weeks of rest, but GE was fresher, having beaten 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) the day before. That momentum was apparent in this match. VARREL rolled out Split on map one, one of its strongest maps through Stage 2, but was seemingly winded after an early surge. A run of five straight rounds on defense gave GE an 8-4 lead at halftime, but VARREL struggled to heat up. While the traditionally defender-sided map may have set the scene for a potential comeback, Global managed the game well, closing it out 13-10 to steal VARREL's map pick.

Global has shown a willingness to play Summit throughout Stage 2, developing its own unique identity with a comp centered around Veto, Tejo, Skye, and Raze. VARREL has experimented previously on Summit, running a solo Waylay comp and a Waylay-Raze comp, but went with an all-new comp against GE.

VARREL went with Foxy9 on Veto, with the Duelist pair being oonzmlp and Zexy on Phoenix on Yoru; it seemed like VARREL's comp may have been a counter-comp for GE's own Veto comp.

That unfamiliarity may have ultimately been the difference for VARREL. GE ran out to a 6-0 lead to start the map, and never really let go of things. All throughout Summit, Global just seemed like the more comfortable and composed team on the map. VARREL managed three rounds on defense, but losing the second-half pistol spelled the beginning of the end.

PatMen was sharp on Summit, picking up a map-high 19 kills.

GE was in cruise control through the end, and made no mistakes in the map, winning 13-5 and sealing a quick 2-0 win.

A team-high 38-kill performance from PatMen was instrumental in the win, with Autumn's 36 kills a close second. Zexy had a team-high 28 kills for VARREL, which ran a five-man roster in this series.

Up next

Fresh seafood and gukbap ahead for Nongshim and Global, who are Busan-bound and will meet in the Upper Final to kick off the action next week. Meanwhile, Gen.G and VARREL are tasked with making lower bracket runs, with both teams needing a top-two finish to qualify for Champions Shanghai. Gen.G will take on 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) or 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 yet another Korean derby, while VARREL will take on a high-energy matchup against either 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) or 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 .

The VCT Pacific Stage 2 playoffs will continue with the following matches: