VCT Pacific Stage 2 has kicked off its finals weekend action in Busan, with results sealing the region's four-team group that will head to 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) downed Global Esports Global Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #3 PatMen Patrick Mendoza UdoTan Go Kyung-won (고경원) Kr1stal Savva Fedorov xavi8k Xavier Juan Autumn Kale Dunne in three maps, but 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) 's 2-0 win over 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) meant that Global's ticket to Shanghai was punched on Championship Points at the very least. Here's a closer look at both matches:

Nongshim continues to roll, downs Global Esports 2-1

This series began on Nongshim's pick of Haven, the team's most-played map in 2026. After some tweaking throughout the year, Nongshim returned to its Yoru-Neon comp with Killjoy as the Sentinel, a comp that it has gone 6-2 with on the map. Meanwhile, Global ran a double-Sentinel, Sage-Chamber comp on the map that may have been more associated with maps like Sunset. Early on, Global seemed to have the solution. A Nongshim pistol was followed by a GE eco, but the side struggled to make the most of it, losing its grip on Nongshim's opening attacker half.

After entering halftime up 8-4, Nongshim won a key pistol to start the second half, which ended up becoming a 13-7 win on the map. GE seemed to plug and play its Sage-Chamber comp onto its pick of Ascent, while Nongshim made just one change heading into Ascent with Ivy on Cypher. Global started the map with some real dominance, seizing an early 6-2 lead that would end up having huge implications at the end of the map.

Dambi with a Dambi-esque 4K despite the loss on Ascent.

Nongshim ended up steadying the ship to end its defender side, but those lost rounds in the first half ended up being the difference. GE settled into its defender side well despite serious heroics from Dambi, who ended up with 32 kills on the map, and the map ended up being an overtime victory for GE.

The teams then moved to Abyss to decide the series. Abyss had been a sore spot in Nongshim's map pool that seemed to have finally been figured out, while GE looked solid on the map since its return to the pool. While both teams went with the "mosquito comp" pairing of Waylay-Yoru, GE went with a double-bubble smokes approach with xavi8k and PatMen on Astra and Yoru, while Nongshim continued with Ivy on Cypher.

If Dambi was the standout performer in the loss on Ascent, Francis was the standout on Abyss. He wreaked havoc, often being the early enforcer with a scoped sniper. He went 5-1 on defense, all while picking up eight Operator kills throughout the entire map. His early 12/2 start was central to NS's success, as a 4-0 lead was parlayed into an 8-4 halftime lead. Once again, Nongshim claimed a crucial pistol to inch towards closing things out, with a clean 13-6 to close out the series.

Francis and Dambi dropped 59 and 58 kills to lead Nongshim to the win, while Autumn led the way for GE with 52 of his own. While Nongshim seals its spot in Sunday's Grand Final, GE will compete in the Lower Final, with its slot at Champions Shanghai now secured thanks to the result of the second match of the day.

T1 derails the VARREL roll, seals Champions Shanghai spot with 2-0 win

While VARREL has been the story of Pacific since the beginning of Stage 2 with a miraculous turnaround, T1 has looked like the best version of itself in Stage 2. The series began on VARREL's Haven, a map that both teams have had mixed results on through Stage 2. While VARREL enjoyed early retake-fueled success on the map, T1 salvaged its attacker side by evening the score at 6 apiece entering halftime.

On T1's defender side, proactive play and continued sharp reads from IGL stax helped T1 dominate, winning six of the first seven rounds of the half. While VARREL did claw back two rounds once T1 hit map point, T1 closed things out 13-9.

All momentum was on T1's side entering its map pick of Lotus. T1 was yet to lose Lotus in Stage 2, playing with an Omen-Viper comp that has looked good, with Meteor 's Chamber a fundamental piece of it. Meanwhile, VARREL subbed out Klaus for C1ndeR in the Controller role, a move that the team has gone on record in the past saying has been related to in-game comms.

While T1's Lotus has been good, it would have been hard to predict that it was this good. It was utter domination early on, with Meteor the usual suspect once again. He had a 10/1 start to the map, which fueled an 11-0 open to the map for T1. VARREL pulled off a slow-roll hit onto the A site to claim one attack-side round, which appeared to be the start it needed to start on defense. With its season two round losses away from ending, VARREL looked to flip the script, winning six straight rounds to start its own defensive side and get to within four rounds of T1. From there though, a well-worked round from T1 saw the side toy with both ends of the map before ending on B, resulting in a round won to reach match point.

VARREL used pressure to control T1 on the map, resulting in two rounds claimed at the death. Despite the run, it was too little, too late for VARREL, as T1 shut down the comeback attempt at 13-9.

Meteor finished the series on his own terms.

Meteor's impact in the series was immense, as he was the only player to drop more than 30 kills with a series-high 40. BuZz continued to be the first engagement specialist for T1, taking part in 16 first engagements to drop 30 kills. oonzmlp had a team-high 29 kills for VL, which did not end up being enough.

Up next

Three teams remain in Stage 2, with all three already having their Champions Shanghai slots sealed. While Nongshim gets a day off thanks to its Upper Final win, Global Esports and T1 will battle it out in their first-ever playoff meeting for the chance at a spot in the Grand Final.

VCT Pacific Stage 2 will finish with the following matches: