Global Esports pulls off miraculous reverse-sweep to lift first VCT title

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 has pulled off the unthinkable; not just by turning its fate in VCT around, but by becoming the champions of Pacific with a miraculous reverse-sweep win over 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) . Nongshim was victorious just two days before, winning 2-1, but failed to make the most of its double-map ban advantage.

Nongshim banned Summit, arguably GE's strongest map, and Ascent, the map Global won in the three-map Upper Final. The series played out on NS's Sunset, GE's Split, NS's Abyss, GE's Lotus, and the decider map of Haven. NS won the first two maps, 13-11 and 13-2, before losing the series to GE, 13-10, 13-5, and 13-10.

After looking down and out to start, GE properly bounced back, looking like the far sharper side while facing a 7-3 deficit in the pistols.

After banning away Summit and Ascent, Nongshim chose to start the series on Sunset, one of its strongest maps and one of GE's weaker. The map saw a clash of two different comps, with both squads using Yoru in double-Duelist looks with Cypher but with very different supporting agents. While GE opted for Astra, Fade, and Raze, Nongshim opted for Omen, Sova, and Waylay. Previous Sunset appearances proved Nongshim was a stronger defending team on the map, which rang true in this series, too.

Following a 3-0 start to the map, GE narrowly held on to a 7-5 lead entering halftime. Once Nongshim got on defense, though, it was a different game. Nongshim showed stellar set plays from barrier drop in previous matches, but in this series showed much more willingness to play the retake, gaining control over mid and using that map presence to contain or push GE out of site. While it was back and forth towards the end, NS pulled out a 13-11 win to open the series.

While there's an argument that GE's pick of Split was not a primary map for either side, the play on it suggested otherwise. Both teams used Omen-Viper comps with Fade and Yoru, with GE opting for Raze and NS sticking with Neon, but one side had the clear upper hand over the other from the start. Nongshim had a blistering attack, which, despite an even 6-6 split in first engagements, saw Nongshim dominate 10-2. A pistol, anti-eco, and bonus later, Nongshim was one map away from closing out the series.

Abyss seemed like the perfect close-out map for Nongshim. The map was once an Achilles' heel for the team in the map pool, but the adoption of a Waylay-Yoru comp seemed to have fixed the map for the team. Nongshim pulled off an eco round with just two Bandits and three Classics, and looked poised to flip the map. However, Global recovered accordingly, picking up six of the first eight rounds on defense before doing just enough to close it out on attack 13-11.

After looking down and out not too long ago, the air in the arena switched in almost an instant. Global dominated on Lotus, a map that used to be the team's perma ban, putting Nongshim on 13-0 alert with a dominant attack. On a comp that draws inspiration from the team's Summit, with players on agents that suit comfort over meta, GE won the first 11 rounds of the map. With Tejo, Skye, Chamber, and Astra, the off-meta comp dominated, as xavi8k , UdoTan , and Autumn combined for 45 kills in the first half alone before closing out the map 13-5.

That brought both teams to Haven, which saw GE make more with less. Despite just three first bloods on defense, GE pushed the issue onto Nongshim, converting on four of five post-plants to see success in the retake and enter halftime tied 6-6.

After falling short of expectations on attack, Nongshim started defense with its seventh pistol of the series, but disaster struck soon after. Four classics and one Kr1stal Sheriff dismantled Nongshim on a fast B hit, which was enough to snowball five straight rounds for GE.

While Nongshim steadied the ship somewhat for three straight rounds towards the end, GE came out victorious, with IGL xavi8k converting a 1v1 against Ivy to clinch GE's first ever VCT trophy.

Global Esports IGL xavi8k had the highest rating in the series at 1.19 while also leading his team in kills with 79. The MVP, however, was awarded to UdoTan , who dropped 77 kills while taking part in 30 first engagements as the team's go-to Duelist. He was one of four players on GE to finish with more than 70 kills. In the losing effort, Francis had a match-high 83 kills while Dambi had a joint-second-best 79 kills.