On a day where four Korean teams entered play in the middle bracket and only two stayed afloat, six maps of action were played with last year's top-two teams from Pacific Kickoff walking away with wins. DRX DRX Korea Rank #4 Hermes Ahn Byeong-wook (안병욱) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) free1ng No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈) defeated the unpredictable VARREL VARREL Korea Rank #5 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) in three maps, while T1 T1 Korea Rank #2 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Meteor Kim Tae-oh (김태오) BuZz Yu Byeong-cheol (유병철) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) defeated Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #3 Lakia Kim Jong-min (김종민) ZynX Kim Dong-ha (김동하) Ash Ha Hyun-cheol (하현철) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) in an intense match that could only be described as the Munchkin derby.

Here's a deeper look at how the day's games played out:

Ice-cold DRX freezes fast-flying VARREL in three-map series

The match was VARREL's first following its opening round defeat to Global Esports Global Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #12 PatMen Patrick Mendoza UdoTan Go Kyung-won (고경원) Kr1stal Savva Fedorov xavi8k Xavier Juan Autumn Kale Dunne , while DRX was coming off of an upper bracket loss to FULL SENSE FULL SENSE Asia-Pacific Rank #3 Leviathan Thanyathon Nakmee Killua Tanate Teerasawad thyy Anupong Preamsak primmie Papaphat Sriprapha JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam . After losing its pick of Pearl last week against FS, DRX opted to ban the map, which opened the door for VARREL to pick Corrode. DRX was quick to ban Corrode in the offseason, following a 2025 season in which it went 2-4 on the map.

To open Corrode, VARREL looked to disrupt DRX early. A DRX pistol round win was followed up by the team playing far too cautiously, resulting in the clock running out before a plant could be secured. However, VARREL failed to capitalize on the eco round win. Playing without flashes, the forward-footed team was caught in moments when it looked disjointed, exposing gaps in its defense, and leading to a 7-5 halftime deficit.

On attack, though, VARREL appeared to overwhelm DRX's defense. After losing the pistol round, it forced up in the eco round to claw one back, which snowballed some momentum forward. By conserving crucial pieces of utility for post-plant scenarios to shut down retakes, it at one point even forced a four-man save from DRX. VARREL continued to overwhelm DRX on attack, rolling onwards to a 13-10 win for its first map win in VCT.

DRX's map pick of Split invited some changes to comps for both teams. Previously, both teams used a variation of the Omen-Viper Controller pairing with Fade, and a double-Duelist look. On Friday, both teams abandoned double Duelist in favor of a comp built around Omen, Viper, and Skye. While VARREL opted to put Klaus on Chamber, DRX put free1ng on Tejo, the agent he became synonymous with at the start of 2025. This was the first time DRX was playing not just without Waylay or Yoru, but also its first time playing with a single Duelist since Pacific Stage 2.

DRX had an excellent start to the map, claiming the first six rounds and shutting down the usually hectic VL attack. A pause from VARREL head coach TK9 managed to make the half 7-5 in favor of DRX. On attack, DRX looked well-coordinated. Despite giving up two separate 3-0 runs, the team ultimately inched to 13 before VL could come back, ending the map 13-10.

The last time VARREL played Bind came during the SOOP Valorant League in the offseason, where it fielded a triple-Duelist comp in a 13-9 loss to T1. On this occasion, they fielded a comp similar to their Abyss comp, with two orb smokes, two Duelists, and an Initiator. Meanwhile, DRX went for Brimstone and Viper and returned to two Duelists, keeping HYUNMIN on his comfort pick of Raze.

Though VARREL claimed its first pistol round of the series, DRX and free1ng played against the team's proactivity perfectly, utilizing the Viper player's lurk timings to pivot on a dime. DRX's disciplined approach to attack earned it nine rounds by halftime, giving VARREL a mountain to climb on its own attack.

free1ng becomed free4ng for this crucial DRX round.

While VARREL claimed its first pistol of the series to open the second half, it was the beginning of the end for the Ascension squad. A clean and coordinated defense helped DRX dominate VARREL, closing the map 13-5 and the series 2-1.

Two games into his career as the DRX's IGL, BeYN finished with the game's highest rating at 1.22, while HYUNMIN showed flashes of his 2025 self by bagging the highest kill total in the series at 54. VARREL becomes the first team to slide down to the lower bracket, while DRX stays alive in the middle bracket to play...

Meteor and Munchkin lead T1 to win over rivals Gen.G

In Gen.G and T1, a matchup sees two teams clash with rosters that will forever be linked to one another. After Meteor joined T1 last year, former Gen.G in-game leader Munchkin switched jerseys this past offseason to further bolster what many already considered to be a superteam.

Gen.G picked Breeze to start the series, a map that, in 2024 with Meteor and Munchkin, the team enjoyed success on. From the get-go, play on the map was tight and streaky. Starting on defense, Gen.G claimed the opening pistol round, but gave up a run of four rounds to T1. As the two sides went band for band against each other, the one constant force in the half was t3xture 's Operator.

Mr. 4K lives up to his reputation, helps Gen.G end the first half up 7-5.

While T1 picked up the pistol round to start the second half, a classic Gen.G thrifty round with five pistols, reminiscent of the team's play in 2024, threatened to topple the T1 economy. T1 made its best efforts to recover following the thrifty, but first-year IGL Lakia called a near-perfect attack side, helping the team cruise to a 13-7 win.

After suffering a slow start in their first game, t3xture and the rest of Gen.G heated up in this map. The Duelist player wreaked havoc with the Operator, Outlaw, and Blade Storm, lighting up the kill feed with a map-high 24. Nine of those kills came with the Operator, and while T1 looked to get BuZz , their own Jett player, going on the Op, he had trouble getting into much of a rhythm, finishing with just nine kills total.

T1 entered Bind with the same tactical approach it had in the offseason, with Viper and Brimstone complemented by Fade, Yoru, and Waylay. Meanwhile, Gen.G adjusted its comp from the offseason, moving away from the Tejo-Skye double-Initiator and instead opting for Raze, Waylay, and Skye alongside Astra and Viper.

Munchkin claims an ace against his former team, just the fourth ace of the 2026 Pacific season.

After falling flat to end map one, T1 parlayed a pistol round win into a 4-0 start. Gen.G made its best efforts to halt the momentum, with head coach solo calling a timeout after T1's bonus round conversion. A change in Gen.G's tempo and post-plant approach helped the Tigers adjust in a big way, narrowing the halftime deficit to 7-5.

T1 claimed yet another pistol round to start its attack, but disaster struck soon after as Gen.G managed another anti-eco to get going in the second half. Unlike Breeze, though, the anti-eco didn't quite spell the beginning of the end for T1. After giving up two, T1 overwhelmed Gen.G on attack, going on to win 13-7.

As if written in the stars, map three was Haven. Several players on the map have had their fair share of joy on the map, with Munchkin's Viper being an icon on the three-map site. T1, with Munchkin and Meteor, brought forth the comp they were successful with on Gen.G, with Omen, Viper, and Killjoy. Meanwhile, Gen.G appeared to have moved away from the 'Gen.G comp', going for Yoru and Jett, with Karon on Cypher and Ash as the solo Controller on Omen.

In a near-identical pattern to Bind, T1 got off to a quick start, with Munchkin finding the gaps in Gen.G's armor and forcing a Gen.G timeout. Like Breeze, the score became 4-1 in favor of T1, but the similarities stopped there. Four straight rounds for Gen.G, fueled by a change in defensive approach, heroics from Karon, and Lakia's Odin helped Gen.G even the odds. At halftime, the score was 6-6.

ZynX , who struggled on Bind, heated up on Haven, dropping 15 kills in the first half. He kept up that pace in the second half, but the teams split the first six rounds of the second half to remain tied at 9-9. In the midst of the back-and-forth, a five-round run from T1 put the side up to match point at 12-9, and Gen.G looked lost on attack, unable to break through onto any site, giving T1 a 13-9 win on the decisive Haven.

Meteor's 59 kills led the way in the series, while t3xture's 57 were ultimately not enough to will Gen.G to a win. T1 lives on in the middle bracket, and will take on another squad it has deep ties to in DRX, while Gen.G slips to the lower bracket.

Up next

VCT Pacific Kickoff will continue with action in the upper bracket set to decide the two teams who will compete in the upper final.

Kickoff will continue with the following matches: