The first week of VCT Pacific Stage 1 has wrapped up, with a rematch of the Masters Santiago grand final headlining the action. An unfamiliar team sits atop a stacked Group Alpha, while a head coach-returned-IGL jockeys pole position in Group Omega.

Here's how the matches played out:

Group Alpha

In the opening week of play in Group Alpha, Gen.G's slide in form coincided with Global Esports' own rise. While Foxy9 returned in place of Ash , he returned as a Controller, while Karon continues in his new role as the team's Sentinel and secondary smokes player. Meanwhile, Global's answer to a game shifting away from a double-Duelist meta was moving UdoTan onto Duelist, while the rest of the team's roles remained fluid map-by-map. Global captured an easy 2-0 win over Gen.G, stealing the Korean team's map pick 13-4 to end the series.

PatMen 's 1v3 set the tone early on Bind for GE.

Between DRX and Team Secret were two teams to have made one roster change between Kickoff and Stage 1, but the similarities stopped there. On Secret's pick of Pearl, the Korean squad put on a show, using a double-Duelist comp with HYUNMIN on Phoenix and free1ng 's first-ever game on Neon. Meanwhile, Secret was relying on recent pickup Rimuru to handle solo Duelist duties. DRX dominated TS's pick of Pearl 13-5, but its own pick of Fracture was a lot tighter. Both teams ran double-Initiator comps with Tejo, a Brimstone, and a solo Duelist, but DRX's Breach and Waylay were stronger on the day as it helped DRX to a 15-13 win.

In a rematch of the Masters Santiago grand final, Paper Rex got revenge, defeating Nongshim RedForce in three maps. The most eye-catching detail from the match was the debut of something on Neon. On Nongshim's side, the Yoru nerfs forced Francis onto Breach and Waylay in this series, with varying levels of success. After losing a tight Fracture 15-13 and winning Split 13-10, Paper Rex flexed its experience on Lotus, using a double-Duelist, Vyse-centric comp to dominate the Santiago winners 13-6.

Jinggg on Raze. It just makes sense.

The Group Alpha standings after week one are:

Group Omega

In the most dominant match from the first week of play in Group Omega, FULL SENSE returned to the stage and downed DetonatioN FocusMe 2-0, allowing a combined 14 rounds across both maps. With in-game leader Crws returning to play after a short spell as head coach, the team seemed not to have missed a beat, cruising with a familiar voice in the middle seat. What wasn't familiar was the role of JitBoyS , as he became the third player so far in Stage 1 to make his Neon debut as part of a double-Duelist approach. While Meiy was his usual self, the DFM players seemed to struggle following an interesting shuffling of roles. Akame took on the Sentinel role, while yatsuka became the Initiator player and Caedye played Tejo and Waylay.

Thrifty round win inches FULL SENSE closer to closing out Pearl.

In the series between T1 and VARREL, iZu made his Chamber debut, while Meteor played the Sentinel and Duelist roles while playing just his second-ever game on Phoenix in map two. The series was a quick 2-0 for the Korean superteam, as it relied on the Neon-Phoenix pairing to grind through Haven 13-11 and then a double-Sentinel comp to cruise to a 13-4 win on Pearl. VARREL, after going 0-3 at Kickoff, continues to search for its first VCT win since ascending as SLT Seongnam SLT Seongnam Korea Rank #4 last year.

Both Sentinels in action for T1 on Pearl.

Rex Regum Qeon and ZETA DIVISION went back-and-forth in arguably the most interesting series of the first week. ZETA turned heads early, standing out as the more technically sharp team between the two to open play on Split. Absol stood out, with his 26 kills helping ZETA to a 13-7 win. RRQ responded with a dominant win on Fracture, setting up for a winner-takes-all Haven. While ZETA continued with its Neon-Waylay with Absol and eKo , RRQ made the bold move to put Jemkin on Killjoy as part of the vintage Gen.G Haven comp. ZETA started play with a 6-0 run, but struggled to sustain that momentum. The Japanese squad entered halftime up 8-4, but up 11-9, failed to close things out, giving up a 4-0 run and falling 13-11.

The Group Omega standings after week one are:

Up next

VCT Pacific Stage 1 will continue next week with the following matches: