The Pacific Stage 1 finals weekend action kicked off today in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam with Global Esports Global Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #4 PatMen Patrick Mendoza UdoTan Go Kyung-won (고경원) Kr1stal Savva Fedorov xavi8k Xavier Juan Autumn Kale Dunne and FULL SENSE FULL SENSE Asia-Pacific Rank #6 Leviathan Thanyathon Nakmee Killua Tanate Teerasawad primmie Papaphat Sriprapha JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam Crws Thanamethk Mahatthananuyut clashing in the upper final and 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) and Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 invy Adrian Jiggs Reyes Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov battling for the last Pacific slot at Masters London. FULL SENSE defeated Global Esports 2-0 to make it to their first grand final, while Paper Rex came out on top 2-1 over T1 to seize the final London spot.

Global Esports and Paper Rex will face each other tomorrow for the right to challenge FULL SENSE for the regional trophy. T1 bows out in fourth place, marking London as the first ever global event without a Korean team.

FULL SENSE takes down Global Esports to make first grand final

After both teams pulled off major upsets last week to qualify to Masters London, Global Esports versus FULL SENSE was a showdown to see which side could take it one step further into the regional grand final.

FULL SENSE selected Split for the first map, which neither team had shown the map since the group stage. Both sides adjusted their compositions; FULL SENSE went away from Deadlock-Cypher in favor of a more orthodox Jett-Raze, while GE opted for Sage and Raze over Vyse and Neon.

FULL SENSE started in control, going up 5-2 after an unreal 5K from primmie , but a thrifty win for GE in the following round flipped the half on its head as they tied things up 6-6 at the half.

GE's attack proved to be difficult for FULL SENSE to handle as GE won four rounds in a row after dropping the pistol to take an 11-9 lead. With the map in jeopardy, FULL SENSE rallied with proactive pushes, streaking four rounds of their own and winning out 13-11 after Killua closed out the final 1v1 versus Kr1stal . primmie finished at the top of the scoreboard with 25 kills and seven first bloods.

GE took the second map to Breeze. The map had proven reliable for them this stage, as they were 3-0 on it with their Chamber-Sage composition, but FULL SENSE broke through. Now playing Jett on almost every map, primmie was again the tip of the spear, farming 17 of his 24 total kills in the Thai squad's 10-2 attack half.

GE made an attempt at a comeback, managing eight rounds before FULL SENSE won out 13-8. primmie continues to go on a dominant run of form, ending the series with a 49/32/11 KDA, 300 ACS, and a 1.41 rating.

With this win, the ex-TALON core of FULL SENSE defeats their former head coach FrosT and trains their eyes on their first grand final appearance, one win away from becoming regional champions.

“Job's not done, I'm not that happy yet; I think we still need to win the whole tournament, but at least it's good that…all the hard work we did showed,” Crws said in the post-match interview.

Paper Rex triumphs over T1 in chaotic three-map series

After six weeks of play, the two group stage first seeds finally met for the first time since Kickoff in a winner-takes-all match for the last Pacific slot at Masters London.

The series began on PRX's typical home map pick of Split. T1 built early momentum off a round five thrifty win. From there, PRX members kept getting caught out in early engagements, enabling T1 to run over the sites to a 7-3 lead. The half ended 7-5 following a f0rsakeN and Jinggg 2v5.

On the other side of the half, PRX's attack was unstoppable as they ran away to a 13-9 conclusion with seven consecutive round wins. something 's Jett was the key piece, ending the map with a 25/12/1 KDA, eight Operator kills, and an outsized 1.63 rating.

For the second map, T1 chose Ascent, playing the map for the first time since its return and deploying an old-school Sova-KAY/O composition against PRX's unusual Yoru-Sage one. In a similar fashion to the first map, PRX struggled at first to respond to T1's attack but stabilized in the last two rounds of the half to make it a close 7-5 in favor of T1.

The rest of the map featured many chaotic rounds, but PRX was ultimately unable to close the gap created by T1's double pistol wins as T1 took Ascent 13-10. iZu topped the server with 21 kills to 14 deaths.

Breeze was the decider. Unable to hold sites against the sheer pace of something's Jett and f0rsakeN's Neon, T1 mustered only a single buy round on their defense as PRX took a 9-3 lead. PRX made things dangerous for themselves with a disastrous push to lose the round 14 anti-eco, giving T1 an opening, but f0rsakeN Neon ultimate 3K finally sealed the deal 13-8. something again impressed on his signature agent with 22 kills, 304 ACS, and 204 ADR.

The Pacific Stage 1 playoffs return tomorrow, May 16 with a best-of-five lower final matchup between Global Esports and Paper Rex.