DRX DRX Korea Rank #5 Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Athan Na Ha-jun (나하준) freeing No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) remains the only undefeated team after five weeks of VCT Pacific action, though for the first time, they did lose a map to Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #1 Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) yoman Chae Young-moon (채영문) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) .

Team Secret Team Secret Asia-Pacific Rank #7 invy Adrian Jiggs Reyes JessieVash Jessie Cuyco Wild0reoo Brheyanne Christ Reyes 2ge James Goopio Jremy Jeremy Cabrera and Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov both return to their winning ways and Talon Esports Talon Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #15 Crws Thanamethk Mahatthananuyut JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam primmie Papaphat Sriprapha ban Joseph Seungmin Oh Governor Peter No finds their first victory in the league after defeating ZETA DIVISION ZETA DIVISION Japan Rank #2 Dep Yuma Hashimoto SugarZ3ro Shota Watanabe CLZ Hikaru Mizutani SyouTa Shota Aoki Xdll Yuto Mizomori . Only about a month remains of league play before the top six teams qualify for the playoffs.

Day One

The week's opening series saw Global Esports Global Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #39 patrickWHO Mark Musni UdoTan Go Kyung-won (고경원) Kr1stal Savva Fedorov kellyS Kelly Sedillo Papi Federico Evangelista take on Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov . GE had just won their first series the previous week, while PRX already had two wins under their belt over the course of the league.

Map one, chosen by Paper Rex, was Icebox. According to one player on the team, they chose it simply because it was heading out of the map pool.

PRX went for a double initiator comp, one of them being Gekko, while GE opted for a more meta, double controller setup. GE were able to start strong by winning the first three rounds on defense, but PRX were able to constantly find gaps after that, winning the next five rounds to take the lead at 5-3. The half culminated at an even 6-6, but GE seemed to wake up after the side switch. In their attacking half, they dropped only one round out of the eight they played, taking the map 13-7. Ganesh "SkRossi" Gangadhar, playing Jett, had a massive 338 ACS with five first kills, the highest on the server.

SkRossi SkRossi was in his element on Icebox against Paper Rex. (Photo by Riot Games.)

Despite them losing their map pick, PRX looked calm heading into the second map, Split. They got off to a phenomenal start, winning four rounds in a row. GE countered with two of their own but PRX's attack on Split was too much for GE to contend with. GE won only one more round in the half before PRX ended it at 9-3 in their favor. GE tried to bring it back in the second half, but the damage had been done, and PRX won the map, 13-6. mindfreak and d4v41 , PRX's deadly double controller duo, were a key factor in PRX's win, with highly impactful utility and lurks across the game.

The final map was Pearl, where once again PRX started strong. They brought the score to 6-1 before GE won three in a row. The half ended 8-4 in PRX's favor. GE made a good start at evening things up with a pistol and anti-eco win, but PRX would not be denied. GE only won one more round before PRX took the score from 8-6 to 13-7.

In total, 13 different players played across three maps for both teams with something , cgrs , Lightningfast , and WRONSKI jumping into the fray.

The second game of the day was one of the most anticipated games - both DRX DRX Korea Rank #5 Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Athan Na Ha-jun (나하준) freeing No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) and Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #1 Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) yoman Chae Young-moon (채영문) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) had been undefeated over the course of the league, but after this, only one would remain so.

The first map was Gen.G's choice of Haven where they were starting off on defense. DRX obliterated them. Gen.G won only one round in the half, off of k1Ng 's turret killing the last player while k1Ng was defusing the spike.

After the side swap, Gen. G were able to showcase their own skills on attack, but despite winning five rounds in a row, DRX had done the damage. DRX were able to take the map 13-7. Both stax and Rb were phenomenal over the course of the map, with 35 kills between them.

drx bullying gen g drawing An apt representation of DRX and Gen.G's game. (Photo by Riot Games.)

Despite their performance on map one, Gen.G were able to jump back in with confidence on Fracture. Both teams fought to keep the score neck and neck, with the first half ending at a nice even 6-6. Post the side switch, the game continued to remain close - DRX won the pistol but Gen.G the next two rounds. The score hit 10-10, but Gen.G, off the back of a 3K from Meteor and a 4K from eKo , would take the map 13-10, dealing DRX their first loss of a map in the Pacific League.

Peal was the decider map, and DRX were able to fully showcase their strategic strengths in the first half on defense. They were happy to play for retakes, and in fact, successfully retook the site in 50% of the rounds they played. They built up a strong 9-3 lead. After swapping sides, Gen.G looked like they might be ready to fight with a pistol win but it was a last whimper. DRX won the next four rounds, taking Pearl 13-4 and remaining undefeated in the league.

Day Two

Today's first game was T1 T1 Korea Rank #3 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Meteor Kim Tae-O (김태오) Sylvan Ko Young-sub (고영섭) BuZz Yu Byung-chul (유병철) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) vs Rex Regum Qeon Rex Regum Qeon Asia-Pacific Rank #19 Monyet Cahya Nugraha xffero David Monangin Jemkin Maksim Batorov Kush Bryan Carlos Setiawan Estrella Park Gun (박건) . T1 had had a rough couple of weeks after 0-2 losses to Gen.G and PRX, while RRQ had won their last two games and were on a streak. The first map, Haven, was chosen by RRQ.

T1 got off to a good start on attack with four round wins in a row. RRQ were able to find their footing though, and slowly got a few rounds of their own, including a 3K 1v2 clutch from fl1pzjder . The half ended at 7-5 in T1's favor. The Korean squad were able to further extend their lead after winning the next four out of six rounds, getting to 11-7. RRQ were able to win two more rounds, but this was more of a final exhale as T1 locked up Haven 13-9 off of a 1v2 clutch from Munchkin .

Map two was Fracture, a map where RRQ had held their own against Gen.G despite losing 13-9. However, perhaps the pressure of losing map one kicked in, because after the pistol and anti-eco, RRQ struggled to win even a single round on defense. T1 closed out the half at a quite dominant 9-3. After the side swap, RRQ showed a sign of life by winning the pistol — but that was all T1 would let them get. T1 won the next four rounds and the map 13-4, cementing a 2-0 win. On both maps, Munchkin proved to be a dominant force on Killjoy with a net kill differential of +21.

The second series of the day saw Team Secret Team Secret Asia-Pacific Rank #7 invy Adrian Jiggs Reyes JessieVash Jessie Cuyco Wild0reoo Brheyanne Christ Reyes 2ge James Goopio Jremy Jeremy Cabrera go up against DetonatioN FocusMe DetonatioN FocusMe Japan Rank #7 Meiy Ibuki Seki Art Jinboong Kim Jin-won (김진원) Akame Yu Gwang-hui (유광희) gyen . The Japanese squad had been having a tough time over the last few weeks and are yet to win a series.

The first map was DFM's pick and they started out on defense. They were able to win the first three rounds, but Team Secret began picking up the pace and won the next five rounds to bring the score to 5-3. The half would eventually culminate at an even 6-6, and after the side switch, it was more of the same. Both teams won consecutive rounds before their opponents did the same. TS got to match point first at 12-10.

DFM won one round but failed to get the second needed to push the game to OT, resulting in TS taking map one. DubsteP d on Jett had an absolutely phenomenal game, with seven first kills to his name.

On map two, Haven, Team Secret showcased in style why this was their pick. Starting on defense and after losing the pistol and anti-eco, Team Secret were able to absolutely shut down their opposition. In fact, out of the next 10 rounds, the Filipino squad won nine, and ended the half 9-3.

DFM looked a bit stronger in the second half, winning five rounds to bring the score to 10-5. Team Secret had already tasted blood in the water, however, and were relentless with their pressure, winning three rounds consecutively to take the map 13-8 and the series 2-0.

team secret celebrate Another win in the bag for Team Secret. (Photo by Riot Games.)

Despite a demonic performance from DFM's Seoldam who had 12 first kills, the highest on the server, TS overall looked better as a team, with four of their five players managing a positive kill differential.

Day Three

The sole game for the day saw Japanese representatives ZETA DIVISION ZETA DIVISION Japan Rank #2 Dep Yuma Hashimoto SugarZ3ro Shota Watanabe CLZ Hikaru Mizutani SyouTa Shota Aoki Xdll Yuto Mizomori face off against Thai squad Talon Esports Talon Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #15 Crws Thanamethk Mahatthananuyut JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam primmie Papaphat Sriprapha ban Joseph Seungmin Oh Governor Peter No . The latter had been struggling over the course of the past few weeks, only winning one map and not a single series. ZETA on the other hand were on a winning streak, having won their three previous league games in a row. Talon had taken down ZETA in the past though - in their encounter at GES Asia, Talon had triumphed 2-0.

Talon picked Haven for map one with a plan to play Patiphan on the duelist role for the map. Despite losing the first two rounds, Talon bounced back and won the next seven in a row. A major factor in their phenomenal defense was Sushiboys on Killjoy. He was able to get two consecutive 3Ks in rounds 8 and 9 and Talon ended the half 8-4.

After the side swap, Talon won the pistol but ZETA stole away the anti-eco. They would find another three rounds over the course of the map, but Talon had the momentum from the first half to take Haven 13-8. Both foxz and JitBoyS had incredible impact on their respective initiators with 17 assists between them. Even so, their performances were overshadowed by Sushiboys, who was the map MVP with 22 kills and a 86% KAST.

The second map, chosen by ZETA, was Ascent. This map once again saw Talon get off to a strong start as they hit 5-1, but ZETA dug deep in response. They found four consecutive rounds, with Laz and crow both finding 3Ks to bolster the team. The half eventually ended at 6-6.

After the side swap, the game slid in ZETA's favor as they built upon the momentum from their first half, eventually getting to 12-8. Talon did not give up though, and they won the next four rounds to push the map to overtime. After multiple OTs, including a magnificent 1v2 4K clutch from Laz, Talon ended up winning the map 16-14, cementing their first victory in the Pacific League.

talon win Talon celebrate their first win in the Pacific League. (Photo by Riot Games.)

Week five saw DRX remaining undefeated, though they lost their first map in the league. Talon has netted a win finally, leaving only DFM on zero. The leaderboard from last week remains almost unchanged, and with their five wins, DRX has likely qualified for playoffs.

Looking Ahead

April 29

April 30

May 1