Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov beat T1 T1 Korea Rank #3 Sayaplayer Ha Jeong-woo (하정우) Rossy Daniel Abedrabbo Carpe Lee Jae-hyeok (이재혁) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) xccurate Kevin Susanto 2-0 in the semifinals of Pacific Kickoff playoffs. PRX now advances to the grand finals awaiting the winners of Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #2 Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) Meteor Kim Tae-O (김태오) Lakia Kim Jong-min (김종민) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) vs. DRX DRX Korea Rank #1 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) BuZz Yu Byung-chul (유병철) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈) , while T1 has to swallow in a 3rd-4th place finish.

Meanwhile, Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #2 Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) Meteor Kim Tae-O (김태오) Lakia Kim Jong-min (김종민) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) has qualified for their second VCT international LAN by beating DRX DRX Korea Rank #1 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) BuZz Yu Byung-chul (유병철) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈) 2-0 in the second Semifinals match of Pacific Kickoff. Gen.G will meet Paper Rex in the grand finals while DRX is eliminated from Kickoff.

Battle of brothers: Paper Rex claim victory against T1

The battle between the Susanto brothers f0rsakeN and xccurate was one of the primary focal points of the series, along with Paper Rex's international LAN appearance streak being in jeopardy. Starting out on Split which was PRX's pick, the Pacific giants pulled out another rabbit out of their many agent compositions: a three-Duelist lineup with Monyet on Raze, something on Jett, and f0rsakeN on Yoru.

Even with the fastball thrown by PRX, T1 started out strong with an 8-4 lead, with PRX not being able to stymie the clinical approach of T1 at the first half off the back of strong performances from iZu , Rossy , and Sayaplayer giving PRX no room to breathe.

PRX was able to won the following pistol round and the following anti-eco, resulting in one of the International League's fastest round, clocking around 15 seconds. There, PRX continue to build up their lead with a 7-round streak, before T1 clawing back and answer with 4 of their own.

With their backs against the wall, PRX dug deep and through kills from mindfreak , d4v41 , and f0rsakeN, PRX brought it to overtime. A tense back and forth affair ensued, and PRX inched out at the end to win Split.

Moving on to Ascent, PRX started by flipping the script T1 had on Split. While T1 was able to win the opening pistol round, PRX won the eco, and string 6 in a row, leading to a 8-4 score line on the first half, including an ace from d4v41 on Round 6.

T1 was able to win another pistol round, but PRX intended to end them right there and then. PRX finished the deal and won 13-6 on Bind, with f0rsakeN ending up on top of the scoreboard with 1.52 rating, 286 ACS, and 21 kills, totaling in a whopping 54 kills across the two maps.

With their win, PRX now advances to the grand finals of Pacific Kickoff and secured another international appearance in Masters Madrid as the first Pacific team to do so and across the four International Leagues.

Gen.G rise as DRX fall

The two Korean teams battled across two maps, starting with DRX's map pick, Split. It was a relatively standard affair, with DRX leading the half 7-5. DRX was looking to end the match quick with a 12-8 scoreline, but Gen.G managed to string a round-win streak to send the map into OT, where Gen.G capitalized on their momentum and sent a statement by winning 14-12.

By the time Lotus start, Gen.G's momentum was in full swing. All Gen.G members were firing on all cylinders as they ended their half with a 9-3 lead. Desperate, while DRX managed to retaliate back with 5 rounds in the second half in a back and forth affair, Gen.G sealed their fate, winning Lotus in a 13-8 victory, sending waves to the entire community.

Gen.G have booked their first Masters appearance while DRX have failed to secure their sixth consecutive appearance on an international stage, marking their second Masters miss ever after their loss to NUTURN NUTURN Inactive in 2021.