Gen.G claim third VCT title with 3-1 win over DRX

Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #1 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) have claimed their third VCT title with a 3-1 victory over DRX DRX Korea Rank #2 Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) BuZz Yu Byung-chul (유병철) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈) in a series that featured two nailbiter overtime maps.

As the upper bracket team, Gen.G were given two map bans to DRX's zero in the best-of-five series. Sunset has traditionally been one of Gen.G's most frequent bans, with it being their first ban 80% of the time at Masters Madrid. Gen.G have opted to first-ban Abyss for the entirety of the VCT Pacific Stage 2 playoffs and have yet to play the new map.

Gen.G are still the kings of Pacific. (Image via Riot Games)

Despite most VCT teams having moved away from it, Gen.G continued to run the double-controller Haven composition initially popularized by The Guard The Guard Inactive JonahP Jonah Pulice trent Trent Cairns neT Michael Bernet valyn Jacob Batio tex Ian Botsch . DRX figured out how to handle the off-meta playstyle and sped to a blistering 9-0 lead. BuZz looked unstoppable with 16 kills and 342 ACS in the first half. Some individual play from t3xture and Lakia let Gen.G pick up two rounds towards the end of the half but the deficit would be too much for the favorites to overcome.

A Gen.G pistol and a win in the first gun round did little to end DRX's dominance on Haven as the newly MaKo -led squad looked composed on all fronts. DRX ended the map with a clean C site retake to gain a 1-0 lead in the series with a 13-6 scoreline.

The two DRX veterans, BuZz and MaKo, continued to be the top two performers for their side with 19 and 17 kills respectively. DRX excelled in winning opening duels with a 78% win rate thanks to the exploitation of struggling site anchors. Gen.G struggled to find info in the mid-round with a solo Skye initiator and failed to get the heavy stacks on site they are known for.

Gen.G returned to form in the first half of Bind. Despite losing the pistol, Gen.G picked up the thrifty in the following round thanks to a heroic 3K from Lakia. While DRX struggled in the gun rounds, they took four thrifty rounds to keep themselves in the game and keep Gen.G's lead slim at 7-5. Munchkin and Lakia were a constant thorn in the side of DRX on the B site against a DRX that stumbled haphazardly into Viper utility.

DRX capitalized on the pistol the second time around thanks to a 1v1 clutch from BuZz to tie up the score at 7-7. Gen.G once again performed in the gun rounds to take a 10-7 lead before BuZz's Operator found back-to-back multikills in rounds 18 and 19, forcing a Gen.G timeout. A Lakia 1v1 followed to enable a Gen.G map point at 12-9. Three straight hero plays from DRX with 1v1s from Flashback and BeYN preceded an explosive 3K from BuZz to force overtime.

Chaotic rounds ensued with a Judge buy from Karon picking up a first blood in round 25 followed by a stuck defuse in a 4v4 from MaKo to keep the score even. Four more hectic sets of overtime ensued before Gen.G managed to close out the map after 34 rounds at 18-16.

While the entirety of Gen.G ended Bind with a positive K/D, it was in-game leader Munchkin who provided the numbers necessary to take it over the line with 34 kills and a 1.44 rating. The kill spread for the rest of Gen.G was near even with Karon, t3xture, and Meteor on 27 kills each. Despite trailing his teammates in kills, Lakia had a server-high KAST at 82% and took home the only successful clutch for his team.

The individuals spearheaded DRX's rounds with 44% of their round wins coming from clutches. BuZz led the way with 33 kills and 280 ACS. DRX's star duelist took advantage of every opportunity to find value with the Operator and provided multikills in the most crucial moments.

Consecutive clutches from Flashback and MaKo halted a three-round streak from Gen.G to kick off Lotus. The individual performance from DRX was the story of the series so far with a thrifty in round seven thanks to a double entry kill with a Bucky from BuZz's Neon. Gen.G mustered just a single round for the rest of the half after a 1v2 from Karon. Flashback's Chamber found consistent opening picks to neutralize Gen.G's A-Rubble takes and force a 7-5 half for DRX.

A 2v4 from Karon and Munchkin gifted Gen.G their second pistol to start their attack. Gen.G brutally forced through the DRX's defenses with multiple fast hits to pick up the bonus and following gun round to lead 11-8. Some excellent shots from Flashback and Foxy9 brought DRX back into the game to even up the score at 11-11 and force Gen.G onto an eco. A clutch last-second defuse from BeYN to put DRX on match point before his team fumbled a 5v3 and conceded another overtime.

This time around Gen.G would close things out quickly with back-to-back opening picks from t3xture's Operator facilitating a quick two rounds, putting Gen.G up in the series 2-1 after a 14-12 on Lotus.

t3xture and Meteor paired up to top the scoreboard for Gen.G with 24 kills each. t3xture's late-game Operator nullified Flashback's earlier success with the weapon and pushed Gen.G to another overtime win. DRX's three clutches in the first half propelled them to a strong start but BeYN's solitary clutch to follow wasn't enough to secure the map.

DRX moved off of their standard Clove composition on Icebox in favor of a more run-of-the-mill double initiator, but the gamble failed to pay off.

A pistol win and 1v2 on eight HP from Flashback kicked off a streak of three rounds for DRX on Icebox before Gen.G responded with a thrifty. DRX could pick up just two more rounds to make the half 7-5 after a monstrous performance from Meteor with 15 kills. Gen.G's insistence on quickly refighting into A frequently caught DRX off guard before their site executes.

Gen.G dropped just a single round during their attacking half and dominated their competition across the board. A statement 13-6 win on Icebox secured the grand finals in a 3-1 series for Gen.G. Meteor's 20 kills and 181 ADR were too much for his opponents as the Killjoy powered many of Gen.G's swing-round wins.

Gen.G have come victorious in the VCT Pacific Stage 2 playoffs and will enter Champions 2024 as Pacific's number one seed.

DRX have claimed Pacific's second seed for Champs.