2-0: Dominant starts

DRX earned its spot in the playoffs after wins over Bilibili Gaming Bilibili Gaming China Rank #6 whzy Wang Haozhe (王昊哲) Levius Lu Yinzhong (卢胤中) rushia Wang Xiaojie (王晓杰) nephh Marcus Tan Knight Liu Yuxiang (刘宇翔) and fellow South Korean team Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #2 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) . They were among the first teams to secure entry into the playoffs, finishing with a 2-0 record. They have experienced significant changes this offseason, parting ways with BuZz , Foxy9 , and BeYN . MaKo and Flashback are their only returnees,

Additionally, head coach termi is not in Chengdu for the event, meaning glow and Argency have taken over coaching duties.

DetonatioN FocusMe turned heads to open the event with a 2-1 victory over Champions 2024 winners EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 S1Mon Hsien Meng-Hsun (谢孟勋) ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) CHICHOO Wan Shunzhi (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) . After a first map loss that seemed almost unsalvageable, they stormed back and won maps two and three. Abyss, the third map, was won dominantly, 13-5. They then secured a playoff spot in reverse-sweep fashion again over Rex Regum Qeon Rex Regum Qeon Asia-Pacific Rank #11 Monyet Cahya Nugraha xffero David Monangin Jemkin Maksim Batorov Kushy Bryan Carlos Setiawan Estrella Park Gun (박건) , winning in three maps.

DFM has also experienced a roster shakeup this offseason, only retaining Meiy while picking up players from Japan's VCL circuit and a rookie in gyen .

2-1: Bent, not broken

Paper Rex suffered defeat in their opening match, losing a three-map, 88-round match to Gen.G. Following the loss, they toughed out a win against home favorites EDward Gaming, defeating and eliminating them in three maps, before eliminating fellow regional representatives Rex Regum Qeon in three maps. The fast-flying and entertaining playstyle of Paper Rex continues, with any of the five players liable to top the leaderboard on any given map.

Trace Esports turned heads in the competition by qualifying for the playoffs. The Chinese team, which captured hearts with a Cinderella run to the playoffs of Champions 2024, fell flat in their opening match, losing 2-0 to RRQ. They then followed that up by defeating fellow Chinese team BLG 2-1, and then upsetting competition favorites Gen.G with a 2-0 defeat. Trace retained much of its 2024 roster, and the added level of familiarity seemed to show. Duelist Kai has topped the leaderboard in two matches, while LuoK1ng continues to show good form.

1-2: So close, yet so far

Rex Regum Qeon opened the competition with a convincing 2-0 victory over Trace, but were eliminated after 2-1 losses to DFM and PRX. They have not had much roster turnover this offseason, but go into the 2025 season looking to make the jump to the next step after a 5th-6th place finish in Pacific Stage 2.

Gen.G were widely considered one of the favorites for this competition, and that seemed to ring true to begin things for the Masters Shanghai winners. After coming out on top in an instant classic three-map clash with Pacific Giants PRX, they faltered against fellow Korean team DRX, losing narrowly in three maps. Their elimination match, a 2-0 loss to Trace Esports, was only close on the second map, which they lost 14-12. Gen.G, which replaced two core pieces from the 2024 squad, will look to retain their spot at the top of the Pacific league in 2025.

0-2: Out in a hurry

Champions Seoul winners EDward Gaming were swiftly eliminated. Across six maps in two matches against DFM and PRX, they lost by a difference of 11 rounds. After sending only a few starting players to the Gwangju Esports Series, EDG participated in this competition with their full 2024 roster. They made no changes, but seemed to have some postseason rust that will need to be shaken off heading into 2025.

The Chinese region had three teams in this competition, and two of them were eliminated in the Swiss Stage. The second team eliminated early on was BiliBili Gaming. Their elimination came much quicker, with a 2-0 loss to DRX and a 2-1 loss to Trace. They have made a few changes to their roster after the 2024 season, but still seem to be second, or even third, fiddle in their region.

Playoffs

DRX DRX Korea Rank #4 Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) free1ng No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈) vs Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #5 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov

DetonatioN FocusMe DetonatioN FocusMe Japan Rank #3 Meiy Ibuki Seki Art Jinboong Kim Jin-won (김진원) Akame Yu Gwang-hui (유광희) gyen vs Trace Esports Trace Esports China Rank #2 LuoK1ng Zhang Zhanpeng (张展鹏) Kai Lu Zhinan (卢智楠) FengF Song Xuefeng (宋学锋) heybay Ho Shun Hei Biank Zhong Jianfei (钟剑飞)

The rest of the competition will be played out in a four-team, double-elimination bracket. Only the grand final and the lower finals will be best-of-five, while all other matches are best-of-three.

Valorant Radiant Asia Invitational enters playoff stages

2-0: Dominant starts

2-1: Bent, not broken

1-2: So close, yet so far

0-2: Out in a hurry

Playoffs