DetonatioN FocusMe DetonatioN FocusMe Japan Rank #5 Meiy Ibuki Seki Art Jinboong Kim Jin-won (김진원) Akame Yu Gwang-hui (유광희) gyen has defeated Global Esports Global Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #38 UdoTan Go Kyung-won (고경원) Kr1stal Savva Fedorov kellyS Kelly Sedillo Papi Federico Evangelista Deryeon Derrick Yee 2-0 in their first Pacific Kickoff elimination match. They will next play against Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #2 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov with hopes of extending their run at the event and qualifying to the organization's first-ever Masters tournament. Global Esports is now eliminated from Kickoff contention, returning to VCT until Stage 1 after the conclusion of Masters: Bangkok.

Global Esports descended to the lower bracket after defeating Team Secret and losing 2-1 to TALON, one of four teams to receive a bye due to their 2024 performance. DetonatioN, meanwhile, lost to Rex Regum Qeon in their opening series. This set the teams up for an elimination series against each other, a matchup that has happened only twice in the past during the VCT Pacific regular season. The South Asian organization came out on top on both occasions, with the most recent encounter, back in April, ending 2-1.

In terms of the map veto, DFM had the clear upper hand. Global Esports was forced to take away their permaban, Haven, which let DFM pick Abyss as the opening map. DetonatioN's only win in their previous series was Abyss, and, during the off-season, the Japanese lineup defeated the Kickoff China finalists on the map. GE, meanwhile, had lost Abyss on both of their previous series, including a 13-3 loss against Team Secret. Global chose Split as the second map, arguably the team's best in this map pool, but also a strong pick for DetonatioN, with their most recent showing being a 15-13 win against Paper Rex. This left Lotus as the decider, a map which both teams have played once since the conclusion of VCT 2024.

The match began with Abyss, where DetonatioN set off to a strong start. After winning the pistol, the Japanese lineup strung together a series of rounds, eventually forcing Global to use their timeout after 6-0. The pause paid off, but DetonatioN continued their round streak, taking advantage of Meiy 's 5 first kills and their double-controller, double-initiator composition to completely shut GE out of the first half.

DetonatioN continues extending their lead just as Global regains hope with the pistol round win.

Back from the break, Global overwhelmed the defense on the A site for their pistol round, with the round going GE's way after a clutch from Kr1stal . DFM further extended their lead during the bonus round, and an ace from Jinboong gave DetonatioN map point, also helping DFM stack up important ultimates. Global continued with a better prepared attacking half, countering their opponent's ideas and bringing multiple rounds back from the brink. In the end, however, the Japanese org's lead was too large to overcome, and a successful 1v2 from Meiy concluded the map 13-8 in DFM's favor.

gyen had a stand-out attacking half. He contributed to DFM's 10-2 half with 13 eliminations, earning himself a 1.62 rating on Omen. “He was not nervous today, he had confidence,” Meiy said after the series regarding his teammate.

Heading into Split, Akame recovered the pistol round from a solid plan by GE with a triple kill to take the first point. Global bounced back with the bonus round, taking the lead after denying Meiy any value from his early Showstopper. Back-to-back 4Ks from Akame saved DFM from a significant round deficit. Global's attack continued finding value, but key mistakes from South-Asian org and giving away the first death three more times than they found an entry kill let DFM keep the score close, sending the map to the break at 6-6.

Akame arguably won four rounds for his team on his own, keeping the series from going to the decider.

DetonatioN broke the tie in the second half after the second pistol win, with Akame and Meiy's contributions eventually helping set the score 9-6. Global Esports remained in the series with three rounds of their own, capped off with a kellyS ace against DFM's mid-B push. Akame continued providing value to his team, winning a 1v2 to reach double digits, but GE equalized the following round, forcing out the Japan-based organization's second timeout. Individual heroics from DFM kept Global from winning the map, taking Split to overtime. Meiy continued the hero plays, following up a 4K to stop GE's attack with a 3K, leaving his team in a 2v1 to end the map 14-12.

“I'm relieved we came back on Split,” Meiy said after the series.

DetonatioN will next play against Paper Rex in order to extend their Kickoff stay. “We need confidence,” Meiy said regarding the match. “We need to play as we do in practice,” he added.