With ZETA DIVISION ZETA DIVISION Japan Rank #2 Dep Yuma Hashimoto SugarZ3ro Shota Watanabe CLZ Hikaru Mizutani SyouTa Shota Aoki Xdll Yuto Mizomori 's loss to T1 T1 Korea Rank #2 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Meteor Kim Tae-oh (김태오) Sylvan Go Young-sup (고영섭) BuZz Yu Byeong-cheol (유병철) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) , Masters: Tokyo will feature no Japanese teams in attendance. Meanwhile DRX DRX Korea Rank #4 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 Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #3 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov have solidified themselves on top of the region with upper-bracket qualifications to Masters: Tokyo and Champions 2023. They are joined by T1 from the lower bracket semi-final.

The playoffs will conclude today with the grand final between DRX and Paper Rex.

Photo by Riot Games

Day One:

VCT Pacific playoffs began with Japan's final remaining team fighting for a spot at Masters: Tokyo against 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 . Secret came into the match hoping to take revenge for their loss at the hands of ZETA in the regular season. During the regular season, both sides went to three closely contested maps in the series before ZETA managed to take the win. Despite only taking two maps, the rematch did not disappoint.

The series began on Secret's map pick of Haven and they proved their prowess on the field as they took a 9-3 scoreline in the first half. Secret winning both the initial pistol and the first bonus round became too much for ZETA to handle, as Secret powered to six rounds in a row before ZETA could take their first.

In turn, ZETA managed to take a pistol round of their own coming into the second half and won the following bonus to take the first five rounds after switching to the defense. An excellent second half allowed ZETA to remain a contender in the series and force overtime off of their own 9-3 half.

Overtime rounds quickly went back and forth between the two squads as Laz proved determined to keep his team in the map. However, despite his best efforts, a JessieVash 3K following a fast offensive C hit from Secret was enough to take the map in overtime 15-13.

The second map of Ascent proved much more back and forth than the first, beginning with the two teams splitting the opening pistol and bonus rounds. Rounds remained neck and neck between the two before three straight rounds from Secret at the tail end of the half gave them a narrow 7-5 lead going into halftime.

The second half started identical to the first — Secret won the pistol, ZETA won the bonus. ZETA was poised to take the lead off their bonus win, but a string of successful aggressive plays led to Secret jumping back ahead and reaching matchpoint at 12-8.

However, ZETA still clung onto hope of a series victory as shining moments from the trio of TENNN , Dep , and Laz resulted in the map reaching overtime. Unfortunately for the home crowd in Tokyo, Secret's individuals managed to step up with DubsteP and Jremy both making hero plays to close out the series with a 14-12 victory.

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The first day of playoffs culminated with a Korean derby between 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) and T1. Both teams hoped to prove themselves as the second best Korean team and Gen.G hoped to regain composure after a heartbreaking bout of five consecutive losses at the end of the regular season.

The first map of Fracture, picked by T1, turned to be a hectic affair as hero plays and strings of rounds were traded back and forth by both teams. T1's individuals proved to be stronger than their counterparts as every T1 player earned 16-18 kills en route to a comfortable 13-8 victory for their squad.

Gen.G came into their own map pick of Ascent with a chip on their shoulder hoping to prove they could remain competitive. They accomplished this goal in part thanks to eKo , whose stand out performance earned himself a 1.33 rating and powered Gen.G to a narrow 13-11 victory.

After finishing the last map winning six of its final seven rounds, Gen.G kept the momentum rolling on Lotus to get off to a 6-2 start. However, Gen.G saw little success from there. T1 only allowed their opponents one more round before finishing the map and series off with a 13-7 victory.

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Day Two:

Day two of playoffs contained the first matches to result in qualification to both Masters: Tokyo and Champions 2023. The heavy favorites in DRX and Paper Rex hoped to keep their place atop the standings of VCT Pacific against the underdogs.

The first game of the day was a highly anticipated rematch between DRX and Team Secret. Secret had managed to take the only regular season win over DRX and ruined the Korean's hopes of a perfect season. However, DRX suffered their previous defeat without their usual roster as Zest subbed in for star duelist Foxy9 .

Secret came into their map pick of Haven firing on all cylinders as 33-year-old in-game leader and esports veteran JessieVash produced a stunning performance. His frequent multikills and a 1v2 over regular season MVP MaKo led to Secret holding a commanding 8-4 lead over DRX after the first half. Secret managed to keep the favorites at arm's length throughout the second half, taking the first map 13-9 over DRX.

On the brink of losing the series, DRX were activated coming into the second map. Their offensive on their map pick of Split was all but perfection as the Koreans ran up a 10-2 lead off the back of a 20 kill Raze performance from BuZz . DRX closed out the map to tie up the series not long into the second half.

Team Secret threw a curveball on the decider map, Bind, by subbing in Singaporean lenne in place of invy to play Gekko for the team. Unfortunately for Secret, it was nothing more than a hanging curveball that DRX obliterated for a 13-4 victory.

Photo by Riot Games

The second game of the day would certainly prove to be the closer of the two as Paper Rex matched up against Masters: Tokyo hopefuls T1.

T1 picked Lotus to start things off, likely in the hopes of recreating their performance versus their countrymen from the day before. However, Paper Rex proved to be of a caliber above the teams T1 had faced before as their unorthodox playstyle kept the game close in the first half. Aided by a pistol round victory, Paper Rex kept the map even with a 6-6 scoreline going into halftime despite two separate 4Ks from Sayaplayer .

Unfortunately for the home crowd in the arena, T1 could not reproduce their offensive performance against Gen.G as the map sped to a Paper Rex victory. A thrifty win for Paper Rex after T1's success in the pistol allowed Paper Rex to take control of the half and close out the map 13-10.

Paper Rex entered their map pick with a double duelist composition consisting of f0rsakeN and Jinggg on Neon and Raze respectively. Paper Rex's commitment to an aggressive playstyle paid dividends on Fracture as both duelists shone brightly throughout the map. They led the server in rating while they propelled their team to yet another 13-10 victory, securing the 2-0 series win.

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Day Three:

Day three of the VCT Pacific playoffs brought the first batch of elimination games to the stage as Gen.G faced off against Team Secret and ZETA DIVISION struggled to maintain their hopes of playing in front of a home crowd in Tokyo.

The first match of the day featured a battered Gen.G and a hopeful Team Secret. Their recent defeat to T1 was Gen.G's sixth in a row, while Team Secret was coming off the back of taking a map from DRX and a strong performance against ZETA DIVISION.

On their opening Ascent pick, Gen.G looked determined to finally take a match beginning with a 1v1 pistol win from eKo. Meteor 's Jett entry easily plowed through Secret's defense, as he had already racked up 12 kills just six rounds in.

Coming into the seventh however, Team Secret seemed to flip a switch and their defense began to take form. A thrifty round win off the back of an absurd 1v3 from invy brought Secret back into the game. Gen.G simply couldn't recover afterwards as Team Secret won the remaining rounds of the half to tie things at 6-6.

Although Gen.G managed to break Secret's string of rounds by taking the second half's pistol, Team Secret's momentum did not falter as the Filipino squad took seven of the last eight rounds to win 13-8.

Secret came into their own map pick of Haven hoping to close the series, but their game plan backfired as Gen.G took round after round on their offense. Gen.G's 10-2 first half, the third such half Team Secret suffered in the playoffs, turned into a 13-8 win for the Koreans.

Split was certainly the closest of the three maps as both teams fought for their tournament lives. Even after losing the pistol, Secret took a 7-5 lead by halftime. They quickly extended their lead to 11-6, only losing a round because of an ace from GodDead .

As Gen.G stared down the barrel of defeat they clawed back into the game with a series of successful retakes powered by heroic plays. The Koreans took six rounds straight to reach match and series point first before failing to close out the lead themselves as Secret forced overtime.

However, Gen.G's efforts were not in vain as a successful B hit put the Koreans on match point yet again. In the final round of the series Secret were unable to handle an aggressive push from the A defenders, allowing Gen.G to close the series with a 14-12 map victory and relegating Team Secret to the Last Chance Qualifier.

Despite their struggles Gen.G survives against Team Secret (Photo by Riot Games)

The second match of the day featured fan favorite and the only remaining hometown hopeful for Masters: Tokyo in ZETA DIVISION facing off against T1.

The first map, ZETA's pick of Haven, began in terrible fashion for the Japanese squad. An immediate second round ace from Sayaplayer set the tone for the first half as T1 came to an 8-0 lead. ZETA managed to compose themselves with victories in the final four rounds of the half.

Despite this small victory, T1 seemed destined to take the map as they took their second pistol with trades seemingly all going the way of T1. ZETA began to mount a short-lived comeback in the second half before T1 closed the map off of strong performances from both initiators in xeta and carpe , who sported 1.28 and 1.16 ratings respectively.

With Japan's hopes and dreams in ZETA now on the backfoot the team came into Bind hoping to redeem themselves. ZETA seemed unsurprised with T1's insistence on running Carpe on Gekko and were more composed when dealing with their opponents' map pick.

ZETA won their first pistol of the series and maintained a steady back and forth of rounds throughout the first half. Having secured a 7-5 lead coming onto the defensive, ZETA were primed to force a decider. With the second pistol also going the way of ZETA thanks to a 1v3 clutch from SugarZ3ro , the momentum was certainly in their corner.

Thanks in part to a pivotal ace from SugarZ3ro in the 18th round, ZETA soon climbed to map point with a 12-8 lead. Despite this, T1 managed to maintain their hopes of a 2-0 series by climbing back into an even scoreline and forcing overtime thanks to a continued MVP level showing from xeta.

Over the regular season ZETA DIVISION quickly gained a reputation for never being mentally broken and always being able to come back into a series. This was proven in overtime as ZETA managed to take their opponent's map pick 14-12, forcing a third and final map.

The decider map of Fracture had previously proven to be a frequent pick of T1's and they proved their prowess on the map to end the series. The first pistol went the way of T1 as they found success with a four man dish push on the defense. After trading batches of rounds that saw T1 take a 5-2 lead, ZETA began to truly come into form on the map. Taking the final five rounds of the half ZETA took a 7-5 lead going into their defense with the trio of SugarZ3ro, Dep, and TENNN continuing to deliver.

The second half saw Carpe activate and T1 take their fourth pistol in the series. From there, the two teams continued their back and forth bout, eventually leading to a 10-9 ZETA lead. A vital 4K from Carpe with an Operator picked up off of Dep's body allowed T1 to tie the map off of a light buy, and then win it two rounds later at 12-10 to secure the series.

In the end, Carpe's 27 kills on the decider map were simply too much for ZETA DIVISION to handle as T1 eliminated the last Japanese team in contention for a spot at Masters: Tokyo.

Photo by Riot Games

Day Four:

Day four of the VCT Pacific playoffs began with a match between the two teams already qualified for both Masters: Tokyo and Champions 2023. Paper Rex looked to dethrone the so far undisputed best team in Asia, DRX. Afterwards, T1 would face off against Gen.G in a rematch from the first round of playoffs to determine the final Pacific team to attend Masters: Tokyo.

The first series of the day began on Paper Rex's map pick of Fracture. DRX struck first thanks to a 4K pistol round from BuZz, but then Paper Rex's signature aggression and an above average performance from d4v41 let Paper Rex overpower their opponents on the way to a 7-5 lead.

Paper Rex refused to let up the heat after switching to the offense as their aggression continued to find repeated success. DRX seemed entirely deflated late into the map as Paper Rex refused to let slip a single round. d4v41 continued to perform at an MVP level to close out the map for his team with a server high 22 kills to his name.

DRX moved into their map of Bind, continuing to run a sentinel-less team composition, opting instead to run a double initiator set up with KAY/O and Skye. This composition had yet to fail for the Koreans as they sported a 2-0 record on the map prior to the series. Their counterparts, however, opted to run a surprise Reyna selection from something .

While Paper Rex looked good before, something's Reyna pushed the team to another level right out the gate as he earned multikills in each of the first two rounds, including a 4K in round two. Paper Rex appeared unstoppable as they built on that strong opening to lead 8-4 at the half. DRX's one solace at this point was that Bind had proven to be an attacker-sided map in the past.

A pistol round taken at blistering speed from Paper Rex allowed for easy access to an empty B site. DRX seemed prepared for the quick playstyle and adjusted their strategy accordingly in the pistol, allowing them to gain a 4v2 post-plant. However, the famed duo of f0rsaken and Jinggg managed to convert the round despite the man disadvantage. DRX were now forced to admit a 2-0 defeat was on the table and could only hope to turn the series around on the gun rounds.

Paper Rex were unable to convert their bonus round, giving DRX a slight bit of economic comfort before something pulled out an Operator on Reyna. This seemed to be all Paper Rex needed to cross the finish line as the Russian frequently used his Dismiss to gain vital information for his team that led to a spree of rounds. Paper Rex took the final three rounds of the map in commanding fashion to secure the upset and guarantee a spot in the grand finals.

DRX will play T1 in the lower bracket final on May 27th for a shot at reclaiming their throne and rematching Paper Rex in the grand final.

Photo by Riot Games

Despite the unexpected turn taken in the first game of the day, the second was certainly the one to watch as Gen.G and T1 battled for the region's final spot in Masters: Tokyo. A rematch from the first round of playoffs, T1 hoped to take another comfortable win over their countrymen and Gen.G hoped to build upon their recently found momentum.

The series began on T1's map pick of Fracture, a map once thought to be Gen.G's best. Initially Gen.G looked to have rediscovered this form as they used seven straight rounds to take a 7-2 lead, with in-game leader TS earning the server's top frag. T1 didn't simply roll over for Gen.G, however, and won the final three rounds to enter halftime down a respectable 7-5.

Another pistol win thanks to a crisp 1v2 from Munchkin gave T1 what they needed to tie the score in the following round. From there, T1 leaned heavily into playing around a newly activated Sayaplayer to bolster their way to a map victory. The Korean Raze ended the map with a server-high 25 kills to take his map pick, dropping only two gun rounds along the way.

The second map in the series was Gen.G's own pick of Ascent, a map they had previously taken versus T1 in their initial playoff matchup, albeit in a close 13-11. T1 looked to carry their strong first map performance into the second with a thrifty round win following a pistol loss. Meteor tried his hardest to keep his team in the running with an impressive 1v4 in round six. This individual performance and a pistol win gave Gen.G just enough to keep the deficit close and finish the half down 7-5.

Switching onto the offense, T1 took their third pistol win of the series and the first gun round to increase their lead to 11-6. Gen.G had previously come back from this very same scoreline in their matchup the day prior versus Team Secret, however they failed to replicate that performance this time around. While k1Ng created the sense a comeback was possible for Gen.G, the Killjoy player's server-leading 22 kills weren't enough to stave off a T1 victory.

Gen.G will hope to rebound from their regular season woes and playoffs disappointment in the last chance qualifier as T1 move to play DRX for a spot in the grand finals.

Photo by Riot Games

Day Five:

Day five saw the lower bracket final take place between DRX and T1. Despite their recent loss to Paper Rex, DRX were the clear favorites in the series and sported a reputation for being near unbeatable when facing domestic opposition.

The best-of-five series began with DRX's first map pick of Ascent and the first half followed largely as expected. DRX took an impressive lead in spite of losing the pistol and held a 9-3 lead.

The second half saw T1's trio of xeta, Munchkin, and Sayaplayer activate to claw back the map. Another pistol win aiding in their efforts, T1 brought the game back with six straight rounds after DRX reached 11 to narrowly take the map with a 13-11 victory.

T1 were in prime position to go up 2-0 in the series as they moved onto their own map pick of Fracture. A map they had seen success on in recent history, T1 were expected to capitalize on this as the first map played out in opposite fashion the first.

The first half went the way of T1 as they secured a third straight pistol round and stormed to an 8-4 half. However, as soon as DRX swapped to the defense they began to bring the map into their control by winning their first pistol round and taking five straight rounds after the bonus. DRX secured a narrow victory of their own Fracture, 13-11.

Haven very nearly went the same way as the first two as DRX took yet another big lead, this time 9-3, in the first half. BuZz secured round 12 with the first ace of the series. This was followed by T1 taking their fifth straight pistol win after halftime. T1's comeback began to take shape; however, DRX's lead would this time around not be given up so easily. DRX took the map with the third 13-11 scoreline in the match.

Bind ended this trend of close scores as Carpe's Gekko would prove too much to handle for DRX. The first half saw dominance from T1 as they took an 8-4 half, despite this time around losing the pistol. In the second half, T1's sixth pistol was secured through a 1v1 victory from Carpe. Carpe continued this performance throughout the rest of the map, ending with a server high 1.67 rating, as T1 cruised to a 13-6 map win over DRX.

After a grueling four maps the decider took place on Pearl, and DRX looked determined to end the series in their favor. Regular season MVP MaKo took control of the map on Viper as DRX lost only two gun rounds to close out the half with an 8-4 lead. DRX followed halftime by winning another pistol, an advantage that would prove vital as T1 took five of the following seven rounds. However, the game had fallen too far into DRX's hands as they took two rounds in a row to win the map 13-9 and wrap up the series 3-2.

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Looking Ahead:

DRX will look to rematch Paper Rex in the grand finals on May 28th. The Winner will directly qualify for the quarterfinals at Masters: Tokyo, while the loser will participate in the initial group stage alongside T1.