Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #3 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov defeated 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) 3-2 in the VCT Pacific 2024 Stage 1 grand finals, securing their first regional title since winning the Pacific league in 2023. This rematch of the Pacific Kickoff finals went the distance, with Paper Rex getting revenge on the team that beat them last time.

With this win, Paper Rex secured extra circuit points for Champions, alongside the regional first seed, and a bye to the playoff stage of Masters Shanghai. Gen.G finished in second place, securing the second seed for Pacific.

The map picks began with Paper Rex picking Lotus first, then Gen.G picking Sunset. PRX then picked Icebox, and Gen.G picked Bind, leaving Split as the potential final map.

Gen.G remain top-tier on Lotus

For Lotus, Paper Rex ran a double duelist composition while Gen.G ran the double controller. With how strong Paper Rex looked on Lotus during the playoffs, which have included a 13-0 over Talon Esports Talon Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #16 Crws Thanamethk Mahatthananuyut JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam primmie Papaphat Sriprapha ban Joseph Seungmin Oh Governor Peter No , the beginning looked like the map could spiral into another huge lead for PRX. Winning the pistol round on attack and converting their bonus, it took a 4v5 retake win from Gen.G to get their first round.

With that important round win, Gen.G brought the half back by winning six of the remaining eight rounds in the first half. It was the Kim "t3xture" Na-ra (김나라) show to start Lotus, as he walked into the 6-6 half with 16 kills and 100% KAST.

When Gen.G won the second pistol round of the map, they went on their own run similar to how Paper Rex started Lotus, but better. After winning the first five rounds of their attack side, Paper Rex would need a big comeback to win the map. Despite some strong aggressive defense rounds from PRX, Gen.G closed the map out 13-9 thanks to t3xture dropping 28 kills.

Sunset was a one-man show for Paper Rex

Sunset was a battle between two very different compositions. Paper Rex ran Raze, Gekko, Breach, and Sage, while Gen.G ran Jett, KAY/O, Cypher, and Sova. The only agent that both teams used was Omen.

Gen.G won the first pistol round, but as soon as Paper Rex got rifles in their hands, they put all their faith in their star Raze player. Wang "Jinggg" Jing Jie had himself a map, getting 12 kills and only dying five times on their attack.

The Jett wasn't working well on the attack side for Gen.G, with Paper Rex putting a lot of their focus on t3xture after his performance on Lotus. The lead heading into the half was 7-5 for PRX, a good attack side considering they lost the pistol round.

Paper Rex lost their second pistol round of the map, but the rifle rounds were just too clean. Jinggg got more first kills in the second half than he did in the first, ending the map with a 7-1 first-kill/first-death ratio. Just like map one, the score was 13-9, but with Paper Rex tying the series 1-1.

Icebox was a battle between the best Jett players in VCT Pacific

The first two maps of the series were seemingly close at the half until one team ran away with it. Icebox was the first chess match, with the two teams trading rounds evenly throughout.

The compositions were relatively similar, with the key difference being Gekko on Paper Rex and Sage from Gen.G. Paper Rex won the pistol round to start, attacking well against the double sentinel comp from Gen.G. As usual, t3xture proved to be a problem for PRX as he had 17 kills heading into the half. However, nobody else on Gen.G had more than eight. The Jett of Ilya "something" Petrov was key, keeping the Jett duel close with 15 kills, 249 ADR, and three first kills. It was another 7-5 lead at the half for PRX.

Gen.G got the second pistol round but fought better on the rifle rounds to keep the map within reach. Despite not getting as many frags as his counterpart, something continued to win the first kill race with five in the second half, three more than t3xture. The map was tied four different times in the second half, with the final one as late as 11-11.

In the end, when it mattered most, something used a Guardian to get two crucial kills to put PRX on match point. Then, with his ultimate in the next round, something got the first kill for the second round in a row followed by a clutch triple kill by Khalish "d4v41" Rusyaidee to close out the map 13-11.

Munchkin steps up on Bind to take it to map five

For the two teams, Paper Rex decided to run no sentinel on Bind, instead opting for the double initiator and Harbor over Viper. Gen.G ran something more akin to a standard Bind comp, with Cypher, Viper, and t3xture back on Raze.

Paper Rex won the first pistol round on their attack, using that momentum to get up 6-2. Both Jinggg and Jason "f0rsakeN" Susanto did well, but Byeon "Munchkin" Sang-beom (변상범) and Kim "Lakia" Jong-min (김종민) fought back to pull the match to 6-6 at the half. Gen.G adapted well to the potential Raze plays from Jinggg, using the Judge often on A site to make the close corners hard to clear out without using abilities.

Gen.G took the second half pistol round, and despite the rifle rounds starting to go to PRX, Gen.G got two round wins off of a 2v3 win and opening pick. Munchkin kickstarted both those round wins, and the economy crashed for Paper Rex. Gen.G closed out the map 13-9, taking the series to the winner-takes-all map five.

Paper Rex wins Split and series off of rock-solid defense

Split was the first and only mirror match of the series, with both teams running double duelist.

Gen.G won the first pistol on Split, using the Jett from Kim "Meteor" Tae-O (김태오) and Kim "Karon" Won-tae (김원태) on Omen to make entries onto B site tough.

Even when Paper Rex got the spike down, Gen.G had the protocol to retake the site. Instead of going for a flood retake or some well-placed utility, they expected Paper Rex to hold aggressively and ended up punishing them accordingly. The focus from Gen.G was to target Jinggg, who went 5/10/3 on his attack side and put all the pressure on something to carry. That strategy worked to slow down Paper Rex, but something did step up to keep the map within reach. Gen.G entered the half up 7-5.

Paper Rex won the final pistol round of the series, arguably the most important pistol of the finals. Then, they converted their bonus round thanks to an Outlaw 3K from something and a critical pop flash 2K from f0rsakeN.

Gen.G lost any economic advantage, and Paper Rex capitalized on it. Gen.G forced Stingers the round afterward, and Aaron "mindfreak" Leonhart got a triple kill to end that hope of a comeback. Gen.G only won one round on their attack side as Paper Rex shut the door on the team that beat them in Kickoff and Masters Madrid. Paper Rex won the map 13-8 and the series 3-2.

As the series concluded, it was fair for Jinggg to earn match MVP with how crucial he was in entry kills, ending the series with a 19-7 first kill/first death ratio. However, t3xture was statistically the best player in this best-of-five. The series ended with the star duelist on Gen.G having a VCT best-of-five record of 105 kills across all five maps.

Paper Rex will enter Masters Shanghai as the number one seed from Pacific, earning a bye to the playoff stage and earning the choice of their opponent. Gen.G will enter Masters Shanghai in second place and will begin in the Swiss stage alongside the two and three seeds from all other regions.