TALON TALON Asia-Pacific Rank #11 Killua Tanate Teerasawad thyy Anupong Preamsak Crws Thanamethk Mahatthananuyut JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam primmie Papaphat Sriprapha has overcome Nongshim RedForce Nongshim RedForce Korea Rank #3 Persia Yang Zi-on (양지온) Francis Kim Mu-bin (김무빈) margaret Kim Ji-woo (김지우) Dambi Lee Hyuk-kyu (이혁규) Ivy Park Sung-hyeon (박성현) 2-1 in the lower bracket of Pacific Kickoff. TALON advances to the top four and will await the winners of 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) versus DetonatioN FocusMe DetonatioN FocusMe Japan Rank #3 Meiy Ibuki Seki Art Jinboong Kim Jin-won (김진원) Akame Yu Gwang-hui (유광희) gyen for their next match, while Nongshim has been knocked out of the event and will return in Stage 1.

The three-map series played out on Lotus, Bind, and Split. Nongshim won Lotus 13-9, while TALON won Bind 13-10 and Split 13-5.

Nongshim came into this match right after a thrilling win over Rex Regum Qeon Rex Regum Qeon Asia-Pacific Rank #12 Monyet Cahya Nugraha xffero David Monangin Jemkin Maksim Batorov Kushy Bryan Carlos Setiawan Estrella Park Gun (박건) , while TALON had last suffered a close loss to T1 T1 Korea Rank #1 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) . The winner would earn their first Championship Point of the season and stand just two more wins away from Masters Bangkok qualification.

Nongshim chose to kick the series off on Lotus, the map that they had survived a record-breaking 22-20 encounter against RRQ with just yesterday. At first, the map looked to be another close affair as it started out 4-4, with both teams constantly adjusting to one another. Nongshim managed to pull slightly ahead to 7-5 at the half after Ivy closed out a hectic round 12.

Ivy nails a sharp 1v2 to give his team the edge at the half.

TALON won the second pistol to bring the score back to par, but Nongshim ran away with the rest of the map after an eco win in round 17, going on to win Lotus 13-9. primmie led the server as Clove with 23 kills, 266 ACS, and a 1.43 rating, while Ivy and Francis were the frontrunners for their side with respective 1.33 and 1.26 ratings.

TALON took the second map to Bind, where Nongshim decided to alter their composition to include Viper over Deadlock and Neon over Raze. Those changes ultimately didn't amount to results early on as TALON were in control for the entire first half, winning out close clutches and convincing site hits alike to go up to a 9-3 lead.

JitBoyS had a stellar performance in the last two maps.

Nongshim attempted to mount a comeback after winning a force buy in round 14, bringing the score back from 10-3 to 10-8, but TALON saved their ultimates and used four at once to stabilize, allowing them to win Bind 13-10. Crws was a major standout with a 24/13/6 KDA and 279 ACS, while JitBoyS followed close behind with a KDA of 19/12/7 and 162 ADR.

The decider came down to Split, where both sides elected for compositional changes after previous shakier showings on the map. TALON abandoned their previous Tejo-Breach idea for a slower Deadlock-Cypher, while Nongshim picked up the Tejo-Breach themselves. TALON's adjustment proved to be more effective as they completely locked down the sites, taking an 8-4 lead in their defense half. This time, there was no hope of any sort of comeback as TALON won their sixth pistol round for a perfect record in the series, took the bonus, and ended Split 13-5.

primmie sacrifices his life for the bonus round win and seals the deal for a TALON victory.

primmie completely dominated the map, racking up 25 kills to only nine deaths in 18 rounds, producing an outsized 2.00 rating, 365 ACS, 232 ADR, and impressive 51% headshot rate. JitBoyS also demonstrated a masterful performance with 19 kills to five deaths, a 1.78 rating, and 258 ACS.

“We could've done better,” Crws commented after the match. “But I think we're getting into our rhythm, so I feel good.”

With this win, the last remaining representatives of Southeast Asia stay alive and inch closer to representing Thailand at Masters Bangkok. TALON will return for their next challenge on Feb. 7.