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) has eliminated DetonatioN FocusMe DetonatioN FocusMe Japan Rank #3 Meiy Ibuki Seki Art Jinboong Kim Jin-won (김진원) Akame Yu Gwang-hui (유광희) gyen in the lower bracket of Pacific Kickoff in a 2-0 stomp of a match. They secure a top four finish and will move on to face TALON TALON Asia-Pacific Rank #10 Crws Thanamethk Mahatthananuyut JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam primmie Papaphat Sriprapha ban Joseph Seungmin Oh Governor Peter No in their next match.

The series played out on Abyss and Lotus. Gen.G comfortably won both maps with two 13-6 scorelines.

The two teams entered the match coming off very different results. DFM was riding high after a dominant upset win over the perennial Pacific champion Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #4 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov , while Gen.G was recovering from a crushing loss at the hands of their Korean rival 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) .

The match started out on Abyss, a map that DFM had picked and won in each of their three previous matches, while Gen.G had just been dismantled on it by DRX. Starting out on the attack side, Gen.G came out the gates with a decisive pistol win. In the bonus round, a crucial triple kill from yoman put Foxy9 in position to clutch out the round. Bonus secured, Gen.G ran away with the half, riding the momentum out to six unanswered rounds, including a 2v4 won by Munchkin . DFM were only able to wrangle back three rounds to put them down 3-9 at the half.

DFM cower at the might of Munchkin.

On the generally attacking favored map, DFM had hopes for a comeback after a quick pistol win got the ball rolling. However, Munchkin put a quick stop to DFM's momentum with a 3k to win the bonus round. Two rounds later, Karon completely ended any hope of a comeback with his own 3k to convert a 2v4 into a round win. It wasn't long before Gen.G closed out the map 13-6.

Karon buries any hope of recovering the map.

Not to be deterred by Abyss, DFM opened up Gen.G's map pick of Lotus with a pistol win. After going up 2-0 however, Gen.G completely took over the map. Out of the next 10 rounds of the half, DFM only managed to win two of them. Foxy9 was crucial in Gen.G's eight round wins on the defense, holding down sites and disrupting DFM's attack.

Once again facing a large deficit at the half, DFM found themselves another pistol win to try and make the comeback. However, this time they wouldn't even be able to secure the following anti-eco round. With nearly no weaponry, Gen.G were able to find the first pick and plant the spike. From there, their plethora of post-plant utility was sufficient to keep DFM off the spike, securing them the round. DFM could only muster one more round win before Gen.G ended the series with another 13-6 map win.

Who needs weapons when you have abilities?

Despite their elimination, DFM's top six finish is their best performance to date. After two years in the bottom tiers of Pacific, they have shown that they can compete and do some damage in 2025.

With this win, Gen.G rebound from their loss to DRX in the upper bracket. As the defending Kickoff champions and the best performing Pacific team in 2024, the pressure is on them to reach Masters Bangkok. They will have to win two more matches in order to secure a spot on the international stage.