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)
has secured their return to a Masters for the first time since 2023. The Koreans took a 2-1 victory over
T1
T1
Korea
Rank #3
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)
in the upper final of Pacific Kickoff, booking their tickets to Masters Bangkok.
“I can't believe we won, “ BeYN said in the post-match interview.
T1's loss today marks the sixth defeat to DRX in as many matches since their first bout in May 2023. Unlike previous encounters, this upper final was the first match in which the two teams met with a LAN spot on the line.
Today's winner would earn the first slot for Masters Bangkok. The loser would be relegated to the lower final, scheduled for tomorrow against
TALON
TALON
Asia-Pacific
Rank #12
Crws
Thanamethk Mahatthananuyut
JitBoyS
Jittana Nokngam
primmie
Papaphat Sriprapha
ban
Joseph Seungmin Oh
Governor
Peter No
— who T1 beat in the semifinals — or
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)
, against whom T1 actually have a solid 3-2 record in the partnership era.
The man of the hour. (Photo by VCT Pacific)
As should be expected from an upper final, most of the match was defined by razor-thin margins. Lotus only came to an end in the final round of regulation and DRX had to force overtime to steal Haven and push the match on to the Fracture decider.
And that decider almost didn't happen. T1 were 13-12 up when Flashback was left alone to retake C through Long. With no qualms about how many were up against him, DRX's prospect walked down three and gave his team a second overtime.
That 1v3 flipped the momentum of the entire match. Off of it, DRX got the map win and went into Fracture with all of the momentum. In fact, they were up 11-4 before T1 began eking out rounds.
DRX looked lost for a moment, allowing their opponents to narrow the gap to just 11-10. They then called a timeout and found the 12th round, but were in dire straits and seemed to be destined for overtime once more.
Much like on Haven, Flashback walked into a retake scenario by himself. This time, all he had to do before defusing was to blast down the two opponents still standing, which he did without much trouble to grant his team the first Masters Bangkok slot from the Pacific.
When questioned about his two clutches, Flashback returned that his confidence “[wasn't] at its peak” lately and gave full credit to his teammates for allowing him to thrive and regain that confidence.
Does it get any better than this?While Flashback was unquestionably DRX's hero today, with two decisive clutches that got his team both their map wins, his teammates shone in most other occasions.
free1ng , in particular, stood out on Haven. On Tejo, his only agent played at Kickoff, he dropped 28 kills and got another 7 assists on top of that, making for a 1.84 KDA in map two.
Across all maps, though, he was only DRX's third-best player and finished with a 0.99 rating. He was superseded by MaKo and HYUNMIN at 1.25 and 1.23, respectively. The latter also accrued 17 first bloods — second only to BuZz 's 18 — as well as 21 multikills and two clutches.
With this win, DRX won the battle. They beat T1, they reached the finals, and they got the coveted Masters Bangkok slot. But it's not over.
“I know we've secured our Masters Bangkok flight and all, but we still have the Kickoff finals,” free1ng reminded everyone.
Only three teams are still in contention for those finals, as most of the Pacific field has been whittled down. TALON and Gen.G are playing for a spot in the lower finals, where they'll face off against T1 for a shot at Bangkok and the finals.
“We've met T1 and Gen.G,” HYUNMIN said of his team's past victories. “So I think our next stop should be TALON. I would like to play against them.”
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