Gen.G strikes down TALON to reach Kickoff podium

With a dominant 2-0, Gen.G Gen.G Korea Unranked 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 defeated TALON TALON Asia-Pacific Unranked Crws Thanamethk Mahatthananuyut JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam primmie Papaphat Sriprapha ban Joseph Seungmin Oh Governor Peter No in the Pacific Kickoff lower bracket. They will next play against T1 T1 Korea Unranked 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) , as the teams look to reach the grand final and qualify to Masters: Bangkok. TALON is now eliminated from the tournament, leaving only South Korean organizations in the top three.

Heading into the series, TALON banned Pearl, while Gen.G chose to veto Fracture. Bind and Lotus were picked as the initial maps, with Abyss remaining as decider. On paper, this gave an early advantage to TALON, since they had won both their Bind matches ahead of this series. Gen.G, meanwhile, tended to keep Haven as decider in previous matches, usually banning Abyss in the second half of the veto, but chose to counterpick against TALON's Split.

Bind was a strong beginning for TALON, who won the initial pistol and took the bonus round. Strong holds from Foxy9 and Munchkin , as well as a Gekko-Brimstone ultimate combo led to TALON's timeout, but the Southeast Asian squad was only able to take rounds when they had a weaker buy. Gen.G eventually came ahead in the first half, going into the break up 7-5.

“Our team plays with the mindset that we can always win a point, even after we lose a round,” Karon commented regarding TALON's early lead. “[Round 4] was the turning point, that's when we were very confident,” he added.

TALON took the second pistol of the map, but Gen.G remained in the lead after Karon won a 1v1. The South Korean lineup dominated the second half off the back of Karon and t3xture 's attacking prowess. The pair ended their offense with 10 and 12 eliminations respectively, as well as 2.22 and 1.99 ratings for the half. This performance helped Gen.G keep TALON out of the series and win six rounds in a row, taking their opponent's map 13-7.

“I exceeded my own expectations,” Karon said regarding his overall gameplay.

Gen.G continued their round streak in the second map, Lotus. After winning the pistol, Gen.G overwhelmed the defense to take the bonus, weakening TALON's economy and forcing out their timeout after 4-0. It took until round seven for TALON to return to the series, but their success was not repeatable, and Gen.G was essentially able to contact into a round win despite TALON's ultimate advantage.

The Masters winners won nine opening engagements on attack, continuing to exploit TALON to end their offense 10-2. They took the pistol round after halftime, setting them up for a quick end to Lotus after TALON force-bought the second round. Munchkin's Judge gave his team map point, and Gen.G's slight economic advantage set them up for a simple retake, ending the map 13-2.

The win marks Gen.G's return to the VCT Pacific podium, their fourth consecutive medal since first winning Kickoff in 2024 and their fifth if counting the 2023 LCQ. It also sets up the seventh encounter between T1 and Gen.G since the beginning of the Pacific League, with the winner qualifying to Masters: Bangkok and, more importantly, taking the lead in their head-to-head.

“Meteor, you'll regret going to T1,” Karon told his former teammate.

VCT Pacific will continue with the lower final and grand final:

• Gen.G vs. T1
• DRX vs. TBD