In a 'win or go home' match between two of the Pacific Region and Korea's strongest teams, T1 T1 Korea Rank #2 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) defeated 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) 2-0 to clinch their spot in the Masters Bangkok playoffs.

The match, a direct rematch of the Pacific Kickoff grand final, was the first time two Korean teams have ever met at an international event. It's also the third time the two sides have met in 2025, a stark contrast to the 2024 season when they only played once.

The win is T1's first-ever over DRX. In five meetings all time, DRX had never lost to them. With the result, T1 also advances to the playoffs of an international event for the first time in the organization's history.

DRX banned Lotus, a map that T1 has been undefeated on in 2025, while T1 banned Abyss, a map that DRX has not lost on in its last seven outings in VCT play. DRX picked Fracture, a map they beat T1 on twice at Pacific Kickoff, and T1 picked Pearl, a map DRX has played just once this season. That left the series decider to be Haven.

To open the series, Meteor played on Vyse, a pick that's had polarizing outcomes for the T1 Sentinel player. On Fracture, he dispelled any worries about the pick, picking up a match-high 28 kills, six of which were first kills. Meanwhile, Duelist teammate BuZz picked up nine first kills of his own.

The map came down to the wire, with a less-than-ideal DRX attack half seeing them pick up just six rounds and having their work cut out for them. In the end, aggressive site takes and excellent control of the map saw T1 take the upper hand and steal the opposing map pick.

Fracture is T1's thanks to great five-on-five play.

Despite going up against free1ng 's Tejo, Meteor stuck with his usual pick of Killjoy on Pearl. That pick, which gives T1 a significant amount of post-plant utility, appeared to pay dividends. Rocksteady control of the map, combined with his teammates shooting sharp on the day, made for an 8-4 halftime advantage after finishing on defense of the traditionally attack-sided Pearl.

Momentum-shifting clutch from iZu .

To open their attack half, T1 picked up the pistol round, their third of the series, anti-eco, and bonus. From there, it was smooth sailing as T1 easily cruised to close out the map 13-4.

The map was utterly dominated by T1. At one point, former DRX man BuZz stood up on the stage, shouting, "Who's the best team in Korea now?" towards a pair of former teammates.

"I'm happy about this win. I wanted to win even more after losing to DRX twice, which I think makes me even happier," BuZz said. Still, going up against his former team does invoke some emotions from him. "When we lost to them I was sad but also happy for them. Winning now is a good feeling, but eliminating them does bring some mixed emotions."

BuZz isn't the only former DRX player now in T1's ranks. In-game leader stax also made the switch, albeit a little earlier, having changed teams before Pacific Stage 2 in 2025.

"I always had that confidence that we can beat DRX, I have faith in our roster," stax said. "It's just a little bit frustrating that it took us so long to do it."

T1 flex player iZu recorded a map-high 20 kills on Pearl, with no other player having more than 15. He ended the series with a server-high rating of 1.34, while Meteor's 42 kills were topped by nobody.

T1 moves onto the playoffs as a 2-1 team, meaning they will be matched up against one of Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #1 trexx Nikita Cherednichenko Derke Nikita Sirmitev Kicks Kimmie Laasner Sayf Saif Jibraeel Less Felipe de Loyola Basso or EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 S1Mon Hsien Meng-Hsun (谢孟勋) ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) CHICHOO Wan Shunzhi (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) . DRX, after going 1-2 in the Swiss Stage, bows out with a 5th-6th finish.