Gen.G wins VCT Pacific Kickoff: Final placements and recap

Declan Mclaughlin
Gen.G wins VCT Pacfic Kickoff 2024

The 2024 Valorant esports season has started with a bang, and VCT has crowned their first Kickoff winners in Gen.G, upsetting the APAC titans in Paper Rex. Here is a recap of Pacific’s Kickoff tournament.

Paper Rex came into 2024’s VCT Pacific Kickoff as the APAC titans to beat after a Grand Finals appearance at Champions 2023. Despite a roster change replacing Jinggg for Monyet, the teams still looked to many as the number one team coming into the tournament.

However, Gen.G pulled off an upset win against the titans after a grueling journey through the tournament, playing as many matches as a team could to not only win the Grand Finals but also come into Masters Madrid as the first seed from Pacific.

Winning 3-1 against Paper Rex in the Grand Finals, Gen.G’s journey to the tournament win was long. Being seeded into the same group as Paper Rex, Gen.G lost their match against the team in the second round, which meant they had to qualify to the Playoffs through the Play-ins after a grueling group stage.

Paper Rex in VCT Pacific Kickoff 2024
Paper Rex came into VCT Pacfic Kickoff as favorites to win the tournament

In the Play-ins, Gen.G played a close match against Team Secret and dominated ZETA, booking their tickets for the Playoffs. In the semifinals, it was the Korean giants in DRX waiting for them, however, they upended the Korean hierarchy in dominant fashion to book their tickets for Madrid.

In the end, it was Gen.G’s rookie player Won-tae “Karon” Kim who earned the MVP of the tournament. Karon was discovered by the team in a ranked game and impressed to such a degree he was brought in for a trial. He will be going into Masters Madrid as a player to watch.

Now coming out of Pacific into Masters Madrid, it will be Gen.G going as the first seed, with Paper Rex coming as second.

Below is everything you need to know about VCT Pacific Kickoff.

Contents

VCT Pacific Kickoff: Final standings

PlacementTeamQualifies to
1Gen.GMasters Madrid
2Paper RexMasters Madrid
3-4T1
DRX
5Team Secret
6ZETA DIVISION
7-9Global Esports
Talon Esports
Rex Regum Qeon
10-11Bleed Esports
DetonatioN FocusMe

VCT Pacific Kickoff: Stream and VODS

The VCT Pacific Kickoff tournament was streamed on the tournament’s official Twitch and YouTube channels. We’ve embedded the VOD of the Grand Finals below.

All match VODs of the tournament can be found on the VCT Pacific YouTube channel.

VCT Pacific Kickoff: Schedule

VCT Pacific took place from February 17 to February 25, with a day break on February 23. All matches were played in the same venue, the S FACTORY in Seoul, Korea.

The dates for each stage of the Kickoff can be found below:

  • Group Stage: February 17-21
  • Play-ins: February 22
  • Playoffs: February 24-25

VCT Pacific Kickoff: Results

Playoffs: February 24-25

Day 8: February 25

StageMatchPTETGMT
Grand FinalsPaper Rex 1-3 Gen.G12 AM3 AM8 AM

Day 7: February 24

StageMatchPTETGMT
SemifinalsT1 0-2 Paper Rex12 AM3 AM8 AM
SemifinalsGen.G 2-0 DRX2 AM5 AM10 AM

Play-ins: February 22

Day 6: February 22

StageMatchPTETGMT
Play-insTeam Secret 1-2 Gen.G10 PM1 AM6 AM
Play-insZETA 0-2 Team Secret12 AM3 AM8 AM
Play-insGen.G 2-0 ZETA2 AM5 AM10 AM

Group Stage: February 17-21

Group A

PlacementTeamRecord
1T12-0
2ZETA DIVISION2-1
3Global Esports1-2
4BLEED0-2

Group B

PlacementTeamRecord
1DRX2-0
2Team Secret2-1
3Talon Esports1-2
4DFM 0-2

Group C

PlacementTeamRecord
1Paper Rex2-0
2Gen.G2-1
3RRQ0-2

Day 1: February 16

StageMatchPTETGMT
Group A Round 1T1 2-0 Bleed10 PM1 AM6 AM

Day 2: February 17

StageMatchPTETGMT
Group A Round 2ZETA 2-0 Global10 PM1 AM6 AM
Group C Round 1Gen.G 2-0 RRQ5:45 AM8:45 AM1:45 PM

Day 3: February 18

StageMatchPTETGMT
Group B Round 1DRX 2-0 DFM2:30 AM5:30 AM10:30 AM
Group B Round 2TS 0-2 Talon12 AM3 AM8 AM
Group C Round 2Gen.G 1-2 PRX10 PM1 AM6 AM

Day 4: February 19

StageMatchPTETGMT
Group A Round 2T1 2-1 ZETA2 AM5 AM 10 AM
Group A Round 3Bleed 1-2 Global12 AM3 AM8 AM

Day 5: February 20

StageMatchPTETGMT
Group B Round 2DRX 2-0 Talon 2 AM5 AM10 AM
Group B Round 3TS 2-0 DFM12 AM3 AM8 AM

Day 5: February 21

StageMatchPTETGMT
Group A Round 3ZETA 2-0 Global2 AM5 AM10 AM
Group B Round 3Talon 0-2 Team Secret12 AM3 AM8 AM
Group C Round 3RRQ 1-2 Gen.G10 PM1 AM6 AM

VCT Pacific Kickoff: Format

All 11 teams was be seeded and split into three groups, meaning one group featured only three teams. The highest-placing team from Valorant Champions 2023, in VCT Pacific’s case Paper Rex, was placed in the group of three with a bye to the second round.

The remaining teams was seeded based on their 2023 performance and drawn into the remaining slots. The group stage will feature a double-elimination bracket with best-of-three matches. The top two teams from each group will move on to the next stage.

The second-place teams from each group faced off in a Play-In Stage and played each other once with the team with the best record moving on to the Playoff Stage with the top teams from each group.

The Playoff Stage then crowned two representatives for the league at Masters Madrid through a single elimination bracket.

VCT Pacific Kickoff: Teams

This event also was the first to feature Bleed Esports in a VCT Pacific tournament, who were promoted into the league via the Ascension tournament.

Team Players
DetonatioN FocusMe Suggest, neth, Meiy, popogachi, JoXJo
DRX stax, BuZz, MaKo, Foxy9, Flashback
Gen.G Meteor, t3xture, Lakia, Munchkin, Karon
Global Esports Lightningfast, Russ, blaZek1ng, Polvi, Benkai
Paper Rex mindfreak, f0rsakeN, d4v41, something, Monyet
Rex Regum Qeon xffero, fl1pzjder, Lmemore, Estrella, Jemkin
T1 Sayaplayer, Carpe, xccurate, iZu, Rossy
Talon Esports Crws, JitboyS, ban, Governor, lenne
ZETA DIVISION Laz, Dep, SugarZ3ro, hiroronn, Yuran
Bleed Esports Deryeon, crazyguy, sScary, Egoist, yay
Team Secret BORKUM, JessieVash, Jremy, invy, NDG