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

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.

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

• Final standings
• Stream & VODs
• Results and schedule
  • Playoffs
  • Play-ins
  • Group Stage
• Format
• Teams

VCT Pacific Kickoff: Final standings

Placement	Team	Qualifies to
1	Gen.G	Masters Madrid
2	Paper Rex	Masters Madrid
3-4	T1 DRX	–
5	Team Secret	–
6	ZETA DIVISION	–
7-9	Global Esports Talon Esports Rex Regum Qeon	–
10-11	Bleed 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

Stage	Match	PT	ET	GMT
Grand Finals	Paper Rex 1-3 Gen.G	12 AM	3 AM	8 AM

Day 7: February 24

Stage	Match	PT	ET	GMT
Semifinals	T1 0-2 Paper Rex	12 AM	3 AM	8 AM
Semifinals	Gen.G 2-0 DRX	2 AM	5 AM	10 AM

Play-ins: February 22

Day 6: February 22

Stage	Match	PT	ET	GMT
Play-ins	Team Secret 1-2 Gen.G	10 PM	1 AM	6 AM
Play-ins	ZETA 0-2 Team Secret	12 AM	3 AM	8 AM
Play-ins	Gen.G 2-0 ZETA	2 AM	5 AM	10 AM

Group Stage: February 17-21

Group A

Placement	Team	Record
1	T1	2-0
2	ZETA DIVISION	2-1
3	Global Esports	1-2
4	BLEED	0-2

Group B

Placement	Team	Record
1	DRX	2-0
2	Team Secret	2-1
3	Talon Esports	1-2
4	DFM	0-2

Group C

Placement	Team	Record
1	Paper Rex	2-0
2	Gen.G	2-1
3	RRQ	0-2

Day 1: February 16

Stage	Match	PT	ET	GMT
Group A Round 1	T1 2-0 Bleed	10 PM	1 AM	6 AM

Day 2: February 17

Stage	Match	PT	ET	GMT
Group A Round 2	ZETA 2-0 Global	10 PM	1 AM	6 AM
Group C Round 1	Gen.G 2-0 RRQ	5:45 AM	8:45 AM	1:45 PM

Day 3: February 18

Stage	Match	PT	ET	GMT
Group B Round 1	DRX 2-0 DFM	2:30 AM	5:30 AM	10:30 AM
Group B Round 2	TS 0-2 Talon	12 AM	3 AM	8 AM
Group C Round 2	Gen.G 1-2 PRX	10 PM	1 AM	6 AM

Day 4: February 19

Stage	Match	PT	ET	GMT
Group A Round 2	T1 2-1 ZETA	2 AM	5 AM	10 AM
Group A Round 3	Bleed 1-2 Global	12 AM	3 AM	8 AM

Day 5: February 20

Stage	Match	PT	ET	GMT
Group B Round 2	DRX 2-0 Talon	2 AM	5 AM	10 AM
Group B Round 3	TS 2-0 DFM	12 AM	3 AM	8 AM

Day 5: February 21

Stage	Match	PT	ET	GMT
Group A Round 3	ZETA 2-0 Global	2 AM	5 AM	10 AM
Group B Round 3	Talon 0-2 Team Secret	12 AM	3 AM	8 AM
Group C Round 3	RRQ 1-2 Gen.G	10 PM	1 AM	6 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.