DRX Advances to VCT Pacific Grand Final After Hard-Fought Victory Over T1
All 12 teams have now been decided for VCT Masters Tokyo, and the race to crown champions in each of the three regions is heating up. In the VCT Pacific, DRX takes a step closer to claiming the league’s trophy, although it was a challenging match.
DRX has dominated the top spot throughout the regular season of VCT Pacific. However, their loss to Paper Rex last week pushed them into the lower bracket final in the playoffs.
Today, they faced off against T1, a team from Seoul that has made impressive progress in the second half of the regular season. The match was an intense battle, but DRX managed to secure a narrow 3-2 victory.
Prior to the match, it was announced that DRX would be returning to their original five-man roster for the opening map, replacing Foxy9 with the veteran player Zest. The team explained in the post-match press conference that playing with Zest felt more comfortable for them due to their three years of experience playing together.
Despite the celebrations on stage, DRX acknowledged that they had some issues during the match. “The match should have been easier than how we played, so I’m disappointed,” said BuZz in the post-match press conference via a translator. MaKo also mentioned that there were several mistakes that led to chaos in the game. However, they were still able to secure the victory.
The series began with a classic mirror composition on Ascent, a map that has become the meta in the VCT Pacific. Zest, who was playing in his third match since the LOCK//IN tournament, performed exceptionally well. MaKo’s clutch play in a 1v2 situation before the start of the second half also stood out.
Despite T1’s comeback and victory on Ascent, DRX fought back on Fracture, winning with a 13-11 scoreline. They continued their winning streak on Haven, securing a 13-11 victory and proving their dominance on this map. However, on Bind, DRX made uncharacteristic mistakes, resulting in a 13-6 loss to T1.
The series came down to a decider on Pearl, where T1 made a crucial mistake by swapping their agent picks. Although T1 consistently planted the spike, they struggled in the post-plants, allowing DRX to defuse the spike while enemy players were still alive. Sayaplayer’s efforts to keep T1 in the game with a huge ace in round nineteen were not enough, as DRX ultimately won the map 13-9.
With this victory, DRX advances to the VCT Pacific grand final and will face Paper Rex once again. The highly anticipated rematch will take place at 2 am CT.
DRX, VCT Pacific, T1, victory, playoffs, grand final, rematch, Paper Rex