A week of comebacks and rivalries slowly produced the playoff picture as VCT (Valorant Champions Tour) Pacific: Stage 2 continued last July 23–26 at Sangam SOOP Colosseum in Seoul.
Paper Rex (PRX) took the biggest steps after going winless last week, sweeping Japan’s DetonatioN FocusMe (DFM) and Korea’s Kiwoom DRX (KRX).
The resilience of the Southeast Asian titans was tested in their duel with the Tokyo-based crew. It overcame a slow start to take the opening map Summit (13-10) and fended off a comeback attempt in Ascent in a quadruple overtime win (17-15) to clinch their first win of the split.
Later, the championship standard of PRX was in full display against hometown team KRX, showing a masterclass in Summit (13-1) and a solid defensive half to take over in Breeze (13-6).
“Our teamwork and our aim are back together as a team,” said PRX flex player Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto of Indonesia after their victory in the RX Derby. “I think all of the boys played really confident and trust[ed] each other on the comm[s], that’s why the results showed.”
Susanto led all players in assists in both series, notching 23 and 13 against DFM and KRX, respectively. Russian duelist Ilia “something” Petrov starred in the offensive, dropping 47 eliminations in their win against DFM and 34 takedowns against KRX.
In an unorthodox pick, the 24-year-old fragger pivoted to the sentinel Sage, opposite of his usual role, in both their matches on Summit.
Preparations for Shanghai
The changes are part of PRX preparations for Champions Shanghai. Head coach Alexandre “alecks” Sallé sees Stage 2 as their opportunity to iron out their weaknesses, strategies and team compositions.
The team is on the hunt for its first international trophy of the season on the back of losses in the grand finals of the Masters Santiago, the first global event of the 2026 Valorant Champions Tour early this year, and the Masters London last month.
“We wanted to come into Champions as prepared as we can be, so to do that you have to make sure you’re strong,” said the 36-year-old French tactician.
Sallé also highlighted the team’s aggressive identity, which he noted remains intact and has evolved to a more controlled state in line with their defensive improvements.
“That’s the thing that should stay untouched. We just have to refine it and that’s what we have been doing for the past few years just to make the small things better,” he said.
With their style of play, dubbed “W Gaming,” Sallé is making sure that the squad remains known as a lethal threat to be explosive in both ends. “I’d like to stay considered as one of the most aggressive teams in the world and I don’t think that would change anytime soon.”
Unfinished business
In Group Alpha, Global Esports (GE) was ahead in their brewing rivalry with Thailand’s Full Sense (FS), scoring a decisive 2-0 to collect their second win of Stage 2.
Led by Filipino initiator Patrick “PatMen” Mendoza, GE bulldozed their way to steal their opponent’s map pick Ascent (13-7) and swiftly ended the bout on Summit (13-3).
Global Esports leads in their head-to-head matchups against Full Sense, which is now handled by their former coach Hector “FrosT” Rosario. GE has won two out of three games against the Thailand-based squad, with their loss dating back to the Upper Bracket Finals of Stage 1.
Mendoza took over the server with a 40/20/10 kill-death-assist (KDA) playing Omen and Skye, respectively, with Australian Kale “autumn” Dunne backstopping with the second-highest series eliminations at 39.
Full Sense’s Papaphat “Primmie” Sriprapha of Thailand marked 28 eliminations as Jett and Waylay.
Familiarity with plays
With the sudden changes in the coaching staff of both teams, GE head coach Daniel “Platoon” Zhou of Canada admitted that familiarity with the plays Rosario has instilled on his former team was part of the solution to decode the Full Sense puzzle.
“It’s not to say that it’s not a factor at all,” said Zhou. He explained that their camp mainly focused on assessing strategies that worked for them, especially with new ideas coming in on the arrival of their Filipino assistant coach, Derren “Aimix” dela Cruz.
“I think we’re really focused on what feels good for us and find our footing first since it’s just the start of Stage 2, so it’s a little bit less about them and a bit more about us right now,” Zhou said.
GE’s perfect run, however, hit a bump as they closed out the week falling to a reverse sweep from Korean squad Nongshim Redforce. It could not follow up their sharpshooting from Ascent (13-6), dropping both Breeze and Sunset in twin 7-13 defeats.
Dunne showed another fantastic performance cycling to three agents and topping the stat sheets for his team with 48 eliminations, but Nongshim’s Sang-min “Rb” Goo took home the MVP honors after posting a 49/40/13 KDA and leading his squad to the series win.
Global Esports struggled to coordinate their advances, taking only five out of 19 attacking rounds in the last two maps. “We were so disoriented on our attack side so we have to fix that before our next game,” said Mendoza in their post-game interview.
Global Esports is currently second in Group Alpha at 2-1, leading Zeta Division and Full Sense which have identical 1-1 cards. Nongshim Redforce is at fifth (1-2) and Rex Regum Qeon in last place (0-3).
Gen.G leads the standings with a 3-0 record and a win away from qualification to the playoffs.
Unlucky
It was an unfortunate week for the Adobo duo of Kelly “kellyS” Sedillo and Jhian “Zeus” dela Vega as Team Secret (TS) came crashing down the standings in a rough 0-2 outing against hometown heroes T1.
The Manila-based squad failed to replicate their upset against KRX the week before, going down to twin 5-13 defeats in maps Ascent and Haven to absorb their second loss of the split.
Sedillo shone for TS as Phoenix with a 22/31/14 KDA across two maps. T1’s Byung-chul “Buzz” Yu was named the series MVP, listing 36 takedowns and a series-high 270 average combat score (ACS).
Team Secret took the biggest hit as Dela Vega, piloting Neon, was limited to just two eliminations during the final map. The squad was quickly overwhelmed at Ascent, leading to a 2-10 deficit by halftime, with T1 taking advantage of their stronger loadouts in Round 18 to run over the opposition and grab the series lead.
A stronger defensive showing on Haven displayed signs of life for Team Secret, securing a 5-7 scoreline, but they were rendered winless at the second half as a six-to-nothing run sealed away the win for their Korean counterparts.
Team Secret now holds a 1-2 win-loss record in fourth place of Group Omega, ahead of KRX (1-2) and DetonatioN FocusMe (0-2). Paper Rex leapfrogs their way to third with a 2-1 card as T1 takes second (2-1) while Varrel takes the top spot with a spotless record in two outings. CS
