The group stage for the 2026 VCT Pacific Stage 1 has drawn to a close, and the brackets for the playoffs—the final gateway to Masters London—are now set.

In the Omega group, T1 pulled off a masterful double-play: team victory and individual record-breaking. They dismantled Full Sense (FS) 2-1 to finish the group stage with a pristine 5-0 record, punching their ticket straight to the second round of the upper bracket. While T1 drew first blood on 'Pearl' with a dominant 13-5 score, their perfect map record for Stage 1 was shattered in a 7-13 loss on 'Bind'. However, they kept their cool in the deciding third map, 'Breeze', successfully neutralizing the offensive pressure from Full Sense's star 'Premy' Papaphat Siphaphat to clinch the series 13-9.

It was a banner day for T1, as their players decided to rewrite the VCT Pacific history books. 'Meteor' Kim Tae-oh became the first player in VCT Pacific to rack up 3,000 career kills, while 'stax' Kim Gu-taek hit his own milestone of 2,000 career kills. Finishing the group stage undefeated while stacking up these personal accolades is, frankly, the kind of momentum you want going into the postseason. Elsewhere in the Omega group, Rex Regum Qeon (RRQ) finished with a 4-1 record, while Full Sense (FS) and DetonatioN FocusMe (DFM) squeezed into the playoffs with 3-2 and 2-3 records, respectively.

Over in the Alpha group, things were a bit more chaotic, with the final standings remaining a mystery until the bitter end of week 5. On the 1st, Gen.G (GEN) suffered a shock 1-2 defeat to Team Secret (TS). Despite leading 8-4 on the opening map 'Split', Gen.G saw their lead evaporate in an 11-13 collapse. They clawed back on 'Lotus' thanks to a spirited performance from 'iNTRO' Ha Hyun-cheol, winning 13-11, but fell 5-13 on 'Breeze', serving as the team that finally let Team Secret break their 10-match losing streak.

The drama continued on the 2nd, as Nongshim RedForce (NS) faced Global Esports (GE) in a grueling series that ended in a 1-2 loss for Nongshim. After dropping the first map 5-13, Nongshim found a pulse on 'Bind', riding a strong showing from 'Dambi' Lee Hyuk-gyu to a 13-7 victory. Yet, even after forcing a nail-biting 11-11 tie in the third map 'Haven', they couldn't contain the late-game heroics of 'Patty' Patrick Mendosa in overtime. By the 3rd, DRX (DRX) attempted to catch Paper Rex (PRX) off guard with a 'hyper-composition', but were soundly defeated 0-2, dropping both 'Breeze' and 'Lotus' by identical 5-13 margins.

While the four playoff-bound teams from the Alpha group had already been decided by week 4, the final week 5 results shuffled the deck. Paper Rex (PRX) and DRX (DRX) both finished with 4-1 records, but Paper Rex took the top spot thanks to their head-to-head victory, leaving DRX in second. Global Esports (GE) claimed third at 3-2, with Nongshim RedForce (NS) rounding out the quartet at 2-3. Gen.G (GEN), meanwhile, finished their Stage 1 journey at the bottom of the table after a 1-4 run, losing the tie-breaker against Team Secret (TS).