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VARREL and T1 Book Their Tickets to Busan, Send Paper Rex and Gen.G Home

Aug 29, 2026

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VARREL and T1 Book Their Tickets to Busan, Send Paper Rex and Gen.G Home

VARREL survived a three-map war with Paper Rex behind Foxy9's 29-kill Sunset masterclass, while T1 swept Gen.G in straight maps to close out Pacific Stage 2's Seoul chapter. Both winners advance to Busan Finals Weekend; PRX and Gen.G are eliminated.

VARREL outlasted Paper Rex in a three-map decider and T1 dispatched Gen.G in straight maps on Saturday, closing out Pacific Stage 2's run at the Sangam Colosseum in Seoul and eliminating two of the region's most recognizable rosters. Both winners now head to Busan for Finals Weekend, where VARREL and T1 will meet again in the Lower Semifinal.

VARREL

Playoffs — Lower Round 2Best of 3 · VCT 2026: Pacific Stage 2Saturday, August 29, 2026

Paper Rex

Lotus — VL 13 - 6

Split — PRX 15 - 13

Sunset — VL 13 - 10

A three-map war that VARREL survived on the back of two heroes

Both teams lost their own map pick, forcing an all-out decider on Sunset. Paper Rex opened on Lotus and jumped out to an early 4-1 lead on defense before VARREL steadied and leveled the score by halftime. A four-round run out of the half-time break sealed the opener.

Map 1 — Lotus (PRX pick)

VARREL 13 - 6 Paper Rex

Both sides ran the same Omen-Viper-Fade trio, but VL leaned into Vyse-Raze while PRX countered with a Yoru-Raze double-duelist look. PRX's defense looked superior early, building a 4-1 lead, but VARREL clawed it back to 6-6 by halftime and then reeled off four straight rounds to put the map away.

VARREL closed the half tied 6-6 before winning 7 of the final 7 rounds.

VARREL took Split away from Paper Rex in the veto, and the map delivered the series' most chaotic stretch — neither team won more than three rounds in a row for most of the map. Zexy's 28-kill showing kept VARREL in it, but Paper Rex closed out overtime to force a decider.

Map 2 — Split (VL pick)

Paper Rex 15 - 13 VARREL (OT)

VL's oonzmlp (Sage) and Zexy (Raze) traded blows with PRX's Yoru-Jinggg pairing through a back-and-forth map. PRX reached match point first, but VARREL won three straight to force overtime and even took the extra attack round. PRX responded with three consecutive rounds of its own to close it out.

Zexy: 28 kills on Split — the highest individual map total in the series.

Sunset flipped the script entirely: VARREL had gone 2-0 on the map across Stage 2, Paper Rex 0-2. Down 4-1 early, VARREL again rallied to even the score by halftime, this time behind a career map from Foxy9.

Map 3 — Sunset (Decider) (Decider)

VARREL wins the decider

VARELL brought Klaus off the bench into a double-Sentinel look with Foxy9 on Chamber and oonzmlp on Sage, while PRX stuck with its Omen-Viper double-controller shell. Foxy9 put together nine multi-kill rounds, including an ace that narrowly missed becoming a six-kill round, finishing with 29 kills on the map alone to close out the series.

Foxy9: 29 kills, nine multi-kill rounds on Sunset.

Series result

2-1 VARREL

Best-of-3

Match MVP

Foxy9

9.50 Rating · 264 ACS

The Catalyst

XuNa

11 assists · 83% KAST

PRX top fragger

Jinggg

233 ACS · 59 kills

Foxy9 (VARREL)

Jinggg (Paper Rex)

9.50 Rating 9.30

264 ACS 233

65 Kills 59

69% KAST 70%

Foxy9's series arrived a week after a quieter outing against Global Esports, and VARREL head coach TK9 said postgame he'd stayed up until 10 a.m. preparing for the match — a gamble on sleep that paid off. TK9 and his former SLT Seongnam core now head to Busan, the same city where that roster core won the Korean Road to Ascension event last year.

Player	Team	Rating	ACS	K	D	A	KAST	ADR	FK	FD
Foxy9 (MVP)	VARREL	9.5	264	65	54	11	69%	158	13	8
Zexy	VARREL	8.4	216	53	46	9	77%	145	9	14
XuNa	VARREL	8.9	199	51	44	11	83%	130	4	6
oonzmlp	VARREL	8	180	42	43	12	69%	120	4	5
C1ndeR	VARREL	7.2	160	25	28	15	72%	96	2	3
Klaus	VARREL	9.5	145	10	13	18	70%	84	2	0
Jinggg (MVP)	Paper Rex	9.3	233	59	50	12	70%	156	13	9
d4v41	Paper Rex	7.5	187	46	45	17	74%	123	4	7
invy	Paper Rex	8.6	186	46	49	27	76%	125	7	6
something	Paper Rex	8	153	40	47	12	66%	104	7	5
f0rsakeN	Paper Rex	6.2	151	37	55	24	67%	97	5	7

T1 sweeps the Seoul derby, sending Gen.G home

In what's become one of Korean Valorant's defining rivalries, T1 needed only two maps to eliminate Gen.G, who came in already showing signs of rust after dropping rounds late against Nongshim RedForce.

Gen.G

Playoffs — Lower Round 2Best of 3 · VCT 2026: Pacific Stage 2Saturday, August 29, 2026

Lotus — T1 13:5

Split — T1 13:11

T1 picked Lotus again, a day after beating KIWOOM DRX on the same map, and continued running an Omen-Viper-Chamber shell. Meteor was sharp all map, consistently winning the opening engagement on both sides of the round.

Map 1 — Lotus (T1 pick)

T1 13 - 5 Gen.G

T1 entered halftime up 7-5 and was flawless on the second half, closing the map 13-5 without dropping another round. Gen.G head coach solo said afterward that the team had struggled all stage against Viper-Chamber compositions on Lotus, which may explain the one-sided finish.

T1 outscored Gen.G 6-0 after halftime to close out Lotus.

For Split, T1 switched its composition from earlier in the stage — swapping a Raze-Jett-Skye look for Yoru-Raze alongside Fade, Omen, and Jett. A four-kill round from BuZz brought T1 to match point; Gen.G's economy, left in shambles, couldn't produce more than one more round.

Map 2 — Split (Gen.G pick)

T1 13 - 11 Gen.G

BuZz's 4K sealed match point for T1. Gen.G clawed back a round off a scrap-built economy, but it wasn't enough to save the series.

BuZz: match-high 38 kills across the series (273 ACS on Split).

Series result

2-0 T1

Best-of-3

Total rounds played

across 2 completed maps

Match MVP

iZu

9.50 Rating · 206 ACS

Gen.G top fragger

t3xture

244 ACS · 32 kills

Player	Team	Rating	ACS	K	D	A	KAST	ADR	FK	FD
t3xture	Gen.G	8.8	244	32	34	7	60%	155	7	6
Ash	Gen.G	7.7	199	29	34	5	64%	122	6	8
Raxcal	Gen.G	7.5	172	26	29	7	69%	119	2	3
Karon	Gen.G	7.4	139	21	27	18	74%	83	2	4
Efina	Gen.G	6.5	124	18	30	8	57%	86	2	3
BuZz	T1	9.5	273	38	31	9	69%	175	8	6
Meteor	T1	9.3	248	37	27	5	62%	149	7	5
iZu (MVP)	T1	9.5	206	32	20	11	81%	152	2	2
Munchkin	T1	7.5	175	24	27	13	74%	118	6	4
stax	T1	8.6	127	21	21	21	79%	71	0	1

No decider needed

T1's sweep meant Abyss, the veto's decider map, was never played — a clean finish after Gen.G had dropped tight rounds against Nongshim RedForce a round earlier.

For Munchkin and Meteor, both former Gen.G players, the win keeps alive a personal storyline: a return to Shanghai, where they won a Masters title with the Tigers two years ago. That trip isn't guaranteed yet — T1 still needs to finish above Global Esports on points to lock in qualification.

What's next

Busan Finals Weekend — Up Next

Sept 4, 2026

Upper Final

Nongshim RedForce vs. Global Esports

Sept 4, 2026

Lower Semifinal

VARREL vs. T1

Sept 5, 2026

Lower Final

Loser of NS/GE vs. winner of VL/T1

Stage 2's Seoul chapter is over after three years at the Sangam Colosseum. The action resumes next week in Busan, where VARREL and T1 — both fresh off elimination wins — meet again with a Lower Final spot on the line.

PacificT1Gen.GVARRELPaper Rex