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VCT 2023 Pacific: PRX & Talon Pick Up Wins

It was week number 7, day 1 at the VCT 2023 Pacific League. PRX took on the mighty ZETA Division and Talon Esports went up against Gen. G Esports. PRX and Talon walked away with wins from the night. Check out how the action played out!

VCT 2023 Pacific: Week 7 Day 1 Results

PRX vs ZETA Division

Rosters

PRX
  • Aaron ‘mindfreak’ Leonhart
  • Jason ‘f0rsakeN’ Susanto
  • Ilya ‘something’ Petrov
  • Khalish ‘d4v41’ Rusyaidee
  • Wang ‘Jinggg’ Jing Jie
ZETA Division
  • Koji ‘Laz’ Ushida
  • Tomoaki ‘crow’ Maruoka
  • Yuma ‘Dep’ Hashimoto
  • Shota ‘SugarZ3ro’ Watanabe
  • Tenta ‘TENNN’ Asai

Map Picks & Bans

  • PRX ban Haven
  • ZETA ban Pearl
  • PRX pick Split
  • ZETA pick Ascent
  • PRX ban Fracture
  • ZETA ban Bind
  • Lotus remains
Map 1 (Split)

We started off the series with PRX’s pick of Split. PRX started off their map pick by winning the first two pistol rounds. They failed to follow through on the bonus round but later picked up round number four. The rest of the first half kept going back and forth as both teams failed to keep momentum. The first half ended 7-5 in favor of PRX.

As the sides were switched, it was now ZETA on attack. Hoping to turn the tide around, they regrouped hoping to take down PRX. But PRX proved to be too strong on defense taking on picks early in the rounds. ZETA could manage to scrap only one round while on attack. With that, PRX won the first map 13-6.

Map 2 (Ascent)

ZETA’s map pick of Ascent seemed to start of well with the team picking up the first two pistol rounds. But soon after, it seemed to be PRX’s playground. They won 5 straight rounds after as ZETA could barely stand straight. While ZETA did manage to win two more rounds in the first half, it ended 8-4 in favor of PRX.

It was now PRX on defense and they won the first two rounds. They did win the fourth round after conceding the bonus. Soon after, ZETA seemed to be picking up the pieces and striving forward towards a comeback. Despite their efforts, it was PRX that picked up their two remaining rounds and won the map 13-10. And that is how they picked up the series 2-0!

Talon Esports vs Gen. G

Rosters

Talon Esports
  • Thanamethk ‘Crws’ Mahatthananuyut
  • Itthirit ‘foxz’ Ngamsaard
  • Patiphan ‘patt’ Chaiwong
  • Apiwat ‘garnetS’ Apiraksukumal
  • Jittana ‘JitboyS’ Nokngam
Gen. G
  • Yeom ‘eKo’ Wang-ryong
  • Lee ‘k1Ng’ Seung-won
  • Kim ‘Meteor’ Tae-O
  • Yu ‘TS’ Tae-seok
  • Kim ‘GodDead’ Sung-sin

Map Picks & Bans

  • GEN ban Pearl
  • TLN ban Split
  • GEN pick Fracture
  • TLN pick Lotus
  • GEN ban Bind
  • TLN ban Ascent
  • Haven remains
Map 1 (Fracture)

We began the series with Gen. G’s pick of Fracture. But it was Talon that won the first round right off the bat. However, Gen. G made amends by winning the second round. While Gen. G seemed to be the better team in the first few rounds, Talon soon made a comeback as they picked up a streak of four dominant rounds. The first half ended 7-5 in favor of Talon Esports.

The roles were reversed and it was Talon now on defense. This time they looked just as sharp and won the first two pistol rounds. They won another two rounds after conceding the bonus round. At this point, it was a tough ask for Gen. G to make a comeback and Talon picked up the map 13-8.

Map 2 (Lotus)

Before the second map commenced, Gen. G made a bold move by substituting Sylvan on for eKo. This wasn’t much of a surprise as eKo didn’t meet the expectations on Fracture. It was now time for the two teams to show up at Talon’s map pick of Lotus. But to their demise, Gen. G won the first two pistol rounds of their map pick. However, they couldn’t maintain consistency as Talon then reminded why Lotus is their map pick by winning the next 5 rounds. Gen. G responded for a while but it wasn’t for long as Talon were ahead 7-5 at the end of the first half.

Talon started the second half winning the pistol rounds this time. Gen. G did snatch away their bonus but Talon picked up the next 3 rounds with ease. With one more round left to win, Talon picked it up sooner than later despite an ace from Meteor. And with that, they won on Lotus 13-7. Rest assured, Talon Esports clinched the series 2-0!

Despite the result, Talon Esports are currently placed 9th on the standings. Meanwhile, PRX are sitting pretty at 2nd place, right under DRX. Things will surely get tight as we’re not too far away from the playoffs of VCT 2023: Pacific League.

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FPX Becomes Champions of VCT Masters Copenhagen

The stage was set at Copenhagen as FunPlus Phoenix faced Paper Rex at the grand finals of VCT Masters Copenhagen 2022. It started off with 12 teams but as the dust settled, only 2 remained. In the end after 5 breathtaking maps, it was FPX that were crowned the champions of Masters Copenhagen.

Team Rosters

FunPlus Phoenix

  • Kyrylo “ANGE1” Karasov
  • Andrey “Shao” Kiprsky
  • Pontus “Zyppan” Eek
  • Dmitry “SUYGETSU” Ilyushin
  • Ardis “ardiis” Svarenieks

Paper Rex

  • Benedict “Benkai” Tan
  • Aaron “mindfreak” Leonhart
  • Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto
  • Khalish “d4v41” Rusyaidee
  • Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie

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FPX’s Run at Masters Copenhagen

Group Stage

Right from the start, FPX had an impressive run and faced some real mighty teams. They, however, probably missed FaZe Clan who failed to qualify for the Masters. FunPlus Phoenix were one of the eight group stage teams, being one of the two teams from EMEA. They took shelter in group B against the likes of DRX, Northeption and XERXIA. They finished second in Group B winning against Northeption and XERXIA but losing to DRX. Since they finished second, they had to take the longer (and harder) route finding themselves in the lower bracket.

Lower Bracket

In round 1 of the lower bracket, FPX faced Guild Esports who they convincingly beat 2-0 in a Bo3. Moving onto the lower quarter-finals, they faced DRX yet again and this time they took revenge. DRX straight up lost 2-0 to FPX bowing out of the competition. It was then an all EMEA showdown as FPX faced Fnatic. Even though Fnatic took the first map, FPX came back winning the next two moving onto the lower bracket final. FPX were now up against one of the tournament favorites, OpTic Gaming. But FunPlus showed their class annihilating OpTic 3-1 without even having to go for the final map. FPX were now finally in the grand finals of Masters Copenhagen 2022.

Grand Finals

Map Results

  • FPX wins 13-3 on Bind
  • PRX wins 13-7 on Icebox
  • FPX wins 13-7 on Fracture
  • PRX wins 13-7 on Haven
  • FPX wins 13-9 on Breeze

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And with that, FunPlus Phoenix became champions of Valorant Masters Copenhagen 2022. This was the first five map grand final of Valorant Masters history, so it can definitely be deemed as the best one yet.

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