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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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VCT Lock In: DRX vs C9 & EG vs Talon Predictions

We are just hours away from the Round of 16 matches with DRX vs C9 and EG vs Talon Esports. Who will be joining NRG and LOUD at the quarter finals of VCT Lock In 2023? Today, we predict the two winners of the night as we move towards the business end of the tournament.

Round Of 16 Predictions

DRX vs Cloud9

South Korean Giants will be facing the representatives of NA on our first match of the night.

Probable Lineups

DRX
  • Kim “stax” Gu-taek (IGL)
  • Goo “Rb” Sang-Min
  • Kim “Zest” Gi-seok
  • Yu “BuZz” Byung-chul
  • Kim “MaKo” Myeong-kwan
Cloud9
  • Anthony “vanity” Malaspina (IGL)
  • Nathan “leaf” Orf
  • Erick “Xeppaa” Bach
  • Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro
  • Jacob “yay” Whiteaker

Our Prediction

It’s the North America vs Asia in the first match of the night. DRX have defeated BBL Esports 2-1 to make it to the round of 16. On the other hand, Cloud9 steamrolled over another Asian team, Paper Rex. Both teams have shown similar levels of confidence so far in the tournament.

A lot of this DRX vs C9 match boils down to the rosters. Cloud9 now has a pretty much new roster thanks to the Riot Games partnership program. With Zellsis and yay now in the squad, they surely are a force to be reckoned with. But the same DRX roster has been playing together since VCT 2021. There are few teams that come close in terms of co-ordination and that was well displayed at Valorant Champions 2022. This should be a close encounter but we feel like DRX is making it into the quarterfinals from here.

Don’t believe us? We got both our predictions right last night!

DRX is confident they can avenge PRX with this hilarious post tweeted earlier today:

Evil Geniuses vs Talon Esports

We’ll be finishing the night off with the last match between Evil Geniuses and Talon Esports.

Probable Lineups

Evil Geniuses
  • Kelden “Boostio“Pupello (IGL)
  • Corbin “C0M” Lee
  • Alexander “jawgemo” Mor
  • Brendan “BcJ” Jensen
  • Ethan “Ethan” Arnold
Talon Esports
  • Itthirit “foxz” Ngamsaard (IGL)
  • Thanamethk “Crws” Mahatthananuyut
  • Apiwat “garnetS” Apiraksukumal
  • Jittana “JitboyS” Nokngam
  • Panyawat “Sushiboys” Subsiriroj

Our Prediction

Both Evil Geniuses and Talon won their opening matches 2-0, against Heretics and MIBR respectively. The teams seem quite equal in terms of the performance they have displayed so far in the tournament.

The most impressive aspect about Evil Geniuses is the fact that they have a stacked 9-man roster. So, for Talon it’s gonna be hard to predict the lineup of EG. Ethan and BcJ brings a wealth of experience in the lineup which will be crucial for their run here. But let’s not count out Talon Esports. The Thai boys have showed nothing but courage and co-ordination in their opening match against the locals, MIBR. Former XERXIA man, Sushiboys was crowned the MVP of the match. A lot rests on his shoulders tonight as they’ll try to see it through at the series. Evil Geniuses on paper have more experience and firepower, so they should be clinching a spot at the quarterfinals.

Guess only time will tell if we get our predictions right tonight as well!

 

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