The VCT Pacific teams have been in Seoul, South Korea for nearly two months at this point, and the last normally scheduled week of the group stage of the season began with a huge upset.
Coming into their match against each other, Gen.G Esports and Talon Esports have been following paths that veer in two very different directions. While Gen.G has been at the top of the league until a few recent stumbles came along, Talon has only looked better with each match they play.
Despite Talon’s general upward trajectory, Gen.G were still the heavy favorites in this match as one of only two teams that have managed to take a map off of DRX, Asia’s best team. It looks like Gen.G’s struggles might just be getting started, however, as they lost to Talon 2-0 in this week seven matchup.
The teams settled on Fracture for the first map of the day, which was not a surprising pick for them since this was the map where they got the better of DRX. However, Talon’s in-game leader Crws later said in his post-match interview that he was surprised Gen.G opted for this map today.
Crws had himself one of his most dominant performances in recent history on Fracture today. It is evident that part of Talon’s newfound confidence in their play is, at least partially, coming from their in-game leader. He always looks calm and focused on the stage and is also playing well individually.
Gen.G didn’t perform as poorly as they did last week when they lost to India’s Global Esports, but their star players, in particular, were noticeably absent on Fracture. K1Ng had much less impact on Viper than his team would have hoped, especially as she is one of his signature agent picks. Meteor, Gen.G’s duelist player, ended the map with a headshot hit percentage of only nine percent. Ever since Gen.G’s dominant win over their longtime rivals T1, it feels like their gameplay just hasn’t been the same.
On the other side of the coin, JitboyS was absolutely on fire for Talon alongside Crws. JitboyS managed to top the leaderboard with 20 kills and two assists, nevertheless pulling out these statistics on Cypher of all agents. He might have one hand on the trophy for best Cypher in the VCT Pacific League at this point.
Talon won Fracture 13-8, and things looked dark for Gen.G heading into their opponent’s map pick.
Moving to Lotus, Gen.G decided to make a roster switch, something they’ve opted for many times over the last few weeks. They brought out eKo in favor of Sylvan as their initiator player. Sylvan is a new pickup for the team and has slowly started to come in for more and more maps.
Meteor continued to show worrying form for Gen.G on Lotus. He was making many small mistakes that seemed uncharacteristic of how well he had played in the past.
As Gen.G continued to show worrying form through the first half of Lotus, it felt like their team synergy just wasn’t there compared to previous weeks.
Again on the side of Talon, it felt like nothing could go wrong. GarnetS played the most confidently in this match as he has all season, even pushing far up on defense to shut down Gen.G’s pushes before they even started.
Gen.G’s in-game leader TS was clearly not on the same level today as Crws on the other side of the stage, but he stayed calm and was able to come out strong in some clutch scenarios that kept his team in the game.
The first half of Lotus was close, but Talon’s attack side was yet to come. Known for their chaotic aggressive strategies, there was concern in the air for Gen.G.
Crws continued to lead by example and set a really high standard for his team to follow. Talon’s aggressive, “W gaming” strategy worked wonders for them today. Their engagements looked less chaotic and more calculated but still held that signature Talon style that this roster of players popularized.
In desperation mode, Meteor finally showed up with an ace in round nineteen, but it was just too little too late.
Talon won Lotus 13-7 and took the match 2-0 in a massive upset.
Gen.G is now on a bit of a concerning losing streak. The team is without a win since the aforementioned game against T1 last month. Though they likely have put in enough solid matches to still get a playoff spot, their trajectory is worrying.
On the other side, Talon is finally starting to look strong again after this huge win and their close game against Paper Rex last week. They even beat Japan’s ZETA DIVISION 2-0 the week before that, upsetting one of the teams that so desperately wants to make it to Masters Tokyo to represent their home country.
Both Gen.G and Talon will be playing two games each next week, as it is the start of back-to-back superweeks for the Pacific League. You can find the full match schedule and scores here.
