The South Korea vs. Southeast Asia battle between NS and RRQ took to VCT Pacific 2026 Kickoff for the region’s first Masters Santiago slot.
VCT Pacific 2026 Kickoff became the battleground for this South Korea vs. Southeast Asian matchup. The stakes? Being the first team worldwide to qualify for Masters Santiago. Both teams fought hard during the best-of-five, but Nongshim Esports emerged victorious against Rex Regum Qeon and punched their ticket to Santiago.
VCT Pacific 2026 Kickoff: NS vs. RRQ
First off, let's discuss how both of the teams become one step away from being the first team to qualify for Masters Santiago from the Pacific. All teams began in the upper bracket of this triple-elimination event. RRQ swept both Detonation FocusMe and Paper Rex, 2-0, and they made it to the upper bracket final practically unscathed.
Meanwhile, Nongshim had to go through more matches and did drop a map. However, they won all of their matches: vs. Team Secret (2-0), vs. T1 (2-1), and vs. FULL SENSE (2-0).
Coming into the match, both of these teams looked strong. Solid arguments could be made for either team to win, but historical data is NS-favored by just a bit, since NS has won two out of their three matches, lifetime, against RRQ. This win increases that stat to 3W-1L against the Southeast Asian team.
It was labored for the South Korean team, though. They traded blows, but on the series decider, Breeze, it looked like a complete wash. RRQ won the first pistol, then Nongshim RedForce took 12 rounds in a row, including the second pistol. RRQ almost mounted a comeback, finding six more rounds, including the eco after their lost pistol, but NS closed it out on round 20.
Stats across the board were mind-blowing from both teams. RRQ's Cahya "Monyet" Nugraha played five different Agents across the five maps played, while NS Kim "Francis" Mu-bin was on Yoru duty the entire series.
Jung "Xross" Hwan was named the match MVP with a whopping 79/62/20 KDA across five maps and 196 ACS.
RRQ falls to the middle bracket final, where they will play T1 for another shot at Masters Santiago.
