Images: Riot Games
Rounding out the rest of the Top 6 are Team Secret, Gen.G Esports, RRQ, and Talon Esports.
The Stage 2 Group Stage for the 2024 VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Pacific league has concluded, with Singapore's 
Paper Rex and South Korea's 
DRX leading the six Playoff-qualified teams and earning direct byes to the upper bracket semifinals.
In the final stage before VALORANT Champions, teams in each of the VCT leagues earn a spot in the Stage 2 Playoffs through their combined records in the Stage 1 and Stage 2 Group Stage records. The Top 6 teams in each league will qualify for the Playoffs, with the Top 2 teams also earning a bye to the upper bracket semifinals, while the remaining six squads will unfortunately end their seasons early.
The Pacific's Top 6
In the Pacific league, the Playoff-qualified teams include Paper Rex, DRX, the Philippines' 
Team Secret, South Korea's 
Gen.G Esports, Indonesia's 
Rex Regum Qeon (RRQ), and Thailand's 
Talon Esports. Meanwhile, South Korea's 
T1, Japan's 
ZETA DIVISION and 
DetonatioN FocusMe, India-based 
Global Esports, and Singapore's 
Bleed Esports failed to make the Playoffs.
Paper Rex topped the overall standings in the Pacific league with a 9-1 record off a 4-1 record in Stage 1 and a perfect 5-0 outing in Stage 2. DRX finished second with an 8-2 standing off a perfect 5-0 start in Stage 1 despite a mixed 3-2 record in Stage 2.
Meanwhile, Secret had by far the most dramatic road to the Pacific league Stage 2 Playoffs. They finished third overall with a 7-3 record despite a disappointing 3-3 record in Stage 1. But after a roster overhaul before Stage 2, Secret racked off a perfect 4-0 record to punch their tickets to the Playoffs.
Rounding out the rest of the Top 6 are Gen.G, RRQ, and Talon, who all finished with a 6-4 record with their placements determined by their match head-to-head records.
Seeing Gen.G only placing fourth in the Pacific league may be surprising for some. After all, they have been the most dominant team in the entire VCT so far by winning the Pacific Kickoff in February, finishing second in Masters Madrid in March and in Pacific Stage 1 in May, and claiming the championship at Masters Shanghai last month.
However, Gen.G only managed a 3-3 record in the Stage 1 Group Stage despite finishing second in the Playoffs there before finishing the Stage Group Stage with a 3-1 standing.
RRQ and Talon earned their spot in the Playoffs with respectable performances throughout Stages 1 and 2. RRQ finished with a 3-2 record in both Group Stages while Talon had a 3-1 record in Stage 1 and a mixed 2-2 outing in Stage 2.
The Playoff picture
The Pacific League Playoffs will kick off on 12 July with a Knockout Round, where the third to sixth-placed teams will fight in a set of single-elimination matches. Gen.G will face off against RRQ while Secret will be taking on Talon.
After the Knockout Round, the Playoffs will shift to a four-team double-elimination format featuring Paper Rex, DRX, and the two teams that emerged victorious from the previous round. Paper Rex will face the winner of the Gen.G-RRQ match while DRX will be matched against the winner of the Secret-Talon match.
All matches in the Playoffs will be a best-of-three except for the lower bracket finals and the grand finals, which will both be full best-of-five series. The Top 3 teams in the Playoffs will claim all-important spots in this year's VALORANT Champions as well as the lion's share of the league's US$250,000 prize pool, including a US$100,000 grand prize for the champions.
Here are the overall standings at the end of the 2024 VCT Pacific League Stage 2 Group Stage:
- Paper Rex: 9-1 (Stage 1: 4-1, Stage 2: 5-0)
- DRX: 8-2 (S1: 5-0, S2: 3-2)
- Team Secret: 7-3 (S1: 3-3, S2: 4-0)
- Gen.G Esports: 6-4 (S1: 3-3, S2: 3-1)
- Rex Regum Qeon: 6-4 (S1: 3-2, S2: 3-2)
- Talon Esports: 6-4 (S1: 4-1, S2: 2-3)
- T1: 4-6 (S1: 2-4, S2: 2-2)
- ZETA DIVISION: 3-7 (S1: 2-3, S2: 1-4)
- Global Esports: 3-7 (S1: 2-4, S2: 1-3)
- DetonatioN FocusMe: 2-8 (S1: 1-4, S2: 1-4)
- Bleed Esports: 1-9 (S1: 1-5, S2: 0-4)
