Images: Riot Games
Out of six teams in the VCT Pacific Stage 2 Playoffs, only three will make it to VALORANT Champions. Here are our picks.
The 2024 VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Stage 2 Playoffs for the Pacific league is set to kick off on Friday (12 July), where six Playoff-qualified teams will be fighting to be among the three teams representing the region in this year's VALORANT Champions.
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.
In the Pacific league, the six teams fighting for spots in VALORANT Champions include Singapore's 
Paper Rex, South Korea's 
DRX and 
Gen.G Esports, the Philippines' 
Team Secret, Indonesia's 
Rex Regum Qeon (RRQ), and Thailand's 
Talon Esports.
Who will represent the Pacific League in VALORANT Champions?
Gen.G, RRQ, Secret, and Talon will be starting the Playoffs in the single-elimination Knockout Round. Meanwhile, Paper Rex and DRX, as the Top 2 teams in the league's overall standings, received direct byes to the subsequent double-elimination bracket's upper bracket semifinals. 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.
With their direct seed to the upper bracket semifinals, Paper Rex and DRX have the easiest paths to make it to VALORANT Champions. They just need to win their respective matches to be guaranteed a Top 3 finish and one of the spots in this year's world championship tournament.
With that said, things will surely be easier said than done for Paper Rex and DRX as they are set to face strong opponents in their respective upper bracket semifinal matches. The Knockout Round will very likely result with Gen.G and Secret emerging victorious and facing Paper Rex and DRX, respectively, in the next round.
The last time that Gen.G faced RRQ was in the Stage 1 Group Stage back in April, where the Indonesian team won with a 2-1 score. But that was before Gen.G staked their claim as the best team in the world with their victory in Masters Shanghai last month. While RRQ's previous victory does make an upset a real possibility, we expect Gen.G to be the ones winning this time around.
The other Knockout Round matchup between Secret and Talon should also be another straightforward affair with the Filipino squad taking the victory.
Similar to the other matchup in this round, Talon won their last match against Secret during the Stage 1 Group Stage. However, Secret overhauled their roster after failing to make it out of the Knockout Round in the Stage 1 Playoffs. Since then, Secret won all four matches they played in the Stage 2 Group Stage – including a 2-1 victory over Gen.G – to qualify for the Stage 2 Playoffs.
When considering Secret's current form, and the fact that Talon only managed a 2-3 record in the Stage 2 Group Stage, then we expect the Filipinos to comfortably advance to the next round.
Now, our expected upper bracket semifinal matches between Paper Rex and Gen.G as well as DRX and Secret are where things get interesting.
Paper Rex and Gen.G is the biggest rivalry in the Pacific. Gen.G defeated Paper Rex in the Pacific Kickoff back in February while Paper Rex struck back to defeat Gen.G in the Pacific Stage 1 Playoffs.
We expect this latest chapter in their rivalry to be another closely-contested affair, but we will give the edge to Paper Rex should they indeed face off once again. Paper Rex went undefeated in the Stage 2 Group Stage, winning five-straight matches, while Gen.G only went 3-1 after their aforementioned loss to Secret. Of course, anything can happen in a best-of-three, but recent results suggest Paper Rex are looking better.
In the other side of this hypothetical bracket, we expect Secret to continue their undefeated streak with another win over DRX. Secret and DRX didn't face off in both the Stage 1 and 2 Group Stages, so there's no data to go from, especially after Secret's roster overhaul. With that said, Secret are coming off a five-match win streak while DRX only managed a 3-2 record in the Stage 2 Group Stage. Secret have been on fire while DRX have been looking shaky, so the Filipinos should be victorious in this matchup.
Our predicted results so far will see Paper Rex and Secret taking two of the three spots in VALORANT Champions, leaving Gen.G and DRX fighting for the last one in the lower bracket semifinals. Gen.G and DRX have also yet to face one another this season, though we expect Gen.G to be the favourites in this hypothetical all-Korean showdown. With that, we expect Gen.G to be the third Pacific representative in VALORANT Champions.
Predicting the overall winner of the Pacific Stage 2 Playoffs is another thing altogether, but surely the main goal for all teams in the Playoffs will be making it to VALORANT Champions. Taking the Pacific Stage 2 championship will just be the icing on the cake for our predicted Pacific representatives for this year's VALORANT world championship tournament; Paper Rex, Team Secret, and Gen.G Esports.
TL;DR: Paper Rex, Team Secret, and Gen.G Esports will be representing the Pacific League in VALORANT Champions