After a strong start to Nongshim RedForce’s time in VCT, they have once again shocked another APAC side, RRQ, with a reverse sweep taking home the win in their first Stage 1 matchup in an impressive showing from the South Korean side.

After being promoted last year through Ascension as Sin Prisa Gaming, they have started life in Tier 1 with cementing themselves as a strong side with one of their players, Ivy, cracking the top 10 players of VCT Pacific Kick-Off on VLR.gg.

They faced off against RRQ, who have been known to be a very strong side, with Jemkin at the forefront of the side. However, Persia from Nongshim came out on the top of the leaderboard with 48 frags across the three maps showing why some fans are calling him the best Controller player in Pacific this year.

RRQ are another side who are leaning heavily into the Yoru meta this year where they have put Jemkin, a World Class Jett player, onto the Yoru for this series in all three maps. Despite this, he only managed 47 frags and fell alongside his fellow teammates in terms of kills, where normally he towers above his teammates on the leaderboard.

The #VCTPacific standings after Week 1:

The top 4 teams from each group by the end of Week 5 will qualify for the playoffs. pic.twitter.com/mznzOM6rSQ

— VALO2ASIA (@VALO2ASIA) March 24, 2025

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The tweet above shows the standings for Stage 1 in Pacific with Global Esports and T1 topping their respective groups going into week 2, where by the end of week 5 we will find out what teams are making it to Masters Toronto.

After this win, Nongshim RedForce will go on to face off against the world champions T1 where they will be looking for another upset, however, this one seems less believable considering the opponents that T1 have managed to defeat this year.

RRQ will go on to face TALON, who have recently revamped their side to an all Thai side with Primmie at the core, coming off of the back of an impressive win over Team Secret in Stage 1.