After earning their spot in VCT Pacific once again this year, having to fight in Ascension for their spot, Nongshim have continued their run of form into VCT Pacific Kick-Off with a straight run into Masters Santiago of four wins back-to-back.
Map 1 of this series went to Corrode where RRQ lent heavily into the Jemkin Chamber with Monyet on the dive Duelist for site takes. There were no surprises on the side of Nongshim leaning again into Dambi’s Neon alongside the Francis Yoru.
The Corrode was so tightly contested throughout the map, with back to back rounds swaying in both directions until an eventual overtime allowed for RRQ to take the map 14-12 after a crazyguy mastermind map with 25-17 KD on the Omen.
Map 2 took place on Bind with a different turn of events. With the first map being so heavily fought, Bind went into the hands of Nongshim with a strong start on their attack showcasing Dambi’s worth on the roster.
They took the first half 9-3 and then comfortably closed out the series 13-8 with a confident showing of the Neon on Bind, that is rarely played by any teams across the entirety of VCT.
Map 3 took stage on Haven with yet another strong performance from Nongshim RedForce, with Jemkin taking up the Neon on the side of RRQ got diffed completely by Dambi on the other side showing once again, why Neon is his comfort pick.
Nongshim closed out Haven even more comfortably with a 13-5 scoreline, putting themselves only 1 more map away from Masters Santiago, with RRQ having to win 2 back-to-back maps to keep their dream alive.
Map 4 was the penultimate map of this series and it took place on Abyss. A map that is historically, a bad map for a Neon player. This ended up making Dambi move away from his perma Neon, and onto a Waylay for Abyss.
This choice could have been one of the reasons that the map didn’t go their way as you can’t be as fearless on the Waylay because of how important the Saturate is to site hits and even delaying the retake.
RRQ managed to take the 4th map 13-11 in a confident 6-6 first half and then a strong close out on the series at one point going to 12-9.
With the final map being the standoff between the teams it went to Breeze. As usual, Dambi went back to Neon. With them starting on the attack side, it was a great chance for them to take an early lead.
That is exactly what they did and Nongshim managed to take the first half 11-1, almost securing their spot in Masters Santiago after 12 rounds. They then won the pistol and got to match point with RRQ only having 1 round.
Nongshim RedForce took their time, but they eventually got there and took the win 13-7 and confirming their first ever international event after winning Ascension 2 years ago.
Nongshim RedForce, after this win, become the first team confirmed for Masters Santiago from VCT Pacific, with the other teams due to be announced later this week.
After this loss, RRQ drop down to the Middle Bracket to fight their way once again against T1 to decide who will go to Masters Santiago.
Valorant Digest 
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