Rex Regum Qeon pulls off reverse sweep to shut TALON out of Champions, advance to grand final

After a two-week break from action to prepare for finals weekend in Tokyo, TALON and Rex Regum Qeon returned to action on stage at the LaLa arena TOKYO-BAY in Chiba for the VCT Pacific Stage 2 Lower Final.

With three of the region's four Champions Paris secured, the outcome of this match would decide the fourth team from Pacific to attend Champions. Masters Toronto winners Paper Rex awaited the winner of the match in the Grand Final, while Masters Bangkok winners T1 had secured qualification through championship points. RRQ had the second qualification-by-points slot in the region, meaning a win was TALON's only path to Paris. A loss would open the door for KIWOOM DRX to qualify as the region's fourth team.

RRQ looked down and out through two maps, but lived up to its title as the region's comeback kings, completing the reverse-sweep, with the last map even including a five-round winning streak to close things out in overtime.

TALON stuck with its go-to ban of Ascent, while RRQ banned its own go-to of Lotus. The Lower Final series was played out on Bind, Haven, Corrode, Icebox, and Sunset. TALON won Bind 13-4 and Haven 13-7, while RRQ won Corrode 13-10, Icebox 13-6, and Sunset 14-12 to convert the reverse-sweep.

The opening map of Bind came with no shortage of mystique. Both teams have struggled on the map throughout the course of Stage 2, with TALON 0-3 in its last three appearances and RRQ 0-2 in its last two. TALON opted to move away from its usual team comp, instead opting for a double-Duelist comp. RRQ also went for two Duelists, placing Jemkin on Yoru as opposed to Waylay.

TALON, as the region's top-performing team in pistol rounds, planted its feet to grab both pistols on Bind, never quite looking uncomfortable. After wrapping up its defending half up 9-3, TALON made quick work of RRQ, securing the first map 13-4. JitBoyS and primmie had 19 kills each, with the former finishing with an ACS of 300.

RRQ's roster had visa concerns leading up to the match, with crazyguy , xffero , and Kushy 's availability in some doubt. While all three players' visa issues were eventually resolved, it took a while for them to get into the match.

A second-straight slow start befell RRQ on Haven, where RRQ stuck with its usual double-Duelist and TALON shifted thyy onto Omen. TALON opted for the double-Sentinel pairing of Crws 's Deadlock and JitBoyS's Cypher, a pairing that has caused issues for opponents throughout the course of the Stage. TALON again won both pistol rounds on the map, claiming five of the first six rounds in its attacking first half.

After wrapping up its attack with an 8-4 lead, TALON stood strong against RRQ's double Duelist, which didn't seem to have its usual lethality on the map. Despite the best efforts of xffero, whose 26 kills through the first two maps led the way for his team, RRQ looked uncomfortable. Jemkin, on Yoru, was largely unable to replicate the effectiveness of his Operator on Yoru, a gun and agent that something thrived on just days before against TALON in the Upper Final.

Four for thyy to help TALON convert a fourth straight anti-eco in the series.

The series shifted to Corrode, a map that both teams have looked in good form on towards the end of Stage 2. While TALON has gone a perfect 3-0 on the game's newest map in Stage 2, RRQ took some time to figure out what worked best. They dropped maps to Global Esports and Nongshim RedForce with a Vyse-centered comp, but after switching to the Neon-Waylay double-Duelist, captured playoff victories over Gen.G and DRX.

TALON, again with its double-Sentinel duo, seemed to have done enough entering halftime with a 7-5 lead. The map has tended to lean defender-sided across the VCT, and with primmie 's Deadlock and JitBoyS's Cypher arming the side with plenty of site-holding utility, a 3-0 sweep seemed imminent.

However, it was on Corrode that RRQ seemed to heat up. They picked up their first pistol round victories of the series on the map, winning both to open the halves. Entering Corrode, RRQ also faced a 23-10 deficit in first duels, but finished the map with a narrow 12-11 lead. xferro, the clutch leader of Pacific, converted two on the map in yet another leading performance. He picked up a map-high 25 kills while Monyet and Jemkin, double-Duelist teammates, seemed to be in form finally. RRQ forced TALON to call its first timeout of the series, won both pistol rounds, and expertly broke past the opposing defense to wrap up a 13-10 win.

After seeming down and out through two maps, the threat of a reverse-sweep began to roll into a slow boil. The reason for that was the map ban process, which resulted in a top-heavy map pool of sorts for TALON, meaning a three-map win was within reach, but anything beyond that may offer RRQ a pathway to victory. The fourth map, Icebox, was one of RRQ's best.

The teams fielded mirror comps, featuring the Double-Sentinel pairing of Sage and Killjoy with Jemkin and thyy set to duke it out on Jett.

On the historically attacker-sided map, TALON began on attack and with an opportunity to gain an early advantage. While they did win the pistol and anti-eco rounds, a loss in the would-be bonus round revealed that Icebox was different from Bind and Haven. RRQ won six of the next seven rounds, with utility-heavy retakes enabling six of those round wins to come by way of defuse.

On several attack rounds, TALON got the spike down without ever taking down a single defender, leaving RRQ with an almost full arsenal of utility to use in the retake.

Monyet with a huge ace to shut down the A site.

RRQ held a narrow 7-5 lead entering halftime, but seven was more than enough. Jemkin and Monyet combined for 42 kills at the end of the map, cleaning up shop 13-6 to force a fifth map.

Sunset, the decider map, was a question mark for TALON. They played it just once in Stage 2, losing and not quite looking comfortable in a loss to DetonatioN FocusMe . RRQ, meanwhile, has seen Jekyll and Hyde-esque performances, capturing two wins against Gen.G, two losses against T1, and a win over Team Secret . While RRQ stuck with its tried and tested double-Initiator comp, TALON picked up the Sage and Viper comp that was popularized earlier this year by PRX.

primmie, on Sage for a second straight map, struggled on Sunset early on. His lack of surefire entry-denying Sentinel utility and info-starved kit made for a successful 8-4 attack side for RRQ. Jemkin, crazyguy , and xferro all finished in double digits on that side of the map, meaning an Operator in Jemkin's hands should have been enough to secure a safe defensive side.

However, TALON's attack side proved to cause issues for RRQ. Crws's Toxic Screen allowed easy entry into A site Elbow, a weak point that was frequently picked at by TALON. thyy was stellar on attack, disrupting the RRQ crosshairs and cycling his Showstopper frequently. TALON went on a run in the second half, winning eight of the first nine rounds in their attacking half to seize match point, 12-9. With their backs against the wall, RRQ needed heroics if it wanted a chance at defending its spot atop the region the next day. It was in that time of despair that RRQ relied on Jemkin, who finished atop the kills leaderboard on the map after an uncharacteristically slow start to the series. Three straight round wins with huge plays from the likes of Jemkin, Kushy , and crazyguy helped RRQ force overtime, fighting back from the death.

The moment.

In overtime, back-to-back, near-flawless rounds helped RRQ get over the finish line, ending TALON's dreams of qualifying for a second straight Champions event. Jemkin's 31 kills on Sunset were a server-high, as were his 91 kills across all five maps.

After failing to convert on three chances with match point, TALON will now watch the event from home, while arch-rivals DRX qualify as the region's fourth team.

VCT Pacific Stage 2 will wrap up tomorrow with Paper Rex and Rex Regum Qeon in the grand final.