On April 26, TALON and Gen.G will play their first playoff match at VCT 2025: Pacific Stage 1. The winner will move one step closer to a slot at Masters Toronto 2025, while the losing team will drop to the lower bracket of the tournament.

Current Team Form

TALON

TALON continues to show consistency and gradual progress in the Pacific region. The team has already matched its best result—fourth place at VCT 2025: Pacific Kickoff—and has now made it to the playoffs from the Omega group with a 3:2 record. Out of the last five matches, they’ve won three, including victories over NS, Team Secret, and T1—the latter being particularly valuable considering T1’s current form. Fun fact: in their last ten matches, the team has alternated wins and losses, meaning the pattern will either continue or finally be broken.

After a disappointing Kickoff, TALON strengthened its roster by signing two newcomers—thyy and killua—who have already proven themselves in active play, regularly appearing among the team’s top fraggers.

Gen.G Esports

Gen.G started with a third-place finish at Kickoff, but that wasn’t enough to qualify for Masters Bangkok 2025. The team ended its streak of three consecutive appearances at international tournaments. Out of their last five matches, Gen.G won three, losing only to BOOM Esports and DRX—the two teams that finished 1st and 2nd in the Alpha group.

Before Stage 1, Gen.G also made roster changes, adding Ha "Ash" Hyun-cheol and Seo "Suggest" Jae-young, who previously competed mainly at the tier-2 level.

Map Pool

In light of the current map pool in VCT, the projected pick/ban looks as follows:

First Ban Phase:

• TALON bans Pearl
• Gen.G bans Fracture

First Pick Phase:

• TALON will likely pick Lotus
• Gen.G will pick Haven

Second Ban Phase:

• TALON might remove Ascent
• Gen.G will likely ban Icebox

Decider:

• Split

Head-to-Head History

Throughout their head-to-head history, Gen.G holds a significant advantage—six wins in seven matches. Their most recent encounter was three months ago at VCT 2025: Pacific Kickoff, where Gen.G won 2:0. TALON has yet to find answers to Gen.G’s playstyle, which could also have a psychological impact on the result.

Match Prediction

Although TALON has looked better recently and is showing steady improvement, Gen.G has a significant edge in head-to-head matchups and a better record on key maps. Both rosters have been reinforced, adding more variety, but Gen.G’s experience and confidence in matches against TALON are likely to be the deciding factors.

Prediction: Gen.G to win 2:1.

VCT 2025: Pacific Stage 1 takes place from March 22 to May 21 in a LAN format at the Sangam Colosseum in Seoul. Twelve partnered teams from the VCT Pacific region are competing for three invitations to Masters Toronto, as well as valuable Pacific Points needed to qualify for the upcoming Champions.