One area within the larger APAC region has emerged as the most dominant by a significant margin three weeks into the VCT Pacific 2023 season. But, those who have been following VALORANT in Asia for a while shouldn’t be shocked.
After three weeks, the trio of VCT Pacific teams playing out of Korea are playing the best VALORANT overall compared to the teams from south/southeast Asia and Japan. The group of DRX, Gen.G, and T1 have won a combined eight of the nine series they’ve played so far, with T1’s loss to Paper Rex in week three being the only exception.
DRX, already an international contender, is sitting at the very top of the standings of VCT Pacific with a 3-0 series record and a flawless 6-0 map record, along with a league-leading +33 round differential. Between the trio of MaKo, BuZz, and Foxy9, the team arguably has the best player at the controller, initiator, and duelist position for the entire league. With so much impressive international experience and an incredible domestic pedigree, DRX taking over should come as a shock to no one.
Gen.G was also expected to be a strong force in VCT Pacific, and the team has lived up to expectations so far. They are 3-0, and outside of an off day on Fracture vs. Detonation FocusMe, they haven’t dropped a single map while boasting the third-best league round differential with +19. Gen.G has fittingly been led by their k1ng, who’s been a foundational part of the team on Viper and Killjoy.
While T1 has looked a little inconsistent at times, they’re still sitting at 2-1 after week three, and unlike both DRX and Gen.G, they didn’t enter VCT Pacific with a proven and experienced core that had played together for a long time. On top of that, T1 is starting a player who only just officially swapped over from Overwatch less than half a year ago in Carpe. While T1 hopes to see improvement from him, they should be happy with the stellar play out of the flexible xeta.
The teams out of Korea will finally face each other starting this upcoming week. On April 16, T1 takes on Gen.G, and in the following week on April 22, Gen.G faces DRX in a matchup that could very easily feature two undefeated teams going head-to-head.