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VCT 2024 Teams Power Rankings Part III: Pacific
For the last part of the three part series of VCT 2024 teams, we have the Pacific. In VCT 2023, Pacific’s best team was one of the most creative and innovative teams worldwide i.e. Paper Rex.
Unfortunately, the rest of Pacific failed to perform up to international standards. T1 and ZETA could not make it out of the group stage and DRX finished 7th-8th in both the events.
The trend does not seem to change in 2024. While the newly formed Pacific teams do have strong contenders, they are unproven. It is hard to make a case for these squads internationally and hence they cannot be ranked higher.
It’d be fair to assess that for VCT 2024, Pacific might just be the weakest out of the three regions. But it also means, less pressure on the squad. The less pressure might work in their favor and these teams might end up upsetting big teams.
Let's take a look at the Pacific squads for 2024.
VCT Pacific 2024:
C Tier
To say Detonation FocusMe is struggling to keep up would be an understatement. The team hasn’t had a significant result after 2020. After their re-entry into Valorant with the partnership program of 2023, the team hasn’t won a single game.
For VCT 2024, they acquired the Crazy Raccoons core of neth, popogachi and Meiy along with JoXJo. They only retained Suggest from the previous squad. But at the Riot One ‘23 the squad was absolutely annihilated, winning only ten total rounds acoss the three maps they played.
The start is absolutely horrendous for Detonation FocusMe and it would be difficult for them to come back from such a setback. DFM is likely the weakest team in all of VCT.
Gen. G transitioned to the Pacific in 2023 after spending three years in NA T2. As part of their Korean rebuild, Gen. G secured some of the biggest Korean prospects including k1ng, Sylvan, Meteor, TS, eKo and GodDead and handed them to Elmapuddy and Bail.
While they struggled against LOUD in LOCK//IN, they displayed immense potential in the Pacific League.
Unfortunately, they could not continue the winning streak and barely qualified for the playoffs. They could not win a single game in the playoffs and were eliminated from the LCQ.
Following the disappointing results, GenG dropped the complete roster barring Meteor. For VCT 2024 their rebuild started with HSK, DFM’s former Head Coach as the new Head Coach for the team.
Starting with Lakia, a big name in Korea, with Karon, t3xture and Munchkin. Except Karon and Lakia, the three players all had rough two years and struggled to keep up with the competition.
While it will be Lakia’s time to shine, it would be hard to make a case for their success in the league. Especially with their roster’s individual pieces’ histories.
B Tier
Picking up the XERXIA core after securing partnership and pairing it up with their 2021 duelist Patiphan, Talon secured the second best APAC team in 2023.
Despite missing their star Patiphan, they surprised everyone at LOCK//IN, setting high expectations for themselves ahead of the Pacific League. Unfortunately they fell flat. The squad struggled to secure a win, losing almost all games and claimed the role issues being the reason for their poor performance, losing out on the Playoffs and the LCQ.
For VCT 2024, they dropped foxz, Sushiboys, GarnetS. Patiphan announced a temporary break given his injury and the only remaining members were Crws and JitboyS.
As replacement, Talon brought back Surf with Ban and Governor. Surf has had a history with XERXIA and Crws, but the governor and Ban pickup are not necessarily the safest picks for Talon.
Ban despite being on T1 only put up a few good maps, while governor secured VCL NA, he hasn't been a T1 talent, especially not as a replacement for any of the Talon members who have made multiple International events.
This raises a lot of question marks for Talon as a squad, but if it works, Talon might have a chance at redemption.
From one weird roster to another, Global Esports is the India representative in the Pacific League and started their partnership journey by signing seven players to the roster.
The weird mix of seven players definitely had some stars including Monyet, t3xture, Ayrin, SkRossi and WRONKSI, but five good players don’t make a good team.
While they definitely started decently, despite solid individual performances, seldom won a game. They failed to qualify for the playoffs and were eliminated in the first round of the LCQ.
As part of the VCT 2024 rebuild, they dropped the six players they signed, coach Eraser and retained only LightningFast, coach BigTime and Coach Spin.
Spin was announced as the HeadCoach of 2024. They signed Russ, blaZek1ng, Benkai and Polvi, keeping their tradition of signing multiple players of the same type. This time securing three IGLs in Russ, Benkai and blaZek1ng.
But, there is a role clarity and flexibility to the squad which might and hence the expectations for this iteration of Global Esports is slightly higher than the one of 2023.
The ultimate Japanese Division displayed their peak during Reykjavik 2022 and since then have been living under that shadow. The roster remained unchanged during the VCT 2023 off-season.
They started the year with a 0-2 loss to Leviatan and a 0-2 loss to DRX, but picked it back up to qualify for the playoffs but could not win a single game and thus were eliminated.
ZETA made a strong LCQ run to qualify for Valorant Champions 2023 but lost both their games to get eliminated from the Group Stage.
For the VCT 2024 rebuild, ZETA players TENNN and XQQ moved to streaming, Crow transitioned to coach and they brought in yuran and Hiroronn as the replacements.
They also added FURIA coach, Carlao, as the Head Coach for the roster. The success of the roster will depend on the role clarity and the performance of the roster. Especially compared to the teams built in 2024, ZETA division might spend another year searching for another great international run.
T1 was another organization that reallocated to Pacific ahead of VCT Pacific 2023. Retaining xeta, Munchkin, Beomjun and Coach Autumn from the previous squad and adding Ban, Sayaplayer and Carpe to the mix.
They started the year dwindly and xeta switched to being the IGL of the squad. With xeta as the IGL and the anchor for the squad, they survived Pacific and finished third in the playoffs behind Paper Rex and DRX, thus qualifying for both the international events.
Unfortunately, they were eliminated from the group stage of both the events. As part of the rebuild of 2023, T1 added k1ng, iZu and Xccurate replacing Munchkin, ban and iNTRO.
The newly added pieces definitely improve the team’s stability and skills. With iZu and k1ng, the new T1 secures two exceptional role players. Unfortunately, after a few bad off-season tournaments, T1 decided to drop k1ng and bench xeta, adding Rossy to the starting lineup.
The current T1 is a mix of culture, with three Korean players in Carpe, iZu and Saya with Indonesian Xccurate and North American Rossy. They definitely look good on paper, the overall talent on the squad makes them an A or even a S Tier team, but the mix of cultures, with communication issues, especially for iZu and Rossy might come to bite them.
A Tier
Originally one of the strongest teams in VCT APAC in 2021-22, Team Secret made very minimal changes coming into 2023. They have to be one of the strongest teams in VCT Pacific 2023.
Secret consistently defeated strong opponents throughout the year. They started the year by upsetting Team Liquid, defeated Paper Rex, and even handed DRX their first loss of VCT Pacific 2023.
Unfortunately, they always fell short of the finish line, losing to GenG in Pacific Playoffs and ZETA in the LCQ Grand Finals.
For VCT 2024, they have retained their core of Jessievash, Invy, BORKUM, Jremy and added NDG, a talented upcomer who made a name for himself in 2022-23 with NAOS.
The new addition added role clarity and firepower to Team Secret. They already had a really strong core that had the potential to dominate the competition and with the new addition, Team Secret might surprise everyone with their strength.
RRQ entered Valorant in 2022 with a Filipino squad. They were a strong contender but unfortunately could not qualify for APAC qualifiers.
For 2023, they brought in the BOOM esports duo of Tehbotol and fl1pzjeder, with Lmemore to their already existing 2ge, Ewok, Ejay and Emman squad.
The team wasn’t on anyone’s radar and wasn’t considered a top team by anyone and for most part they weren’t. But RRQ definitely left an impression on teams.
They were always tough to beat and missed the playoffs and LCQ by an inch.
For VCT 2024, they retained their core of 2ge, xffero (TEHBOTOL), fl1pzjder and lmemore, bringing in Jemkin, the star duelist of Scarz and Estrella from Dplus.
The addition exponentially increased the firepower of RRQ, additionally they already communicated in English thus eliminating the communication issue problem.
If Estrella and Jemkin both are part of the main squad, it’d be hard to defend RRQ’s pure mechanical talent. Additionally, EWOK’s experience with the core will definitely take the team to the top echelon of VCT Pacific.
BLEED have been a significant force in the MY/SG Valorant scene. The squad has been competing with Paper Rex, and played the second fiddle. Unfortunately, they did not secure a single International tournament in 2022. For 2023, they did not apply for the VCT partnership and instead chose to follow the path of Ascension.
Saying their MY/SG was a piece of cake for BLEED is an understatement. They dominated MY/SG, losing a single series before qualifying for the VCT Pacific Ascensions 2023.
The domination continued further as they lost a single series before lifting the Ascension trophy and securing the promotion.
For VCT 2024, they brought in Egoist and Yay as replacements for Juicy and JayH who left for military service. With the new additions, the new BLEED features the core of crazyguy, Daryeon and sScary with the addition of yay and Egoist creating the best team out of the three Ascension teams.
The only reason BLEED is not a S Tier team is the inexperience and Yay being out of competition for almost a year. But if the pieces work as they are expected to, BLEED will definitely be in the second strongest Pacific Team.
DRX has been the Korean Giant for three years now. With a team that has already acquired a legendary status after their 102-0 win streak. Unfortunately, they struggled to secure an International win in 2021 and 2022.
But their strong performance until 2023, made them the Pacific team to beat. They solidified their position in LOCK//IN and finished the regular season with a 8-1 record. But they struggled to close the finals and lost to a Paper Rex reverse sweep.
Their struggles continued Internationally as they did secure playoffs in Japan but lost to NRG in the Lower Round 1. Their champions journey concluded in a similar manner.
DRX had fallen behind the current competition, they did not look like a top international team in 2023.
For VCT 2024, the team dropped Rb and Zest, a controversial decision. They doubled down on Foxy9 move and added Flashback to the roster. These changes bring in new blood in the roster.
Unfortunately, Rb and Zest have been their best performers in 2023 and have been quite clutch for DRX. To replace proven, strong proven talent with unproven quantities is questionable, which also is the reason why they are not a S Tier team.
S Tier
With the overall level of teams in the S Tier in Americas and EMEA, the Pacific team doesn't quite make the cut.
S+ Tier
Since 2022, Paper Rex has been a top team in Valorant Competitive circuit. Their ‘Copenhagen’ run cemented them as one of the torch bearers for VCT Pacific in 2023.
Despite the slow start, they came into their own after acquiring ‘something’. They benched Benkai during the regular season, moving farther away from conventional Valorant.
The now five map squad with Jinggg, something, f0rsaken, Mindfreak and d4v41 had amazing firepower, and a new way to coordinate which had multiple people ideating a play and the team relying on their synergy and cohesiveness to make the play a success.
This new style helped them secure a 3rd place finish at Tokyo with their sub Cgrs and a second place at Valorant Champions 2023.
For VCT 2024, Paper Rex announced the departure of Jinggg as he takes a break from competition to serve his national duty. Jinggg’s absence definitely takes a toll on Paper Rex’s firepower.
To fill his void, they brought in Monyet, a former Global Esports player. In terms of firepower, Monyet definitely stands up to his predecessors' standards.
Additionally, his flexibility and experience will be crucial for the next version of Paper Rex and their success in VCT 2024.
The conclusive Tier list/ Power Rankings for VCT 2024 is as follows:
The list represents a team’s ability to qualify for the International tournaments and win them.
With this, we conclude the series. Do you agree with our picks? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Follow the upcoming VCT 2024 Kickoffs on Strafe.
Featured Image Credits: VCT Pacific // Riot Games
Read More:
EMEA - VCT 2024 Teams Power Rankings Part II
AMERICAS - VCT 2024 Teams Power Rankings Part I