T1 picked up their second win of 2025 by defeating former champions Paper Rex 2-1 in the quarterfinals of VCT 2025: Pacific Kickoff. The win snapped a nearly two-year winning streak for Paper Rex over T1, who had previously won six games without a loss against T1 since April 2023.
“It was awesome to finally get that win for the T1 organization. Historically we’ve lost 2-0 to them. It was a great match,” BuZz said after the match.
This matchup is expected to be one of the most promising at Kickoff due to the teams’ movements during the offseason. T1 have been a strong contender thanks to some great gs, while Paper Rex, who have not made any changes to their roster since something ed, look to be back to their best at the Radiant Asia Invitational.
The match came to a head in the final moments on Fracture. While T1 had dominated their Bind pick 13-6, Fracture was much tighter. f0rsakeN was on fire on offense, taking down 17 players in eight rounds.
The highlight that kept the match going was f0rsakeN’s three chaotic kills outside of B, including a kill through the smoke. That round put Paper Rex on map point and allowed them to quickly take Split.
The final map swung in T1’s favor and was the closest map of the match. In the final round before the end, Meteor single-handedly shot down the entire Paper Rex team, opening the door for his team to win the final map 13-11.
With T1’s win, they are now in the upper semifinals. They will face either TALON or Global Esports in the coming days. If they win that match, T1 still needs one more win to secure their spot at the next Masters.
