VCT 2024 Pacific Kickoff Predictions: Favorites, Dark Horses & Early Exits

Check out our VCT 2024 Pacific Kickoff Predictions

Following a long break of six months, the Valorant Champions Tour is returning with the Pacific Kickoff on 17th February. 11 of the finest teams of the Pacific region are set to battle it out in Seoul, Korea, for two spots in the Masters Madrid. Most teams are coming into the event with roster changes, so prepare yourselves for a fresh and exciting dynamic to the competition.

With ample time off, teams have utilized the opportunity to revamp their rosters for the upcoming season. The changes make it challenging to predict which teams will emerge as frontrunners and which will fail. Fear not though, as this Pacific Kickoff prediction guide aims to equip you with insights to make the most accurate predictions for the anticipated event.

VCT 2024 Pacific Kickoff Predictions: Winner

We predict Paper Rex will come out as the VCT 2024 Pacific Kickoff winner.

Paper Rex

• Khalish “d4v41” Rusyaidee
• Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto
• Aaron “mindfreak” Leonhart
• Ilya “something” Petrov
• Cahya “Monyet” Nugraha
• Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie (Substitute)
• Alexandre “alecks” Sallé (Coach)

Paper Rex had a massively successful campaign last season. Along with bagging the trophy of the 2023 VCT Pacific League, they had podium finishes in the Masters and the Champions event as well. As for this year, we believe a repetition of last year’s success is in order, even after the departure of Jinggg.

It is challenging to replace a player as mechanically skilled as Jinggg. However, the consensus among fans is that Paper Rex has found the ideal replacement in Monyet, a highly talented prodigy hailing from Singapore.

Although Monyet has a different role, with something and f0rsaken on the team already, PRX did not need another specialized duelist. In fact, the addition of Monyet, arguably the best Controller player from Pacific last season, has added more flexibility within the team.

VCT 2024 Pacific Kickoff Predictions: Other Favorites

DRX and ZETA DIVISION are our next two picks as potential favorites to win the whole thing.

DRX

• Byung-chul “BuZz” Yu
• Kim “MaKo” Myeong-kwan
• Kim “stax” Gu-taek
• Jung “Foxy9” Jae-sung
• Cho “Flashback” Min-hyuk
• Seon-ho “termi” Pyeon (Coach)

Despite DRX’s inability to clinch an international trophy, their dominance at the regional level remains unparalleled. They have been considered the best in the Pacific region since the very first season. However, the Koreans lost that crown to PRX last year, prompting substantial changes to the OG roster for the first time.

Two of the core members, Zest and Rb, have departed from the org, and in their place, the org signed their academy player, flashback. The 5th will be foxy9, who was signed last year but was dropped later in the middle of the season.

With this renewed roster, DRX will embark on their quest to finally win an international event, and winning the VCT 2024 Pacific Kickoff can give them just the confidence they need for a successful season.

ZETA DIVISION

• Koji “Laz” Ushida
• Yuma “Dep” Hashimoto
• Shota “SugarZ3ro” Watanabe
• Hiroki “hiroronn” Yanai
• Yushin “Yuran” Hato
• Carlos “Carlão” Mohn (Coach)

ZETA DIVISION, Japan's finest Valorant team, had a decent season in 2023, marked by a notable performance in the VCT 2023 Pacific LCQ that secured them a slot at Champions.

The talent of the Japanese was never in question whether they were bringing in results or not. However, a disappointing exit from Valorant Champions 2023 without winning a single map necessitated changes. In November 2023, ZETA announced the addition of two new faces, yuran and hirononn, to the team. This signing of two new 18-year-olds made the team a perfect blend of youth and experience.

While the future performance of this revamped ZETA lineup remains uncertain, the addition of these two young talents has, at least on paper, positioned them as one of the strongest contenders in the Pacific Region.

VCT 2024 Pacific Kickoff Predictions: Dark Horses

We believe the teams that have the most potential to cause upsets in the upcoming event are BLEED and Team Secret.

BLEED

• Derrick “Deryeon” Yee
• Ngô “crazyguy” Công Anh
• Nutchaphon “sScary” Matarat
• Javier “Egoist” Chua
• Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker
• Nikola “LEGIJA” Ninić (Coach)

Right after the list of partnered teams was announced back in 2022, BLEED was considered one of the best teams in the world not to make the cut. The team did not have to wait that long since Deryeon and Co. dominated the 2023 Pacific Ascension circuit to win a franchise slot for the next two years.

Despite coming off such a massively successful season, the Singaporean organization has made changes to the roster for 2024. However, for at least one of the changes, no one can fault them as it is the signing of none other than El Diablo himself. yay is finally back in the tier-1 league after his long hiatus.

The level of gameplay BLEED showed last season was easily on par with the VCT League’s level. The other teams better be extra careful facing the newcomer should they wish not to be blown off the server.

Team Secret

• Jim “BORKUM” Timbreza
• Jessie Cristy “JessieVash” Cuyco
• Jeremy “Jremy” Cabrera
• Adrian “invy” Reyes
• Noel “NDG” De Guia
• Evan “Warbirds” Olzem (Coach)

Team Secret has historically always been an unpredictable team. Their ceiling is very high, but the lack of consistency cost them important matches. Last season was the same for them. Invy and Co. had a good showing in both the League and LCQ Pacific events, but in both cases, they lost their chance to qualify for the grandest stage by a razer close margin.

For the new season, only one change is coming to the team. NDG will join the roster and replace lenne. From what we’ve seen from them in the past, expect Team Secret to cause some big upsets in the kickoff event.

VCT 2024 Pacific Kickoff Predictions: Early Exits

The following teams are most likely to get eliminated early in the event

Global Esports

• Abhirup “Lightningfast” Choudhury
• Benedict “Benkai” Tan
• Russel “Russ” Mendes
• Gary “blaZek1ng” Dastin
• Niko “polvi” Polvinen
• Peter “Spin” Bradford (Coach)

The sole representative of India and South Asia had a disappointing run last season. In response, the organization has undertaken a complete overhaul of its roster for this season. The lone survivor from the previous lineup is Lightningfast, who incidentally remains the sole Indian player in the team following the departure of SkRossi, the biggest Valorant star of South Asia.

With four new additions, Global Esports is set to showcase an entirely different lineup in the Kickoff event. However, it's worth noting that none of the new faces, bar Benkai, are established heavyweights. Hence, we do not see Global Esports having the most successful run in the upcoming event.

DetonatioN FocusMe

• Yoshitaka “Anthem” Enomoto
• Seo “Suggest” Jae-young
• Cho “JoXJo” Byung-yeon
• Ibuki “Meiy” Seki
• Yusuke “neth” Matsuda
• Souta “popogachi” Morita
• Tomonori “SSeeS” Okimura
• Kim “HSK” Hae-seong (Coach)

DetonatioN FocusMe had an abysmal season in 2023, making an embarrassing record by going winless throughout the entire season. Anticipation rose among fans when news broke about significant changes. Unfortunately, looking at the roster they built for this season, it is a hard ask to be hopeful of anything extraordinary out of them. Unless the newly signed five players (former Crazy Racoon core) really pop off, we don't see DFM go past the group stage of the VCT 2024 Pacific Kickoff.

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