Global Esports are the champions of VCT Pacific Stage 2. The Indian organisation came back from 0-2 down to beat Nongshim RedForce 3-2 in Sunday’s grand final in Busan, lifting the first VCT trophy in the club’s history and taking Pacific’s number-one seed into Valorant Champions Shanghai later this month.
Two days earlier the same two teams had met in the upper final, and Nongshim won that one 2-1. The Korean side therefore arrived at the decider with the double map-ban advantage the format hands to the upper-bracket winner, and they used it to remove Summit – widely regarded as GE’s strongest map – and Ascent, the map GE had taken off them in the upper final. For two maps the plan worked perfectly. Nongshim edged Sunset 13-11 and then ran through Split 13-2, a scoreline that made a reverse sweep look fanciful.
What followed was the best stretch of Valorant Global Esports have ever played. Abyss went 13-10, Lotus 13-5 and the Haven decider 13-10, with GE looking like the sharper side in the mid-rounds even while losing most of the pistol rounds across the series. In-game leader xavi8k finished with the highest rating in the match at 1.19 and led his team with 79 kills, while duelist UdoTan – 77 kills and 30 first engagements – was named MVP. Four GE players ended the series above 70 kills. On the losing side, Francis (83) and Dambi (79) posted the two highest kill totals of the night, which says a lot about how close the last three maps really were.
A year of firsts
The trophy caps a season in which almost everything Global Esports did was a first. Since joining VCT Pacific in 2023 the org had never reached a grand final, never qualified for an international event and never beaten DRX in a playoff series – the previous record was five losses without a single map won. In 2026 they finished third in Stage 1 after losing the lower final to Paper Rex, became the first Indian team at a Masters event in London, took a 2-1 playoff win over DRX, and have now added a first Champions qualification and a first regional title within the same week.
The route to the final was not straightforward either. After the upper-final loss to Nongshim, GE had to beat T1 3-1 in the lower final on Saturday just to earn the rematch. Winning five maps in a row against the two strongest Korean teams in the bracket, on maps chosen partly by the opponent, is a very different result from the fragile playoff runs the team was known for in earlier years.
What it means for Shanghai
The reverse sweep decides Pacific’s seeding for Valorant Champions 2026, which begins on September 24. Global Esports go to Shanghai as Pacific #1 and were drawn into Group B alongside LOUD, EDward Gaming and Team Vitality, opening against the French organisation. Nongshim drop to Pacific #2 and land in Group D with Karmine Corp, NRG and Xi Lai Gaming, where they start against NRG.
From a betting perspective this is the classic outsider story. Nongshim were the form side for most of the split and, after the upper-final win, the natural favourite for Sunday’s final – yet the underdog cashed. Expect GE to open as outsiders in Group B on most esports bookmakers despite the top seed, with the Vitality opener the obvious first test of whether Busan was a peak or a new baseline. Anyone planning to back the Pacific champions in China still has a couple of weeks to compare welcome bonuses before the group stage begins.
For Nongshim, the lesson is a harsh one: a 2-0 lead, two map bans and a match-high kill count from Francis still were not enough. They remain one of the strongest teams in the region, but they head to Shanghai with a question mark they did not have on Friday.
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