Six APAC teams are set to battle it out next week in Tokyo, vying for a main event spot in Berlin, where they’ll face the likes of FNATIC, Karmine Corp, Team Heretics, Cloud9, and more.
JAPAN – The six teams that will compete at the Red Bull Home Ground APAC Play-In have been set in stone following the end of the Japanese Qualifier. The OFF//SEASON event will take place on October 19-20 at Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan Arena and will reward the winning team with a highly sought-after spot in the main event in Berlin, Germany.
Five of the six teams that will play in the tournament in Tokyo have been directly invited by the organizers, with Crest Gaming Zst being the only team to make it through a qualifier, the aforementioned Japanese Qualifier, which saw them come out on top against BC SWELL.
Souta “sakurai” Sakurai and his team will face international competition for the first time after battling through a 22-team single-elimination qualifier. Their path to victory included an intense match against REJECT in the quarter-finals, where they clinched the decider map with a nail-biting 28-26 scoreline after nearly two hours of play.
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The five invited teams are VCT Pacific’s ZETA DIVISION, DetonatioN FocusMe, T1, Talon Esports, and RRQ. Both Japanese teams have yet to reveal their roster rebuilds, while T1 and RRQ are expected to make at least one more addition each to complete their lineups—T1 are set to go with an all-Korean roster, and RRQ are replacing the outgoing Hagai “Lmemore” Tewuh.
Talon Esports are likely to stick with their current lineup, featuring Papaphat “Primmie” Sriprapha as their newest addition. Primmie could be a hidden advantage for the team, as none of the other five competitors have faced him in the server since his late Stage 2 arrival for the Playoffs.
The participants’ list for the Red Bull Home Ground APAC Play-In is:
| 🇯🇵 ZETA DIVISION | 🇯🇵 DetonatioN FocusMe |
| 🇰🇷 T1 | 🇹🇭 Talon Esports |
| 🇮🇩 Rex Regum Qeon (RRQ) | 🇯🇵 Crest Gaming Zst |
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Cover photo courtesy of Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
