Thirty minutes before what was to be the culmination of VCC APAC Season 12, !sens and Legend of Zod (LOZ) locked in their map veto for the Grand Finals.

Coming off a 2-1 win over My Little Ken (MLK), !sens enter from the upper bracket and thus receive a double ban advantage and the first map pick. They quickly remove Haven, LOZ's best and most played map, and Sunset, their perma-ban, before locking in Split as their map pick—a move of confidence, considering that !sens were the ones who gave them their only loss on that map.

LOZ, meanwhile, have taken the long road to the Grand Final. After dropping to the lower bracket on the hands of !sens themselves, they eliminated every remaining team from Group A that made the playoffs, surviving each series to earn their rematch on the biggest stage.

LOZ respond by selecting Lotus, a map they have only played once, likely picking it because !sens only had a 33% win rate coming in.

!sens then removes the newly re-added map Abyss and LOZ bans Summit, leaving Ascent as the decider—a map both teams had much success with.

Then they locked their agents, took their positions, and the grand finals finally, after two months of competition, commenced.

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(0) !sens 3-13 LOZ (1) (Map 1 - Split)

LOZ took the opening map of the grand finals in commanding fashion, dismantling !sens 13-3 on Split.

LOZ opened the map by converting the first pistol, but !sens quickly responded. A well-timed lurk from BubbleCvm and a 4K from Robed helped !sens string together three straight rounds and take an early 3-1 lead.

That unfortunately would be the extent of !sens' momentum.

A 4K thrifty from Dorothy kept LOZ within striking distance before qwert produced another 4K in Round 6. kyo then added a crucial 1v2 clutch, as LOZ completely took control of the half. The defending side closed out the half on an 8-0 run, sending LOZ into the break with a 9-3 advantage.

kyo wins the round with a 1v2 clutch.

LOZ carried the momentum into the second half, converting the pistol and putting !sens into an immediate eco. Any hopes of a comeback were quickly extinguished as LOZ continued to shut down every attempt at a recovery.

The map ended in fitting fashion. Dorothy found a knife kill in the penultimate round, with nathe, subbing in for AddieTheIdiot, provided the finishing blow by knifing the final !sens player to win the map 13-3.

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(0) !sens 4-13 LOZ (2) (Map 2 - Lotus)

LOZ completed the grand final sweep, following up their dominant Split victory with another 13-4 destroying !sens on Lotus.

LOZ came out firing, opening the map with a 3K from kyo before another multi-kill from the duelist helping the defending side establish an early lead. A brutal hold in the second round further cemented LOZ's control, putting !sens on the back foot from the outset.

!sens briefly answered back, with Robed, playing off-role on Cypher and Moriko, on his trusty Neon finding crucial 2Ks to bring the score to 1-3. It would, once again, prove to be their final meaningful stretch of the half.

From there, LOZ's mid-rounding took over. qwert and Dorothy each posted a 4K, repeatedly shutting down !sens' attempts to establish rounds. nathe then delivered a crucial 1v1 to close the half, sending LOZ into the break with an overwhelming 11-1 lead.

The second-half pistol once again went LOZ's way, marking their fourth consecutive pistol win across the two maps and pushing the score to 12-1, match, series, and season point.

!sens weren't ready to go quietly, however. The Robed brothers sparked a brief comeback attempt with back-to-back 3Ks, giving the underdogs a glimmer of hope, but LOZ quickly put an end to it.

A decisive retake saw nathe and Ezra pick up two kills a piece, ending the Cinderella run and closing out the map 13-3 and series 2-0.

Legend of Zod wins the twelfth season of VCC APAC.

After taking down both #1 seeds LOZ and MLK, !sens' playoff run ends one series short of the VCC APAC Season 12 title.

In a matchup marked by sheer pace and swift execution, the APAC Season 12's grand finals made for one of the shortest series ever recorded on the VCC website, wrapping up the entire set in just 33 total rounds, tied for the 7th fewest rounds in a series as of writing, and became one of the most dominant grand finals performances in recent history of VCC.

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qwert named APAC Season 12 Finals MVP

After a dominant performance in the grand finals, qwert was named the VCC APAC Season 12 Finals MVP. The LOZ flex player put together a series-leading performance, finishing with 40 kills, 14 deaths, and 9 assists across the two-map sweep. His 1.65 rating, 288 ACS, +26 K/D differential, and 97.1% KAST underline just how consistent he was throughout the championship series.

His 2.86 K/D in the grand finals also places him 9th all-time on the website's highest K/D in a series leaderboard, putting him alongside some of the strongest individual performances of the tournament.

After the series, we pulled qwert aside to hear about his immediate thoughts on winning the season and becoming a two-time trophy holder.

"We gotta go soon bro, I'm gonna get burgers right now."

Interview conducted by makonoodles & alody following the conclusion of the grand finals.

alody: How did you feel after such a dominant grand finals?

"I mean, I'm happy you know? It's my second ring. That win is for everyone, you know, all my friends."

makonoodles: We were watching it back a while ago, on Split, kyo's 1v2 spray transfer to shift the momentum. What were the vibes like after that?

The vibes were still high, and that kyo 1v2 was a pivotal moment, I can say.

A: What were the comms like, especially being on LAN with a few of your teammates?

Every time, we were just saying, "Yo, knife Bustin (BubbleCvm) on CT" or like, "Last guy, just knife him, Shorty him." But like, every time we won a round, especially with me, Dorothy, and Ezra [on LAN], we were just high-fiving and having fun.

M: Any final thoughts?

When I play in grands I always choke up and play bad. From AG to Kyo's Kingdom, I always underperformed and did not play at the level I expected myself. But I redeemed myself and played my heart out this playoffs. It was for my friends who came, to go show them that we were the best team. Not MLK, not ML, and not !sens. This MVP and season win is for everyone who believed in me and the guys in LOZ. Thank you for believing. Friendships will always beat everything.