The final opening match of the Masters Tokyo playoffs saw a Pacific grand finals rematch, with Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #3 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov defeating DRX DRX Korea Rank #7 Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Athan Na Ha-jun (나하준) freeing No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) 2-0.

PRX began the day with uncertainty in the minds of many with cgrs being announced to sub in for something in the opening match amidst the Russian's continued visa issues.

DRX's pick, Split, kicked off with changes to compositions on both sides. f0rsakeN saw his first return to Jett for the first time in nearly three months, while Rb debuted on Neon for the first time outside of Fracture.

A pistol and followup win for Paper Rex spiraled into an eventual 9-3 lead for the APAC side by the end of the first half. Heading into the second half, multiple heroics helped to bring Split back into DRX's grasp. A back-to-back ace and a 1v2 clutch by Rb helped to give DRX the momentum to bring his team one step closer to making the infamous 9-3 curse a reality once more.

Timed to perfection.

But Paper Rex held firm. In round 22, a pivotal clutch by mindfreak brought the team up to match point when DRX looked destined to tie up the score 11-11, closing out the map in the subsequent round 13-10 for PRX.

A glimmer of hope? Denied.

Map two brought the series to Bind, Paper Rex's pick, where cgrs saw his international debut on his signature agent, Gekko.

Aggression was the name of the game for Paper Rex on their opening half. Their unrelenting defensive aggression helped to propel PRX to an 8-4 lead by halftime.

Blink and you'll miss it.

With DRX down at a defecit heading into their defense, they were left with one option: make a comeback happen, or be sent to the lower bracket to face their demons once more.

DRX started their defense with five out of the first six rounds going their way to find both teams tied at 9-9. That was the second time in the entire series where DRX found themselves at a higher or equal score to Paper Rex. Both teams won a round afterwards, equalizing once more at 10-10.

In round 21, a 1v1 by d4v41 brought PRX up to 11, the finishing blow to DRX. Paper Rex then won the following two rounds to finish out Bind 13-10 in their favor.

One-tricking Gekko might just be all you need to win.

Paper Rex's win moves them onto the upper semifinals, juggling fate with a rematch against current world champions FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #3 Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu stand-in Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder . It'll be their first time going against the European team since Copenhagen, where PRX emerged victorious. However, against champions or not, Paper Rex's mindset of confidence will always remain.

“I will be 100% confident because I will always trust my teammates,” said f0rsakeN. “Sometimes it may go down, but our confidence will go back up again.”

For DRX, falling to the lower bracket puts them at a match against NRG Esports. It'll be their fourth time going against the core of OpTic Gaming. They've managed to keep it competitive every time, but have never come out on top. Now, facing their formidable rivals early on in the bracket, only one thing needs to change.

“I don't think we were feeling it today,” said MaKo . “Our condition wasn't the best, but tomorrow against NRG, we just need to want the win more.”