Paper Rex
Paper Rex
Asia-Pacific
Rank #1
mindfreak
Aaron Leonhart
Jinggg
Wang Jing Jie
f0rsakeN
Jason Susanto
d4v41
Khalish Rusyaidee
something
Ilya Petrov
took down
Evil Geniuses
Evil Geniuses
North America
Rank #20
Derrek
Derrek Ha
NaturE
Nicholas Garrison
supamen
Phat Le
2-1 in the upper bracket final to clinch a spot in Saturday's grand final. Coming in from the upper bracket, they will have one extra day to prepare and control both map bans and the first map pick.
Meanwhile, Evil Geniuses drop down to the lower bracket final, where they must face off against
LOUD
LOUD
Brazil
Rank #2
dgzin
Douglas Silva
v1nny
Vínicius Gonçalves
pANcada
Bryan Luna
tuyz
Arthur Andrade
cauanzin
Cauan Pereira
for another chance to make it to the grand finals.
While both teams were known for having a stellar Fracture, Paper Rex banned the map against EG. The first map went to Ascent, where EG took the map 13-10. Bind produced a similar scoreline but in Paper Rex's favor 13-9. Pearl came down to the wire, but Paper Rex ultimately took the victory 15-13, cinching themselves a spot in the grand finals at an international event for the first time since VCT 2022: Masters Copenhagen.
“Honestly it's not fun to play against them. They're so aggressive,” Boostio said in EG's post-match press conference. “I'll be trying to call something and then two of ‘em swing out mid doors and we'll trade and then it's not the best call anymore because they know where we're at, and so… there's a lot going on and it sucks, but what are you going to do?”
Paper Rex reacts onstage after victory against Evil Geniuses at VALORANT Champions (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)
In anticipation of the series, analysts and viewers looked forward to the match-up between the year's breakout duelists Demon1 and something . But it was C0M who stole the show on Ascent.
When Evil Geniuses started their defender's side down 5-2, c0m clutched two rounds in a row to close the scoreline. On round eight, he showed off his mastery of Sova utility by killing something on the spike plant. Then on round nine, he won a 1v1 against d4v41 . But the initiator player wasn't done yet.
On round 19, c0m found himself in yet another 1v2 scenario. This time, the win seemed impossible. c0m was in A Main, the spike was dropped in A Link, and f0rsakeN and something had control of the sight. With less than 50 seconds on the clock, c0m did the impossible. He pulled out his knife and hightailed it through mid all the way to the defender's side spawn.
With 18 seconds remaining, he crouch-walked onto A Rafters, where he spotted something staring down A Main in plain sight. While a lesser player may have taken the shot, c0m showed incredible trigger discipline. He walked forward until he saw f0rsakeN standing on top of the spike. In one rapid motion, he slew f0rsakeN and transitioned the spray onto something's head, winning the round for EG.
“If it wasn't for Corbin's clutches, that first half would've gotten out of hand pretty quick,” potter said between maps. As for what c0m ate for breakfast, she replied, “Easy answer. Chick-fil-a.”
While c0m continued to perform on Bind, Paper Rex's players gradually warmed up to his level. In many ways, Bind played out like a reverse of Ascent. Going into halftime, it was Evil Geniuses who had the upper hand with a 7-5 advantage, thanks in part to c0m playing a career-defining series with an absurd 43/17/9 KDA between the two maps so far. But it was Paper Rex who were looking for a second-half domination.
More often than not, f0rsakeN and mindfreak were able to stall B with their Harbor and Brimstone utility while something lay in wait with the Operator on A. And when EG funneled into A, something was ready for them. The duelist player went from an underwhelming 1/10/5 first-half KDA to an 8/14/8 final KDA.
If it wasn't something on A, then it was Jinggg and d4v4i at the forefront of the defense. Both players topped the leaderboard with a 311 ACS and 274 ACS respectively. After losing the first two rounds of their defense, Paper Rex won eight rounds in a row to overcome a 9-5 deficit and win the map, bringing the series to the decider map Pearl.
Ethan began Pearl with a 4K banger, winning a 1v1 against mindfreak around the B Main pillar with only 2 HP remaining. EG proceeded to win their anti-eco and bonus round, starting off the series with a 3-0 lead. However, mindfreak redeemed himself in round seven with an incredible 1v3 clutch by hitting one, two, three consecutive headshots onto Demon1, Ethan, and Boostio while protecting the spike at A Link.
After a 6-6 half, EG pulled into the lead with yet another pistol round converted to bonus round win. This time, they were able to spiral into a five-round advantage 11-6. But mindfreak once again halted EG's momentum by winning a 1v1 against Demon1, then again against jawgemo .
The audience watched the series with bated breath as Paper Rex won one round after another. At the 11-10 mark, potter called a timeout in an attempt to stem the bleeding. She was partially successful. After the timeout, EG won a single round to make it to map point.
But in a bold move, f0rsakeN bought the Odin for the first time in the map, and he intended to make use of it. In a stunning display of the machine gun's firepower, he spammed through the enemy Astra's smoke at A Tunnel to chip down and kill jawgemo as he planted the spike. Then he redirected his fire onto Ethan and c0m as they pushed through the smoke, taking them down in a barrage of pellets and sending the map to overtime.
In overtime, Paper Rex played sublime Valorant. They began on the defender's side, where they dismantled EG with a flawless victory. They lost one round to the Americas team before taking home the series in stylish fashion with 3Ks by d4v4i and something respectively.
“I think we always start slow, I don't know why,” f0rsakeN said in the post-match interview. “But somehow on the third map I think we kind of got into the mood… We were, like, 7-11, right? We just, like, mentally reset, and I know from the beginning this is our map, and we win.”
With this win, f0rsakeN and Paper Rex have earned themselves a spot in the grand finals and a day to rest and prepare against their opponents. When they return to the stage on Saturday, they will play in a best-of-five, where they will be given ample time to warm up in-game and whimsy their way to victory.
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