G2 Esports
G2 Esports
North America
Rank #2
icy
Jacob Lange
trent
Trent Cairns
valyn
Jacob Batio
JonahP
Jonah Pulice
leaf
Nathan Orf
have defeated
Paper Rex
Paper Rex
Asia-Pacific
Rank #1
mindfreak
Aaron Leonhart
Jinggg
Wang Jing Jie
f0rsakeN
Jason Susanto
d4v41
Khalish Rusyaidee
something
Ilya Petrov
2-0 to open their Champions Seoulrun. They advance to the Group D winner's match, where they will play against either
FUT Esports
FUT Esports
Europe
Rank #10
MrFaliN
Furkan Yeğen
yetujey
Eray Budak
AtaKaptan
Ata Tan
cNed
Mehmet Yağız İpek
qRaxs
Doğukan Balaban
or
EDward Gaming
EDward Gaming
China
Rank #1
S1Mon
Hsien Meng-Hsun (谢孟勋)
ZmjjKK
Zheng Yongkang (郑永康)
nobody
Wang Senxu (王森旭)
CHICHOO
Wan Shunzhi (万顺治)
Smoggy
Zhang Zhao (张钊)
for a spot in playoffs. Paper Rex descend to the lower bracket, where they will risk elimination against the losing team of the next series, EDward Gaming vs. FUT Esports.
This match is the second time the teams had played against each other, the first being a 2-1 victory for G2 in the Masters Shanghai playoffs. It is also the G2 roster's debut at the marquee VCT tournament, as the core, previously on
The Guard
The Guard
Inactive
JonahP
Jonah Pulice
trent
Trent Cairns
neT
Michael Bernet
valyn
Jacob Batio
tex
Ian Botsch
, have had attended one international event in the past.
In the map selection, Ascent and Sunset were the first off the table. Paper Rex picked Icebox, followed by G2 choosing Lotus. Haven and Abyss were banned next, leaving Bind as the decider, which repeated the final two maps of their previous matchup. The veto slightly favored G2, as Paper Rex had only played, and lost, Icebox once since the beginning of Stage 2.
The North American squad opened Icebox with a 3-1 lead, a Gekko bait play helping them win the fourth round by taking advantage of Paper Rex's quick rotations. A mid solo-play attempt from JonahP almost took the next round, but time was not in his favor. Paper Rex went on a small streak, holding the sites without breaking a sweat. G2 equalized at 4-4, as they matched, and took better advantage of, trade ultimates.
Paper Rex win a combination something - mindfreak roundAnother round for the attackers prompted a timeout from Paper Rex, but they were unable to take another win, as G2 sealed the half 8-4. The Pacific team won the second pistol round, narrowing the gap. Their aggression was initially successful, with something and mindfreak winning a seventh round for their team, but their opponents adapted quickly. leaf gave his team the following eco round, and the defense continued to hold strong up until match point.
Paper Rex then switched sites to B, scoring another win after dealing with G2's overextended defense. They returned to A the following round, a back-and-forth ending in a 2v2, but G2 closed out the map with a 13-8 scoreline.
“We were expecting a tougher Paper Rex, and we got it,” JoshRT said about his opponents. alecks felt otherwise about his team's performance. “We had a gameplan, but we didn't really follow it,” the Paper Rex coach said.
G2 Esports continued on defense to kick off Lotus, claiming the pistol round via a JonahP 4K. They earned a round streak to force a tactical pause and break their opponent's economy, only losing until round seven. G2 continued their dominance in the half, only dropping three rounds. JonahP was the highlight player during the defense, with 15 eliminations and a number of multikills pushing him to a 1.45 rating and 327 ACS. His performance helped G2 reach a 9-1 lead in their map pick.
Paper Rex began their recovery by the final rounds of the first half, going to the break with a 9-3 scoreline. After halftime, they lost the pistol, but were able to take the follow up, starting to reduce their round deficit. This continued on for their defense, as G2 seemed unable to replicate their previous form to settle the series.
Paper Rex had good ideas throughout the series, but G2 were better able to punish and capitalize on their advantagesBy 11-8, G2 called for their first pause ahead of an eco round. The additional support helped the team win the thrifty, which put them at match point. Paper Rex were able to win one more round, and gained the upper hand in round 22, but an icy triple kill put G2 on track to a 13-9 on Lotus.
“We know [Icebox] is a good map for us,” valyn said after the series. “We just took it match by match and now it feels really [strong for us],” he added. “I dare teams to pick it.”