Paper Rex survives Team Liquid as the train hobbles along to playoffs

Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 PatMen Patrick Mendoza Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov has taken the final spot in the Masters Toronto playoffs, defeating Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #9 penny Erik Penny paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak Serial Maikls Zdanovs in an exhilarating 2-1 victory.

“I [couldn't] breathe, I was shaking,” f0rsakeN recounted his winning moment after the absolute rollercoaster of a match.

For a team with no practice, a brand-new sixth man, and an IGL shipped in days late, it's a miracle that Team Liquid had made it even this far in Toronto. After a close loss to Bilibili Gaming Bilibili Gaming China Rank #4 whzy Wang Haozhe (王昊哲) Levius Lu Yinzhong (卢胤中) rushia Wang Xiaojie (王晓杰) nephh Marcus Tan Knight Liu Yuxiang (刘宇翔) , the return of nAts saw them spring back to life as they flattened MIBR MIBR Brazil Rank #1 artzin Arthur Araujo xenom Eduardo Soeiro cortezia Gabriel Cortez Verno Andrew Maust aspas Erick Santos and nearly delivered the death blow to Paper Rex.

On the other side, the Paper Rex that started 0-3 in the group stage all the way back in Pacific have their own divine train chugging along through Toronto. After taking down Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #3 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius in the opening round of Toronto, their regional rivals in Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #1 Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) Ash Ha Hyun-cheol (하현철) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) Suggest Seo Jae-young (서재영) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) took them back down to reality. Now against their second EMEA team of the tournament, the train has managed to keep rolling, but only just.

On Split, Paper Rex felt in control for most of regulation. While Liquid had taken both pistol rounds, it was Paper Rex that worked their way up to 12-8, with four rounds to close out the map. However, Liquid found the wherewithal to hold strong and make the comeback. Off the back of a gutsy fake clone play from kamo , the Europeans stayed alive long enough for Keiko to send the map to overtime with an ace.

Once in overtime, the momentum was all Liquid's, and they closed out their opponent's map pick 15-13. Keiko was a star on the map, with a 1.41 rating and 29 kills.

It was fortunate for Liquid that they were able to make that comeback on Split, because their own map pick of Sunset was a complete wash in the favor of Paper Rex. Showing it for the first time this season, the Pacific team once again brought out the Sage pick that brought them historic success in the past. A flawless defense half let Paper Rex take a quick 13-5 win to even up the series.

No one was ready for the thriller that was the final map of Lotus. Liquid brought in their newest addition penny to fit into the Waylay and Raze double duelist composition, but their attack half was completely stuffed out by Paper Rex. 11-1 was the score at the half, and the map was all but over.

Keiko kept Liquid alive on the next pistol, but two rounds later, Paper Rex hit match point at 12-3, seemingly burying any amount of hope that was left.

While Paper Rex was ready to pack it up and celebrate victory, Liquid had other ideas.

“We just decided we're not gonna give up, no matter what happens,” said nAts after the match. “Every round was played as the last round.”

Round by round, Liquid started to bring it back. The rounds weren't even close, as kamo came alive on the Waylay and started swatting down Paper Rex.

As their lead slowly dwindled, the smiles were wiped off the faces of Paper Rex.

“We were just trying to end it too fast. We were having too much fun, and then suddenly it wasn't fun anymore,” said coach Alecks in the post-match conference. Both of his timeouts yielded no results, and eventually, they were staring down 12-12. Overtime had arrived.

An immediate timeout came from the Paper Rex side to calm the team down. Their composure regained, they finally closed the map 14-12.

It was heartbreak for Liquid, falling just short of pulling off the impossible. They are now eliminated from Masters Toronto, repeating their results at Bangkok by going 1-2 in the Swiss stage.

Paper Rex will go on to face G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #1 jawgemo Alexander Mor trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio JonahP Jonah Pulice leaf Nathan Orf in the first round of Playoffs. They have been a struggle for the Pacific team, having been handed defeat at both Masters Shanghai and Champions 2024.