Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #3 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov defeated Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #1 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius 2-1 in the second elimination match of the fourth day of Masters Madrid. Paper Rex will now advance to round three of the swiss format, while Team Heretics has been eliminated from the tournament.

“Yeah, I mean W-gaming is onto year three y'know, so we gotta figure something out for this year,” Paper Rex coach alecks said in his pre-match interview.

Despite alecks' statement, Paper Rex won their map pick of Sunset 13-10 in typical Paper Rex fashion, scrappy with a few key individual plays.

Following a 6-6 first half, Paper Rex came alive on their defense. On round 14, f0rsaken took first blood with a clean 3K on the Outlaw, and just three rounds later, mindfreak pulled off another impressive 3K with the Vandal.

But the star of Sunset was Paper Rex's newest addition, Monyet .

On round 20, Monyet clutched a 1v2 with the Sheriff, denying Heretics' comeback and forcing the Spanish team to save on a crucial 11-9 scoreline.

This was the moment alecks chose to highlight going into map two.

“I think [Sunset] was incredibly back and forth honestly. If I had to say one moment [when the tide turned], it would be when Monyet won his 1v1 with Sheriff against paTiTek,” alecks said. “I think it did wonders for his confidence and ours, so that's probably the most crucial point of the game.”

On the other side, Heretics coach neilzinho gave some insights on what he'd like to see improved going into the following maps.

“The reason we lost [Sunset] was because our fundamentals just went out the window, and if you do that against a team like Paper Rex, they're gonna pick you apart,” he said. “So that's why we lost our attack, and we're going to change that for Lotus.”

Heretics went on to secure Lotus 13-10. MiniBoo led the charge with his signature Neon, putting on an impressive showing with his 291 ACS and 23/13/10 KDA.

On round six, MiniBoo put an end to Paper Rex's 4-1 lead with his Neon ultimate, turning a 2v3 deficit into a 1v1 win against d4v41.

In the next round, the other half of the brother duo also had his time in the spotlight.

Boo showed off his patience and trigger discipline on A Rubble, where he waited for over a minute until he finally landed surprise kills on d4v41 and Monyet, securing Heretics the round.

But it wasn't just these moments that got Heretics the map win. On Lotus, the team refused to let Paper Rex's relentless aggression affect their game plan. Even when the Pacific old guard threatened a comeback, Heretics held steady and relied on their teamwork to pull through.

If Sunset and Lotus showed off each team's strengths, then decider map Split was an all-out brawl. In the first half, even the casters seemed convinced the series would go the way of Heretics.

“Paper Rex are genuinely looking rattled here,” Sideshow commented at the beginning of the seventh round. Boo proceeded to complete his highlight reel with a solo 4K on B site while his teammates were still rotating.

Following Boo's play, Paper Rex popped their second and final timeout of the map—and they wouldn't be in need of any more moving forward.

Monyet clutched another 1v2 to start Paper Rex's dominance on Split, and as if a fire was lit under them by their coach, the team refused to drop another round to Heretics.

With the exception of one hiccup in round 15, Paper Rex proceeded to roll over the Spanish representatives with their sheer firepower, ending the map and series 13-7.

f0rsaken led the leaderboard with an impressive +10 differential on Raze, an agent he hadn't played all season long (he was previously on Yoru).

PRX "f0rsaken" performing on stage PRX "f0rsaken" performing on stage

After the match, alecks went on the desk to give some insight into Paper Rex's preparations for their new Split composition.

“The tripe duelist was kinda overcooked, y'know?” alecks said, “[Monyet] said Split was the worst…so after that, we decided to put him on Omen and mindfreak had to sacrifice a little bit and go onto Viper which he'd never play before…and f0rsaken, we know he plays everything, so we just chucked him on Raze.”

When asked about his agent flexibility in his own post-match interview, f0rsaken joked, “Maybe I'll play Deadlock or Iso next. Who knows?”

f0rsaken went on to state that he wanted to face off against EDward Gaming for the rematch, but he won't be getting his wish. Instead, Paper Rex must take down their second European opponent Karmine Corp to qualify for playoffs in the third and final round of the swiss format.