FUT Esports FUT Esports Europe Rank #8 xeus Doğan Gözgen MrFaliN Furkan Yeğen yetujey Eray Budak AtaKaptan Ata Tan cNed Mehmet Yağız İpek qRaxs Doğukan Balaban defeated FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #2 Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu stand-in Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder 2-1 and Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov swept 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) 2-0, eliminating Fnatic and EDG from Masters Shanghai. FUT Esports and Paper Rex will stay alive in the lower bracket, one loss away from elimination.

FUT Esports get revenge on Fnatic

This battle was between the top seed and third seed from EMEA, who both lost in the first round of the Masters Shanghai playoffs. These two teams faced each other recently at the EMEA Stage 1 playoffs, where Fnatic beat FUT Esports in the lower bracket final 3-1.

The map veto began with FUT picking Split and Fnatic picking Lotus, leaving Ascent as the decider.

Fnatic started the series with Derke on Yoru and Alfajer on Raze. FUT went with cNed on Chamber and qRaxs moving from his traditional initiator to Raze. The first pistol for Split went to Fnatic, as Derke removed cNed seconds into the game. Fnatic nearly converted their bonus, but qRaxs sniped a 3K to secure the round win. The double duelist of Yoru and Raze oppressed any attempts FUT had to walk on sites and took advantage when FUT played slow. FUT would often die first, however their post-plants were successful when they moved onto the site. Rounds went back and forth, with Fnatic entering the half up 7-5.

Derke lurked to win Fnatic their second pistol round after they lost the first duel. The double duelist was more valuable on the Fnatic attack side, as they converted the bonus round to go up 10-5. Chronicle got a kill with his tripwire, which was the ultimate death blow, ending Fnatic's attack half perfectly at 13-5.

FUT stuck with their new Lotus comp featuring Breach instead of their no-initiator comp that they had run regionally, while Fnatic ran their default comp. Fnatic missed some simple shots on pistols to go down early. Back on Jett, cNed picked up a Vandal on round two to help make his start easy. FUT converted their bonus as AtaKaptan got four kills in the round, validating the risky rifle purchase on their anti-eco. FUT started frequently pushing the C site, allowing yetujey to lurk and create openings for FUT to exploit. Map control defined the half for FUT when they took a 9-3 lead.

The top seed from EMEA won the second pistol round, cutting into the lead from FUT. Both AtaKaptan and MrFaliN , the two controllers for FUT, shut down a late push on C to prevent a Fnatic bonus conversion. AtaKaptan and yetujey stopped all the A-site pushes Fnatic often attempted, while the Breach utility slowed Fnatic enough to make their attack painful if they went anywhere else.

Fnatic were able to string together a run when they were down 12-5, but the attempt was a fake comeback in the end. cNed bought an operator on the final round and cleverly avoided the Fade eye from Leo , sniping Alfajer early. FUT won map two 13-8 to take the series to Ascent.

Leo celebrates a round win for Fnatic at Masters Shanghai. (Image via Riot Games)

Ascent was the first mirror matchup of the series, so it came down to who played better on their respective agents. Derke and cNed were the highlighted Jett duel, and the Turkish Jett helped FUT win the first pistol round. Perhaps the most improved player from the previous two maps was qRaxs, back on his signature KAY/O for the first time in the series. He was crucial to the bonus conversion from FUT, killing Boaster through an enemy one-way while on low health.

Leo had to use Hunter's Fury to clutch round five and win Fnatic their first round on Ascent. Fighting back to keep the lead, cNed used the Outlaw and an aggressive defensive push up catwalk to win a round and force a timeout. Derke then used his Jett knives to surprise FUT on their save round, which was followed up by a traditional cNed Operator pickup to stop Fnatic in their tracks. Fnatic had to put all of their hope in a strong defense to keep their tournament going, as FUT entered the half up 9-3.

The second pistol win for FUT was defined by flanks. Fnatic took space on their defense, yet the awareness from yetujey and MrFaliN net them free kills from behind. FUT's confidence built to the point that yetujey tried to jump and knife kill Derke from around a corner, showing no fear to the two-time international champs. Ascent was the most one-sided map of the series; FUT won 13-3 and eliminated Fnatic.

Fnatic were unable to win a single series at Masters Shanghai, despite earning a bye to the playoff round after winning Stage 1 in EMEA. FUT Esports, the third seed from EMEA, will stay alive alongside the victor of Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov versus 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) .

Paper Rex sent EDG on a short trip home

For this series, EDward Gaming picked Bind and Paper Rex picked Sunset, leaving Split as the potential third map.

Paper Rex began Bind with a curveball as something pulled out the Reyna pick. ZmjjKK quickly snapped onto two heads on the pistol before shooting his way to a 4K on round two. Rounds went by quickly, with Paper Rex either planting or dying in what felt like seconds. The pace was more comfortable for Paper Rex, who used both their skill in quick play and some luck to take a 6-2 lead.

Smoggy and nobody teamed up to shut down a B hit from Paper Rex and stop the bleeding on round eight. In a chaotic round soon after, something dodged what seemed like a guaranteed death but Smoggy clutched the 1v1, defusing the spike with less than half a second remaining. The two consecutive rounds pulled the half back for EDG, ending the half tied at 6-6.

Paper Rex regained the lead due to a Jinggg Frenzy 4K, winning the second pistol round. EDG bought ZmjjKK a Bulldog on the next round despite losing the pistol to try and surprise Paper Rex, yet f0rsakeN saved Paper Rex from a potential thrifty loss. The gambit hurt the Paper Rex economy enough to mix up their plans to start the half.

As EDG tied it 8-8, Paper Rex won another lucky round as something got two Guardian wallbang kills in what seemed like an easy EDG round win. The win was crucial for the Paper Rex economy as well, keeping the teams on an even footing. The EDG focus shifted to quick splits and avoiding any duels with something, leading to another tie at 10-10.

Someone had to step up to win the map for their team, and that hero was f0rsakeN. In the next four rounds, he was the focal point. The two best moments were a strong B defense with his Harbor utility, and then killing three on A site the round after to help Paper Rex avoid overtime and win Bind 13-11.

Paper Rex posing together at Masters Shanghai. (Image via Riot Games)

The series moved to Sunset, with Paper Rex opting for a Sage pick instead of the traditional Cypher that EDG stuck with. Starting on the attack, EDG won the first pistol off of a smart Haodong play to secure a 2v3 post plant. Paper Rex then started to run away with the half after winning their first rifle round. The team focused on getting something the Operator, which secured plenty of first kills across the map.

Moving from initiator to sentinel, d4v41 on Sage slowed down any attempted aggression from EDG as Paper Rex built their lead. A thrifty from EDG stole a round back to keep a comeback within reach, but they still entered the half down 8-4.

mindfreak got two kills in a tough spot to win Paper Rex the second pistol round. On attack, the Breach, Gekko, and Raze allowed for plenty of pace changes. One round Paper Rex waited for EDG to push and picked them apart, while the next would be a rush on B site with a Wingman plant and a Sage wall. EDG struggled to read Paper Rex and took too long on retakes. Paper Rex closed out the map 13-6, sweeping the local favorites out of Masters Shanghai.

The top seed from Pacific will face the loser of G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #1 jawgemo Alexander Mor trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio JonahP Jonah Pulice leaf Nathan Orf versus Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #1 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius , while FUT Esports will face the loser from 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #4 zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk versus Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #1 Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) yoman Chae Young-moon (채영문) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) .