Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #3 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov has defeated DRX DRX Korea Rank #4 Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Athan Na Ha-jun (나하준) free1ng No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) 2-1 in the upper semifinals of the Radiant Asia Invitational. Paper Rex now advances to the upper final, while DRX has been sent down to the lower bracket.

The three-map series played out on Sunset, Abyss, and Pearl. Paper Rex won Sunset 15-13, DRX won Abyss 13-6, and Paper Rex won Pearl 13-6.

This was the tenth matchup between the two age-old Pacific heavyweights, the most recent result being a 3-2 win for DRX in the lower finals of Pacific Stage 2 this year. DRX entered as the higher seed after a 2-0 Swiss stage, while Paper Rex fought their way through Swiss with a 2-1 record that featured five overtime maps.

PRX kicked off the match by taking DRX to Sunset, a map they hadn't yet played in this event. In a continuation of their role experimentation for this event, PRX's composition featured Jinggg on Deadlock, something on Sova, and f0rsakeN on Neon. On the other side, DRX elected for a more standard composition featuring Neon, KAY/O, and Cypher.

Despite suffering a thrifty loss in round 2, PRX opened up an early 5-2 lead on their defense side through coordinated retakes, forcing a DRX timeout. In the round after, free1ng won out a 1v1 versus d4v41 to stop the snowball, culminating to a closer 7-5 half in favor of PRX.

The second half was equally close; DRX began building momentum with a narrow bonus win in round 15, but a 1v4 from something in round 17 gave his team a way back in. DRX managed to find a 12-11 lead, but PRX forced a sixth overtime this event for themselves with an ironclad B site postplant. Experience proved to be the difference-maker as PRX won another manic firefight on the B site to close out Sunset 15-13.

something clutches a pivotal round for his team with a little help from the crowd.

Both Neon players topped the scoreboard for their teams, but it was f0rsaken who took over with 26 kills to 19 deaths and 282 ACS.

The next map was DRX's pick of Abyss, a map DRX hadn't lost on since July. DRX opted for their signature Ascent-esque composition with Jett, KAY/O, and Cypher, while PRX brought out their unique composition with Jett, Reyna, and Skye.

Another round 2 thrifty for DRX helped them mount a 3-1 start. PRX utilized strong A hits and individual hero plays to keep the score close, but DRX adjusted their defensive setups to better reinforce their site anchors and end the half with a 7-5 lead.

Crisp shots from HYUNMIN shut down the attack.

The second half of Abyss, on the other hand, was anything but close. DRX exploited Paper Rex's lack of strong defensive utility to repeatedly take the B site, steamrolling to a 13-6 victory. Flashback dominated the server with 22 kills and 315 ACS; HYUNMIN trailed close behind on Jett with 20 kills and 274 ACS.

The last map was Pearl, a map DRX hadn't yet played since its return to the map pool. Steadfast anchoring from MaKo on A gave DRX a 3-1 start, but PRX found greater purchase on B to find a 5-3 lead that chained into an 8-4 half.

Jinggg expertly wields Phoenix's kit to deal with MaKo's Cosmic Divide.

DRX took both pistols, but the rest of the map looked comfortable for PRX as the squad ran away with Pearl to win out the map 13-6. mindfreak led his team with 20 kills and 297 ACS after an impressive display of anchoring and lurking. However, it was Jinggg who demonstrated the best performance statistically over the course of the entire series with 59 kills to 44 deaths and 244 ACS.

Paper Rex will return tomorrow on Nov. 29 to play the winner of DetonatioN FocusMe DetonatioN FocusMe Japan Rank #3 Meiy Ibuki Seki Art Jinboong Kim Jin-won (김진원) Akame Yu Gwang-hui (유광희) gyen versus Trace Esports Trace Esports China Rank #4 LuoK1ng Zhang Zhanpeng (张展鹏) Kai Lu Zhinan (卢智楠) FengF Song Xuefeng (宋学锋) heybay Ho Shun Hei Biank Zhong Jianfei (钟剑飞) in the upper final, while DRX will fight for survival against the loser in the lower bracket.