Paper Rex reaches Radiant Asia grand final with 3-0 win against Trace

Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Unranked mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov has defeated Trace Esports Trace Esports China Unranked 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) 3-0 in the Radiant Asia lower final. They will next play against DetonatioN FocusMe DetonatioN FocusMe Japan Unranked Meiy Ibuki Seki Art Jinboong Kim Jin-won (김진원) Akame Yu Gwang-hui (유광희) gyen in the grand final, a rematch of the upper final in which DFM came out on top. Trace has been eliminated from the tournament, finishing in third place after taking out DRX earlier in the bracket.

“ alecks just banged the table and scolded us,” d4v41 joked after the series regarding their upper bracket loss to DFM.

Comparing off-season performances, the map veto erred slightly in Trace's favor, as they had shown comfort on the second map, Ascent, and had a 3-0 record on map three, Sunset. Recent performances on the first three map picks also pointed towards a possible win from Trace, as Paper Rex had lost on Split and Ascent against DFM, while Trace found comfortable wins against DRX on Sunset and Split. However, Paper Rex reaching this stage via the upper bracket gave them priority in the veto, and picking into Trace's ideal map pool indicated confidence.

Paper Rex kicked off the series on Split with a dominant attack, their double-duelist composition enabling quick site hits and overwhelming lone defenders. Trace was only able to win one round in the half, with LuoK1ng winning a close 1v1 against something . Trace called a timeout soon afterwards, but the Chinese lineup was unable to recover. By the end of the half, something had found 26 eliminations, equal to Trace's combined total kills.

Returning from the break, LuoK1ng once again stepped up, scoring a second point for his team after a 4K. Trace was able to take a handful of rounds, but f0rsakeN dashed any comeback hopes with a perfect Guiding Light, ending the first map 13-5

The Southeast Asian roster opened Ascent with another pistol-bonus round win, countering Trace's offense with ease. Well-timed utility forced a three-player save from their opponents, and a tactical pause was called after the round. Trace took two points afterwards, opting to end B after six straight rounds of testing the A defense. A patient post-plant added a point to Trace's score, and the support players helped Trace earn their fourth, sending Ascent to halftime with an 8-4.

The second pistol round and a close anti-eco went Paper Rex's way, further extending their lead to a 10-4. A force-buy paid off, as d4v41 sealed a 1v1 with 14 HP remaining. Ultimately, two coordinated B hits ended Trace's map pick 13-4 in Paper Rex's favor.

“He knows how to be aggressive at the right time, how to play safe at the right time,” d4v41 said regarding forsakeN's initiators on Ascent.

Paper Rex continued their pistol dominance with their fourth opening round win on Sunset. Their signature aggression aided them in taking an early lead, but Trace was able to take advantage of a weak A site to tie the map. Trace continued with momentum in their favor, never shying away from showing presence on A site. The half ended 8-4, the first time Trace had taken the lead in the series.

Kai 's reappearance was instrumental in Trace's recovery, as he went from 0 eliminations in the first four rounds to spearheading his team's attack and ending the half with 11 kills and 7 assists. Similarly, Biank and heybay each found eight and nine kills, respectively, after their team's comeback began in round five.

Jinggg 's Deadlock helped break Trace's round winstreak and secure another pistol round for Paper Rex. An early mid-to-B fight gave Trace the bonus round, and the Chinese lineup went up to double digits with an A retake. Paper Rex continued closing the gap after taking a semi-eco, and a Jinggg 1v2 led to a timeout from their opponents. Biank avoided a 13-10 by stopping Paper Rex with a 3K, but an early B plant overwhelmed Trace, ending Sunset 13-11 and winning the series 3-0.

The victory marks Paper Rex's third off-season grand final appearance in as many events, dating back to 2022's Valorant India Invitational. They will face off against DetonatioN FocusMe, the team that dropped Paper Rex to the lower bracket after a 2-0 win in the upper final. Trace Esports finishes the event in third place, a win against DRX helping them reach the podium on home soil.

After the series, d4v41 commented on the grand final rematch. “DFM [...] has very good aim. Props to them, they've been working very hard,” he said. “Hopefully things will be different when we meet them tomorrow.”