Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov have advanced to the top four of Masters Tokyo following their 2-1 victory over Asian foes EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) Muggle Tang Shijun (唐时俊) CHICHOO Wan Shunji (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) Haodong Guo Haodong (郭浩东) .

This matchup had already been seen once in the past – in Champions 2022. It was EDG's first ever match on the global stage, and ended with Paper Rex coming out on top. The loss, just barely out of grasp, was a heartbreaker for EDward Gaming, staying in the back of their minds while setting the stage for their future international showings.

It had been nine months since the two faced each other for the first time. Now, in Tokyo, they were finding themselves clashing again in a lower bracket revenge match.

For Paper Rex, this game would show the world how far their stunted roster could go with a substitute. For EDward Gaming however, the match was one of redemption and hope: a rematch against their first international opponents who took them down by the thinnest of margins, and hope to continue a fabled tale that no Chinese team had seen so far in the VCT.

The game began on Fracture, EDG's pick. ZmjjKK came out swinging straight into the first pistol, dropping a 4k off the bat to convert the round for EDG. Their early win converted into a 3-0 start, before an early response by Paper Rex came in time to take two rounds back. Another string of rounds by both teams led to an 8-4 lead for EDward Gaming by halftime.

EDG kicked off the second half with another pistol and follow-up win to move up to 10-4. The Chinese side also found themselves winning their bonus to put themselves one away from match point.

Then, the map flipped on its head entirely.

A paradigm shift in Paper Rex's defensive strategy led to a new approach to their play: establishing B Main control over EDG early within the round. Their rapid B pushes locked EDward Gaming out of the site several times in the half, opting many times to leave B alone altogether.

And their renewed strategy kept Paper Rex alive. Right before their eyes, a comeback was mounting round by round. Resetting the momentum of the map entirely, PRX kept at their winning formula to win eight rounds in a row to be the first to take twelve, trailing EDG behind.

Regulation ended with round 24 going to EDG, destined for overtime. But Paper Rex's momentum established over the half led to an end of any hope EDward Gaming had to take back their pick, with PRX winning out Fracture 14-12.

“It wasn't much anti-stratting and more like adjustments because we scrim EDG like twice a week,” said alecks . “We've scrimmed enough to know what they do, they know what we do, so it's more about hiding things and trying different stuff.”

Map two led to Split, a map EDG hadn't lost on in nearly two years. Paper Rex took their first pistol in the opening round, responded back in tandem with four straight rounds from EDG to start off 4-1.

In round six, d4v41 found himself in a 1v3 scenario. He picked a fight to take down CHICHOO , taking down his Viper's Pit. A trade attempt by nobody went awry, while also reading Haodong 's positioning to convert a necessary win for PRX. After gaining momentum into the remainder of the half, the final round saw cgrs pull off a clutch to end off 6-6.

“I'm still surprised [about the clutch],” said cgrs. “I think I'll become a Phantom main.”

Paper Rex found themselves at an early lead once more heading into their attack, winning their pistol and follow-up to move up 8-6. EDG responded back once more, winning yet another four rounds in a row to be the first to reach double digits.

This time, EDG would prevent any attempt of a comeback to come into play. A 1v1 by mindfreak in round 19 would be the final round that Paper Rex would get on Split, eventually falling 13-9 in EDward Gaming's favor.

Lotus was previously a mixed bag for both teams. Paper Rex had a mere 60% win rate, alongside going 0-12 against FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #1 Leo Leo Jannesson Derke Nikita Sirmitev Boaster Jake Howlett Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder on the map the day prior. EDG, in contrast, came off a storming 13-6 win over LOUD LOUD Brazil Rank #1 Quick Gabriel Lima saadhak Matias Delipetro Less Felipe de Loyola tuyz Arthur Andrade cauanzin Cauan Pereira beforehand, while also having lost 11-13 to Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #18 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Enzo Enzo Mestari Mistic James Orfila Keiko Georgio Sanassy .

And Paper Rex got off to a fierce start. Lotus began with Paper Rex taking their third pistol of the series, moving to an early 6-1 lead.

Round eight was brought down to the wire for both teams. In a dire 3v2 postplant, both CHICHOO and nobody pushed through CT in an attempt to equalize numbers. Whilst CHICHOO fell early to Jinggg, nobody sprayed down two and won a 1v1 against cgrs to give EDG their second round. Two more rounds were claimed by both teams soon after, ending off the half 8-4 for Paper Rex.

EDward Gaming took their first pistol since Fracture to kick off their defense. Despite taking the first two rounds, EDG were unable to convert their bonus, giving Paper Rex their ninth. Two more successful retakes brought EDG up to eight, looking to tie up the game. But PRX stood tall, staying indomitable in the final rounds of the map. After winning round 18, Paper Rex were given the stamina to close out the game once and for all, taking four rounds in a row to win Lotus 13-8, knocking out EDG.

“Everyone knows that Paper Rex is very aggressive. Back in Istanbul, we faced them there too, so we kinda knew what kind of team they are,” said AfteR . “But it feels like we couldn't really accept their tendency as a fast and aggressive team in adjustment. It was like we couldn't take that pace, so we've been upgrading, absorbing, and learning, so hopefully we can use different approaches to face them in the future.”

Despite being given the hope of winning 2-0 against Paper Rex, EDward Gaming are not deterred from coming back better even after their miracle run comes to a close. They've surpassed their own expectations, and placing top six is not enough for them, and they have several takeaways from their time in Tokyo. They'll now be sent to the Chinese qualifier for Champions, where EDG will have to prove themselves once more.

Paper Rex advance on through the lower bracket, now taking on NRG Esports for a spot in the lower finals. It'll be the second time ever that they play against the OpTic core, playing only once ever in Copenhagen last year. Paper Rex look to hold strong against the North American team lying before them, and look forward to taking them down once again.

“We'll just do our best,” said f0rsakeN . “We didn't expect that we could win until [the top four] because our mindset doesn't have a lot of expectations from ourselves. NRG is a really good team, and I hope we can duel later.”