Since 2021, the OpTic Gaming OpTic Gaming Inactive core has always made the top three of every international event — until today, when Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov defeated NRG Esports NRG Esports North America Rank #2 crashies Austin Roberts Victor Victor Wong Marved Jimmy Nguyen Ethan Ethan Arnold Demon1 Max Mazanov 2-1 in the lower bracket of Masters Tokyo to eliminate them from the event.

This entire tournament has been a rollercoaster for the #1 seed from the Pacific. Their first game was a statement 2-0 win, which resonated all the more since it was achieved without their full roster, thanks to something not being able to make it to Tokyo. Their second game against FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #1 Leo Leo Jannesson Derke Nikita Sirmitev Boaster Jake Howlett Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder was also a 2-0, but Paper Rex were the ones taking the L that time.

“We didn't expect much in this tournament because we didn't play with our main roster,” mindfreak said. “Today, I'm still surprised we could win,”

In the lower bracket, PRX's first opponent was 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) , a team who had looked incredible throughout their run. It was a closely contested affair, but PRX were able to defeat them to face NRG today.

The core of PRX and NRG have faced off exactly once: at Masters Copenhagen in 2022, where PRX defeated OpTic Gaming in the upper final. The stakes were different today, though, with cgrs still subbing in for something, and the winner of the game guaranteed a top three placement in Tokyo.

NRG picked Pearl to start things on, a map where teams from the Americas have not lost outside their region. Although NRG held a slight lead throughout most of the map, PRX were still able to force overtime.

With things tied at 13 all, s0m attempted to will his NRG squad to victory with three kills and a fourth on the horizon. He pulled out the Shorty in the hopes of killing cgrs at close range, but somehow cgrs won out. That turned out to be the difference maker, as PRX won the next round to take Pearl 15-13.

It wasn't just round 27 in which cgrs had an impact. His lurks and trades repeatedly helped the team throughout the map, making him the map's MVP. Jinggg 's Phoenix pick, while unorthodox, paired well with f0rsakeN 's Jett, letting PRX's trademark double-duelist comp power through.

“People don't really play it, [so] it's always like you surprise the enemy,” jinggg said. “I feel it's better to innovate and have your own playstyle instead of copying the meta.”

On PRX's own map pick, Lotus, they looked a little shaky. NRG found a strong first half that culminated in 10-2, and Paper Rex just couldn't pick up the pieces later. NRG won the map 13-6, where both s0m and FiNESSE , the team's double controllers, were leading in ACS and kills alike.

The decider map, Bind, was a close-fought fight. The first half culminated with NRG having a slight lead at 7-5 but PRX were quick to find round after round on attack.

PRX made it to 12-10, but NRG won the next round, and almost pushed it to OT again. But PRX held on for the 13-11 win, eliminating NRG from Masters.

“I am proud of the boys, I think we overcame quite a lot of difficulties in this event and to be top three right now, we're very happy,” said alecks , who also mentioned he was grateful for the break before the lower final.

Throughout the series and tournament alike, f0rsakeN and Jinggg have been able to consistently find kills and space for their teammates. Today, the duo had 26 first kills between them.

PRX has also found some lightning in the bottle with cgrs, who was one of just two PRX players to finish positive on the day. He'll need to continue playing well to fill in for something, who has confirmed he will not make it to Tokyo before the tournament's end.

“He's very good at Gekko, props to him. He has very good lineups,” said Chet about Cgrs.

On NRG's side, despite his missed clutch, s0m was the most impactful player. He earned the server's highest overall ACS despite playing controller and finished with a kill differential of +14. Today was a bit of an off-day for crashies , who had nine first deaths on Skye and none of his usual pop-off moments.

“I don't really like to bait, but maybe I'll have to start,” crashies said of his performance.

“It feels like shit,” Chet said of the team's defeat.

Paper Rex will face Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses North America Rank #29 Derrek Derrek Ha NaturE Nicholas Garrison supamen Phat Le Apoth Vincent Le jawgemo Alexander Mor in the lower final to decide which of the two teams gets a rematch against FNATIC in the grand finals.

“We're really excited, we want to play against players who are really good to see how we stand against them. I think the whole of EG is good so I'm really excited for the game,” said Jinggg.

“There's no expectation, we're just playing for fun.”