RRQ goes for gold in Pacific playoffs, defeats Paper Rex 3-2

Rex Regum Qeon Rex Regum Qeon Asia-Pacific Rank #3 Monyet Cahya Nugraha xffero David Monangin Jemkin Maksim Batorov Kushy Bryan Carlos Setiawan crazyguy Ngô Công Anh has defeated Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 PatMen Patrick Mendoza Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov in their first-ever VCT Pacific best-of-five match. The 3-2 victory pushes RRQ to the Stage 1 grand final, a rematch against the Southeast Asian squad's nemesis, Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #1 Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) Ash Ha Hyun-cheol (하현철) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) Lakia Kim Jong-min (김종민) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) . Paper Rex ends the stage in third place, a result which earned them two Championship points for Champions: Paris qualification.

This lower final was symbolic for both teams, on opposite ends of the spectrum. For Paper Rex, one of the most experienced VCT teams in the extended series format, it was an opportunity to break their best-of-five curse, as the team had had a 2-6 Bo5 record in VCT going back to Masters: Copenhagen (3-6 counting a win against XERXIA in Challengers: APAC 2022). Rex Regum Qeon, on the other hand, would be playing a best-of-five for the first time since the VCT partnership system, and a win would further improve the team's best VCT performance so far.

RRQ coach Ewok commented on the team's historic run ahead of the series. “The goal has always been to qualify and do well,” he said.

His counterpart, alecks , was relieved at having qualified to Toronto. “I wasn't sure we were gonna make it,” he commented.

The map veto was revealed soon afterwards. Rex Regum Qeon, who had played most of the season without a permaban, had chosen to ban Lotus, arguably Paper Rex's best map this split. PRX, on the other hand, took away Haven, simultaneously taking care of their permaban and removing one of RRQ's stronger maps. This left Fracture and Split as the first two maps, followed by Pearl and Icebox, with Ascent left as the decider, a strong map for both teams.

The series opened on Fracture, with Paper Rex immediately taking a strong start off the back of a d4v41 ace and a f0rsakeN quadruple kill. The team as a whole steamrolled through the defense, with three different players ending the attack with a 3-0 first kill to first death ratio. f0rsakeN in particular had an impressive half, with 19 eliminations and a 2.25 rating on Neon.

RRQ was unable to derail Paper Rex, as the first half ended 10-2 and Paper Rex taking the pistol and bonus round ended the first map with a quick 13-2. Killjoy player d4v41 won all three opening engagements in their defense, while f0rsakeN kept up his output with an additional 7 kills.

Split continued the match, with an even scoreboard to kick off the map. A pair of clutches, including an ace from Jemkin , pushed RRQ in the right direction, as the team went on to end the first half 8-4.

Paper Rex responded in kind, winning another pistol and bonus round combo to eventually tie the score. A handful of hero plays allowed RRQ to reach match point, but Paper Rex recovered their attack proficiency to force overtime.

Only two more rounds were played on Split. A solid attacking round set RRQ up to bounce back from an opening engagement loss, and Jemkin ended the map with a 4K and 1v1, winning Split 14-12.

Map three, Pearl, saw Rex Regum Qeon quickly take the lead, a clutch from xffero and Kushy takeover later in the half putting RRQ on track to go up 6-2. An important round win thanks to PatMen and d4v41 kept Paper Rex in the half, and aggressive rounds from the defense ultimately ended the half 6-6.

Paper Rex continued taking round wins in the second half, their Jett-Phoenix composition allowing them to use their signature aggression to take the lead. Stuck defuses from RRQ kept the score close, and a 0.03 defuse swung momentum back in their favor, allowing RRQ to reach match point.

“I guess we got a little bit lucky,” Jemkin reflected after the series in the crucial moment.

PatMen and Jinggg secured overtime, but they were not rewarded with a map win, as RRQ closed out Pearl with ease, one map away from winning the series.

Heading into Icebox, Paper Rex returned to their map one form. The team was proficient on defense, losing only three rounds and getting a player advantage on ten rounds in the first half. something 's Jett Operator play was instrumental, as the Russian duelist found six first kills and 14 eliminations, earning a 1.61 rating by the break.

The second half was more straightforward than the first, a pistol win letting Paper Rex reach double digits. The team slowly but surely snowballed their way to a victory, closing out the fourth map 13-3 and staying alive in the series.

Despite the previous map's scoreline, RRQ was not out of the match, with Ascent remaining as the decider. They immediately took over the map, with a pistol and bonus round win on attack setting them up for a six-round streak. A messy retake and PatMen triple kill put PRX on the board, but RRQ continued extending their lead to end their offense 9-3, an abnormal scoreline and the best attack performance on the map in the Stage 1 playoffs across all regions.

Paper Rex hoped to make a comeback after taking the second pistol round, but RRQ remained stalwart, taking three rounds to secure match point. PRX was able to take their sixth round by suffocating the defense and catching RRQ off-guard, leading RRQ to use a timeout and plan out their win. The final round came down to the wire, a sneaky xffero play granting him the 1v2 and closing out the map 13-6.

“That was a crazy game,” Jemkin remarked after the series. “In the end, it was a very nice game.”

“I'm really proud of the guys. I was really happy with how the last map went,” coach Ewok added.

Rex Regum Qeon will next play against Gen.G in the Stage 1 grand final. A win will award the victor two additional Championship points, as well as direct qualification to the Masters: Toronto playoffs. More importantly, for RRQ, a victory will be RRQ's first win against Gen.G in a non-regular season game, a feat which has eluded RRQ since 2023.

“It's time for revenge against Gen.G,” Ewok said. “It's been a long time coming.”