Paper Rex advances to playoffs with nailbiter 2-1 win over NRG

In a clash between the two most recent title winners, Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 invy Adrian Jiggs Reyes Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov narrowly defeated NRG NRG North America Rank #1 keiko Georgio Sanassy brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold 2-1 to claim their spot in the Masters Santiago playoffs, breaking NRG's seven-win streak on the international stage.

Starting on PRX's pick of Split, NRG made a composition swap, pivoting away from their previous Tejo-Skye in favor of brawk on Vyse.

The first half was a 6-6 deadlock. NRG had a 3-0 start after converting the bonus, while PRX responded with pacy retakes and floods on A to win the next four rounds. Both teams traded individual heroics from there, as brawk and keiko pulled off a 2v3 in round 10 and invy capped off the half with the first of many aces in the series.

The game stayed close in the second half, but a pistol round and some classic chaotic firefights gave PRX a slight edge as they won Split 13-10. Statistically, invy and f0rsakeN stood a cut above the rest, the former going 20/10/3 with a 1.45 rating and the latter going 24/14/9 with a 1.39 rating.

Pearl was a clash of styles, pitting PRX's aggressive Yoru-Raze composition against NRG's info-heavy double drone one. mada led the way forward on the attack side, pulling off two back-to-back aces and going 17/7 in the first half alone to take a 7-5 lead for his side.

A double pistol for the SEA squad instantly drew the score back to 7-7. It was in the final few rounds that NRG distinguished themselves, repelling PRX's all-in force buy to go up 12-10 and closing it out 13-10. mada finished the map with 23 kills and 153 ADR.

Haven, a strong map for both teams, was another clash of styles as NRG opted into a standard Neon-Viper against PRX's unorthodox Chamber and Phoenix picks. NRG won the first pistol, but PRX gradually began to shut them out with site hits, going up 8-4 on their attack. d4v41 's Chamber wreaked havoc in the first half with 16 kills and 331 ACS.

PRX continued to outdo their opponents in the second half with coordinated retakes, earning five chances to close it out in regulation at 12-7. NRG ran it back to 12-11 with a heavy focus on C hits, but f0rsakeN found the fourth ace of the series in the final round to put an end to the match.

d4v41 topfragged the map with 22 kills, while invy had a breakout performance over the course of the series with a 60/38/21 KDA and server-high 1.29 rating.

Paper Rex will await the playoffs draw as they seek yet another deep international run. Meanwhile, the defending world champions, now 1-1 in Swiss, will play a do-or-die match against an undetermined opponent on Wednesday, March 4.