Paper Rex reverse sweep DRX to take home Pacific League trophy

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 definitively toppled the undisputed dominance of the DRX DRX Korea Rank #7 Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Athan Na Ha-jun (나하준) freeing No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) core over Asia that has lasted since Valorant's release in the region. They beat the Koreans 3-2 in the grand final to take the first VCT Pacific trophy.

The win allows Paper Rex to skip the initial group stage at Masters: Tokyo and head straight to the quarterfinals. DRX will participate in the group stage of Masters alongside the likes of Natus Vincere Natus Vincere Europe Rank #19 ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky , NRG Esports NRG Esports North America Rank #2 FiNESSE Pujan Mehta s0m Sam Oh Verno Andrew Maust mada Adam Pampuch Ethan Ethan Arnold , and fellow Pacific representative T1 T1 Korea Rank #3 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Meteor Kim Tae-O (김태오) Sylvan Ko Young-sub (고영섭) BuZz Yu Byung-chul (유병철) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) .

Photo by Riot Games

Due to coming into the series as the victor of the upper bracket final, Paper Rex had an initial advantage with possession of both vetoes and the pick for the match's first map. After removing Haven and Split from the pool, Paper Rex decided to begin the match on Fracture.

The first time around Paper Rex dominated DRX on the map 13-5; however, DRX were now playing with Zest in place of Foxy9 , who has played in place of Zest for most of the season, and were operating with a new game plan as a result. Rb was now playing Neon as the solo duelist for the squad, a composition DRX had previously run at international events.

DRX managed to shake off an initial pistol loss by picking up the following round with a thrifty and 1v1 win from BuZz off the back of a clean B execute. This form would prove to be the norm for DRX on map one as they dropped only two rounds for the remainder of the half to finish with a 9-3 lead.

Despite losing the pistol yet again, DRX continued to trounce Paper Rex in the gun rounds to close out the map in a quick 13-6 victory. Zest in particular shone brightly for DRX as the substitute top fragged on the server with 19 kills.

The second map brought DRX's first map pick into the series with Ascent and would prove to be a much closer affair than the first. Paper Rex's star duelist something picked Reyna coming into the map — a pick that facilitated Paper Rex's first victory over DRX in the upper bracket final.

DRX's game plan seemed poised for success yet again as BuZz was now allowed to excel on Jett, picking up a 4K on round five to stop Paper Rex's opening four rounds. Paper Rex then immediately answered back with four of their own, leading to a 7-5 half in favor of DRX, with Zest picking up a 1v2 in round 11 to secure his team's halftime lead.

Paper Rex would answer their first half struggles by picking up their fourth straight pistol win of the series and taking the first gun round. The double-duelist, Reyna-Raze combo, run by something and Jinggg worked wonders for Paper Rex as they were the first to reach map point. However, DRX showed they weren't out of the running just yet as clean site executes and 28 kills from BuZz forced overtime.

The defensive sides continued to trade rounds in overtime with both MaKo and the aforementioned Paper Rex duelists finding value. However, the momentum shifted with a heroic ace from BuZz on the B site retake, denying what seemed to be a certain Paper Rex round. DRX quickly managed to close out the map afterwards to take victory on Ascent 16-14 despite 30 kills from something.

Paper Rex now faced elimination as DRX were on series point 2-0. The former would need to shift gears if they were to remain in contention for the trophy, and that shift would come on their second picked map of Lotus

Despite dropping their first pistol of the series, Paper Rex showed they were capable of exploiting every weakness DRX possessed. A dominant performance from the team as a whole, spearheaded by excellent performances from Jinggg and mindfreak , powered Paper Rex to nine rounds in a row coming into the second half.

The newly f0rsakeN -led squad continued their success in the pistol rounds by taking their fifth of the series and putting them in prime position to take Lotus. DRX never seemed to be truly in contention on the map as Paper Rex comfortably closed things out on the gun rounds with a 13-3 score line. Jinggg and mindfreak ended the map boasting impressive 1.54 and 1.53 ratings respectively.

Tension eased on Paper Rex as they took map three. (Photo by Riot Games)

The fourth map of Pearl was a pick from DRX; however, Paper Rex looked just as in control of the map as on Lotus. Paper Rex's headstrong playstyle had benefited them heavily on the traditionally attack-sided map throughout the regular season. Before matching up against DRX, Paper Rex sported a 4-1 record on Pearl.

Winning the pistol yet again, Paper Rex took three off the trot to start the map. An aggressive A main push from the defenders of DRX allowed the Koreans to pick up their first, but this momentum couldn't be carried for the rest of the half. Paper Rex blitzed their way through their attack to an 8-4 half.

DRX took the second pistol once swapping to the attack side and hoped to build confidence to bring themselves back into the thick of things. However, any hope DRX may have had was ultimately proven futile. Paper Rex won an all-important thrifty round just as DRX had closed the gap to a single round. The thrifty win gave Paper Rex the necessary thrust to propel themselves across the finish line and take the map without much contest from DRX 13-8.

Photo by Riot Games

Having now tied up the series at 2-2, Paper Rex's dreams of claiming the first Pacific title were finally within reach. The final map of Bind had previously worked out excellently for Paper Rex — they beat DRX 13-6 there the first time around — and things would turn out similarly in the grand final.

Paper Rex racked up their seventh pistol across the series and looked determined to complete the reverse sweep. d4v41 delivered an ace in the first gun round that would set the tone for the final map of both the map as a whole and d4v41's performance as an individual. Paper Rex racked up six rounds straight before DRX could begin to trade rounds and even then the Koreans could only amass three, one of which came off the back of a 1v4 ace clutch from MaKo.

DRX's pistol win in the second half merely delayed the inevitable as d4v41 and company continued a streak of brilliance that had carried over from the previous two maps. d4v41's 1.52 rated performance brought Paper Rex an easy victory on Bind with a 13-6 scoreline to finish the map and series.

Paper Rex completed the reverse sweep over DRX and guaranteed themselves a slot in the quarterfinals at Masters: Tokyo.

Photo by Riot Games