The lower round 3 match at Champions Paris saw a classic clash between
DRX
DRX
Korea
Rank #1
Flicker
Kim Tae-hee (김태희)
Flashback
Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁)
MaKo
Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관)
free1ng
No Ha-jun (노하준)
HYUNMIN
Song Hyun-min (송현민)
Estrella
Park Gun (박건)
BeYN
Kang Ha-bin (강하빈)
and
Paper Rex
Paper Rex
Asia-Pacific
Rank #1
PatMen
Patrick Mendoza
Jinggg
Wang Jing Jie
f0rsakeN
Jason Susanto
d4v41
Khalish Rusyaidee
something
Ilya Petrov
. The two Pacific titans had battled a total of 16 times previously with the inclusion of
Vision Strikers
Vision Strikers
Inactive
stax
Kim Gu-taek (김구택)
Rb
Goo Sang-min (구상민)
Zest
Kim Ki-seok (김기석)
BuZz
Yu Byeong-cheol (유병철)
MaKo
Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관)
, with four of those encounters happening just this year, but this was their first time meeting face-to-face on a Champions stage.
This time, with stakes higher than ever, DRX emerged victorious, winning 2-0 to send the Masters Toronto winners home and book their tickets to a lower final matchup against
FNATIC
FNATIC
Europe
Rank #1
crashies
Austin Roberts
Boaster
Jake Howlett
kaajak
Kajetan Haremski
Chronicle
Timofey Khromov
Alfajer
Emir Ali Beder
tomorrow.
The series began on DRX's map pick of Ascent, where PRX had experienced a loss to
GIANTX
GIANTX
Europe
Rank #9
Cloud
Kirill Nehozhin
grubinho
Grzegorz Ryczko
westside
Miłosz Duda
Flickless
Karel Maeckelbergh
ara
Hanceriuc Eduard-George
and a couple close shaves against other teams earlier in the tournament. This time, the train was full steam ahead on their defense, at one point leading 8-1 after a bonus conversion and some sharp shooting from their side.
Jinggg in particular was lights-out in the first half, ending it with 20 kills to only five deaths on Sage. DRX managed a couple more rounds but still found themselves with a 9-3 deficit to overcome at halftime.
Despite the deficit, DRX led the second half with confidence, winning the second pistol, repeatedly shutting PRX down with aggression into Mid. HYUNMIN came alive as the tip of their spear on Waylay, finding six total first kills as a key part of his team's defense.
HYUNMIN was a menace in Mid all throughout the second half of Ascent.A big ultimate investment for PRX at 10-10 nearly went awry, but Jinggg saved them with a 3K in a 3v5 situation. Building on that momentum, PRX got up to 12; however, DRX wrested back control to force extra innings. While both teams continued to thrive on defense in overtime, DRX won the crucial attack round at 13-13, spurring them on to claim Ascent 15-13.
HYUNMIN's individual impact surpassed even Jinggg's by the map's end; the Korean duelist put up an unbelievable 36/19/1 KDA, 220 ADR, and eight first kills compared to Jinggg's 28/19/5 KDA, 175 ADR, and seven first kills.
“I just had to put confidence into my team and for myself, so I just started peeking everything,” HYUNMIN said of his performance in the post-match interview.
The second map was PRX's pick of Lotus. After a lackluster showing on the map against FNATIC in their first playoff match, DRX switched out HYUNMIN's Waylay for a Raze, resulting in an exact mirror of PRX's Raze-Yoru composition.
DRX opened with a pistol win, with HYUNMIN continuing his hot streak with a 3K. The next several rounds were back-and-forth, the score going from 2-2 to 3-3 to 5-5 as both teams attempted to respond to each other around the map. In the end, DRX pulled ahead to a 7-5, overwhelming PRX on the bombsites with strong firepower to claim a slight advantage.
A second pistol went DRX's way after a 4K from MaKo , with the ensuing bonus setting up an 11-5 lead in their favor. PRX found a few more rounds with two strong A hits and a Showstopper 1v3 from Jinggg to get the score to 12-8, but the gap proved too wide for the train to cross and DRX closed it out 13-8.
MaKo and HYUNMIN shut down A Tree to claim the second pistol on Lotus.MaKo was a safe pair of hands for DRX in the map, ending 17/8/14 on Omen. HYUNMIN also continued to shine, going 19/13/3 to end the series with a total KDA of 55/32/4 and a remarkable 200 ADR over the course of 49 rounds.
With this win, DRX sends PRX home in fourth place and moves on to the top three at Champions, matching their previous best placement of third back at Champions 2022. They will face FNATIC tomorrow in a rematch with the last spot in the grand final, where
NRG
NRG
North America
Rank #1
s0m
Sam Oh
brawk
Brock Somerhalder
mada
Adam Pampuch
skuba
Logan Jenkins
Ethan
Ethan Arnold
lies in wait, on the line.