Paper Rex outshines G2 in Santiago, reaches lower final

In the lower bracket semifinal of Masters Santiago, 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 defeated G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #2 jawgemo Alexander Mor BABYBAY Andrej Francisty trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio leaf Nathan Orf 2-1 to move to the lower finals against NRG NRG North America Rank #1 keiko Georgio Sanassy brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold . These two teams have frequently matched up against each other internationally, yet Paper Rex continued its dominance over G2 Esports with its fifth straight series win over the experienced Americas squad.

Starting on Haven, both teams ran mirror compositions of Phoenix and Yoru with Chamber, as G2 stole the composition from Paper Rex over the off-season. Paper Rex won the first pistol but lost the antieco afterward, losing that early momentum. G2 instead ran ahead with a lead, as jawgemo outplayed his Phoenix counterpart to reach a 7-3 lead. The half nearly ended one-sided for G2, but a late clutch from f0rsakeN pulled the half back to a 7-5 deficit.

G2 nailed the second pistol to extend the lead, but after losing the bonus round, started to struggle against the attack from Paper Rex. The tension grew as G2 kept preventing the map from getting tied, with valyn winning a big 1v2 clutch. Reaching map point at 12-10, G2 closed out Haven on round 24 to win it 13-11 and take the series lead.

Breeze was next, with G2 running double-Duelist and double-Controller, with Neon and Yoru, as Paper Rex instead ran Jett and Yoru. Paper Rex earned the first pistol and converted the bonus to start the second map ideally. G2 took an early timeout after the rough start, but still lost more rounds to the f0rsakeN Yoru, which forced a second timeout. This time, the timeout did lead to a round win for G2. Fast pushes on A site started to work for G2, but something dominated every player who ran into his Operator. Paper Rex entered halftime up 8-4.

Jinggg sniped four down to win Paper Rex the second pistol on Breeze, and converted the bonus to reach an 11-4 lead. After reaching map point, G2 finally started to build some momentum, with jawgemo hitting some outstanding shots on Neon to pull the map within reach. The 12-4 lead almost reached 12-10, but a clean triple swing from Paper Rex ended the map 13-9.

Corrode all came down to compositions, as G2 looked poor on the Iso composition from earlier in the tournament. In this rematch, G2 swapped it to run double-Duelist with Neon and Yoru with a Vyse, as Paper Rex ran solo Duelist Waylay with Vyse and double-Controller. Paper Rex won another pistol with a something ace, taking advantage of a mid rush from G2. The bonus conversion was easy from Paper Rex, reading every play from G2 to take a quick lead on the deciding map.

G2 looked lost, with the slow start from Breeze repeating itself on Corrode. Round 7 was the first round win for G2, and it still ended in a 1v1 after a 5v3 advantage. Nobody on G2 was shooting like something was, who ended the half with an 18/1/2 statline as Paper Rex reached the half up 10-2.

Paper Rex was victorious in another pistol round, yet G2 turned around another antieco to cut the lead to 11-3. This time, Paper Rex stomped G2 into the dirt and won the map 13-4, securing the series 2-1. Paper Rex reverse-swept G2 with two dominant maps to secure a rematch against NRG in the lower bracket finals.