Paper Rex defeats XERXIA Esports to become VCT 2022 APAC Stage 1 Challengers champions

Paper Rex defeated XERXIA Esports 3-2 in a close best-of-5 grand finals series at the VCT 2022 APAC Stage 1 Challengers.

We are your #VCT APAC Stage 1: Challengers CHAMPIONS! 🏆

Thank you to all our fans, friends, family and supporters near and far. This win means the world to us, and we will do our best to represent the entire #APAC region with flying colors!

See you soon! 🦖🇸🇬🇲🇾🇮🇩 #pprxteam pic.twitter.com/U7Kn2yAEoA

— Paper Rex (@pprxteam) March 27, 2022

Game 1 on Fracture went to Paper Rex as they finished XERXIA 13-4. Paper Rex broke down XERXIA during post-plant situations in the first half as Khalish “d4v41” Rusyaidee and Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto easily picked the Thai team off. For the second half, XERXIA tried to emulate what Paper Rex did during the other half but was unable to do so.

Eager to immediately get back on Paper Rex, XERXIA took Game 2 with a score of 13-8. XERXIA had good early defense which forced Paper Rex to take both of their timeouts at Round 7 and Round 20. The game ended with a heroic clutch from Nutchaphon “sScary” Matarat as he got 4 kills, the last two with only 30 HP wherein he took out Aaron “mindfreak” Leonhart on B Heaven with a perfect crosshair placement and f0rsakeN at A site with jiggle peeks.

With one game apiece, Game 3 at Icebox went to Paper Rex as they took down XERXIA 13-6. Known for mixing up their comps, Paper Rex went with an aggressive composition as they put Wang Jing “Jinggg” Jie on Reyna and d4v41 on Sage, and Benedict “Benkai” Tan on Sova. Paper Rex was fortunately rewarded with their composition as they finished the first half with 10 rounds. With the odds against them, XERXIA tried and failed to make a comeback in the second half.

For Game 4, XERXIA’s persistence proved to be reliable as they took Breeze 13-11. The game’s outcome got delayed due to long technical pauses. The first one happened at Round 10 as XERXIA’s players got disconnected suddenly in the middle of the previous round. Meanwhile, the second longer technical pause was caused by a bug during a rollback. Despite that, XERXIA persevered after a long, arduous, and back-and-forth game.

With the series tied, Paper Rex ultimately won Game 5 as they sprinted towards victory with a score of 13-8. The first half had an intense high octane action as both teams traded insane round finishes against each other. Unfortunately for XERXIA, Paper Rex asserted their offensive dominance as they easily picked off their opponents. The game also finished so quickly it only went for 36 minutes and 45 seconds, just a mere 4 seconds more from Game 3’s 36:41.

Paper Rex and XERXIA are both APAC’s representatives for the first VALORANT Masters of the year at Reykjavik, Iceland. Both of the teams also had prior global VALORANT experience as Paper Rex went to last year’s Berlin’s Masters while XERXIA, back when the roster was still part of X10 Crit, also went to the previous Reykjavik Masters and clinched a playoffs spot at VALORANT Champions last year.

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