VALORANT Champions 2023: LOUD and Paper Rex commence playoffs with sweeps

LOUD and Paper Rex (PRX) commenced the VALORANT Champions 2023 playoffs with their respective sweeps against FNATIC and FUT Esports.

Sweeps across the board to start off #VALORANTChampions Los Angeles.@pprxteam and @LOUDgg are the first teams to advance! pic.twitter.com/esHx7uxV6W

— VCT Pacific @ Champions (@vctpacific) August 16, 2023

To officially start the playoffs in Los Angeles, LOUD finally avenged their previous loss against FNATIC at the VALORANT Champions Tour LOCK//IN 2023 by beating this year’s back-to-back international champions 2-0 in their playoff matchup.

The first game of the LOUD-FNATIC series in Ascent ended 13-11 in favor of the American League champions. The game was virtually tied for the most part before LOUD managed to seal the deal in the second half with their prolific defense. However, the second game on Lotus was a different story as LOUD dominated FNATIC to end the game 13-6 as they started with a 6-0 run and ended the game with a five-round win streak.

Moving on to the next series, Paper Rex’s bout against another EMEA representative in FUT Esports ended in the second 2-0 sweep of the day as the W Gamers won Ascent 13-10 and Pearl 13-4.

Despite eventually winning the game, PRX had a terrible start as they were behind FUT 8-4 coming into halftime. Fortunately, PRX secured the game with two four-round win streaks in the second half, tying the game 8-8 in the first four-round win streak and securing the map point for the second win streak.

After that first map thriller, PRX then stomped FUT in the second game on Pearl by going 13-4. The game on Pearl started with a jaw-dropping 10-0 start for PRX before FUT was able to get on the board in Round 11, which turned out to be FUT’s only round won in the first half. With only two more rounds needed to win the game and therefore the series, PRX took the second half’s opening pistol round before closing the map four rounds after in Round 17.

Having won both their matchups, LOUD and Paper Rex both proceed to the upper bracket semifinals where they are matched up against each other. Meanwhile, FNATIC and FUT Esports find themselves knocked down to the lower bracket of the tournament where they will fight to determine which team will continue their Champions 2023 run.

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