VALORANT Champions 2023: Paper Rex shoves Evil Geniuses down en route to grand finals
Paper Rex (PRX) shoved Evil Geniuses (EG) down to the lower bracket en route to a grand final spot in VALORANT Champions 2023 after the Pacific team beat the North Americans 2-1 in the upper bracket final.
Two huge matches today at the KIA Forum 🔥
Paper Rex secures a Grand Final appearance while LOUD extends their #VALORANTChampions Los Angeles run to the Lower Bracket Finals! pic.twitter.com/rjQYsiulI6
— VCT Pacific @ Champions (@vctpacific) August 25, 2023
Paper Rex started with a loss in the series, losing the first game on Ascent 13-10. PRX ran a very aggressive composition on the map, putting Ilya “something” Petrov on Reyna, Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie satcheling with Raze, and having Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto flex with Harbor. Despite that, the team was unable to hold off EG’s clutch meister, Corbin “C0M” Lee, as he posted twenty-eight kills and six assists whilst saving his team from losing decisive rounds.
Down one game, PRX equalized the series by rallying up in their map pick, finishing Bind 13-9. The team continued to run the Reyna, Raze, and Harbor composition as they went up against C0M’s Viper and Max “Demon1” Mazanov’s Chamber pick.
The second game also saw the start of bad manners between the two teams as Demon1 began disrespecting the corpses of PRX in the second pistol round, spamming his Ghost on the fallen PRX members. In retaliation, PRX started teabagging EG, with the BM-ing situation spilling over to the next map—with both teams teabagging the other—and causing PRX to receive a warning from Riot Games post-series.
As the series moved on to the third map, it was Paper Rex that secured the first grand final spot in the tournament as they won the series on Pearl.
The third game of the series featured an agent duel between Yoru and Phoenix, with EG’s Ethan “Ethan” Arnold using Yoru while Jinggg stuck with his signature agent on the map that is Phoenix.
The intensity of the competition between the two teams simmered as the game went on, with the game tied 6-6 in the first half. In the second half, EG kicked it off with a five-round win streak that put them above 6-11 before Paper Rex caught up via a five-round win streak of their own. After failing to get the matchpoint in Round 23, F0rsakeN saved PRX as he forced the game into overtime by spraying down his Odin and thereby mowing down EG’s numbers to win the round. Eventually, Paper Rex won in overtime 15-13.
Paper Rex’s grand final qualification marks the second time the Singapore-based organization will be appearing in a grand final of a VALORANT global event as they ended in second place at the VALORANT Champions Tour 2022: Stage 2 Masters – Copenhagen.
As for the last grand final spot of the tournament, Evil Geniuses will be facing LOUD— who kicked this year’s back-to-back international champion FNATIC out of the tournament, which happened just after the PRX-EG series concluded—in the lower bracket final that is set to happen on Saturday, August 26, 2023.
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