History was made at Valorant Masters Copenhagen, as Paper Rex became the first APAC team to reach grand finals in an event of such caliber.
Up until this point, only teams from North America, EMEA, and Brazil had reached grand finals of the previous Masters events - Sentinels, Team Envy, and OpTic Gaming for NA; Fnatic and Gambit Esports for EMEA; and LOUD for Brazil.
Paper Rex's inclusion in grands of Masters Copenhagen came at the expense of current Reykjavík champions, OpTic Gaming, in somewhat convincing fashion - while the scoreline reads 2-1, suggesting it was a tight, back and forth affair, the APAC squad won their two maps decisively.
First, Paper Rex absolutely dismantled OpTic on Haven, ending with a humiliating 13-3 loss for the current NA kings. Map 2 saw Jaccob "Yay" Whiteaker and the rest of OpTic regain a sense of competitiveness, edging out PR 13-9 - sadly for the North American region, their last living rep was once again trumped by Paper Rex's superior map and comp knowledge on Fracture, closing out the series with a 13-5 win.
It was an odd evening for OpTic Gaming as they weren't overwhelmingly outfragged considering the map results - El Diablo Yay lead the lobby throughout the three maps with 57 kills and 6 assists. Sadly for him, the rest of the squad was outclassed at times, a testament to how Paper Rex's cohesiveness gave them more consistent impact kills during the game. Even in situations where it seemed OpTic could swing things in their favor, they let it slip. Take a look at the clip down below, it's by no means an easy clutch to pull by Khalish "d4v41" Rusyaidee, however, the trio of players alive from OpTic decided to individually swing rather than immediately look to trade or set up a sort of crossfire.
KELANTAN REPRESENT! MY @prxd4v41 OWNED THAT 4K CLUTCH! #WGAMING pic.twitter.com/z9QhWjEJrF
— Paper Rex DK (@pprxteam) July 22, 2022
Now it's time for Paper Rex to rest up and wait comfortably in grand finales while the likes of FunPlus Phoenix, Fnatic, and OpTic Gaming duke it out for a spot in the finals going from the grueling lower bracket side of things.
The grand finals of Valoran Masters Copenhagen are scheduled to be played on July 24 at 8 AM PT/5 pm CEST. You don't want to miss them!
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