Fnatic and Paper Rex punch their ticket to Upper Bracket round 2

As today, June 17, came to an end, we saw the first round of Playoff stages at VCT 2023 - Masters Tokyo come to an end with Fnatic trampling the NA challengers NRG Esports in a clean sweep, a similar outcome faced by the Korean DRX against Paper Rex with perhaps a bit less severity.

NRG unable to keep up with Fnatic

Placing 2nd in EMEA had earned Fnatic a direct spot in the Playoff brackets whereas NRG had to navigate their way through the Group Stages, which they did with little resistance from NA’VI and T1. However, their efforts were rendered futile against the EMEA powerhouse who were determined to avenge their Grand Finals loss as soon as they found themselves on the stage again. Fracture was first to commence proceedings, a map that NRG had yet to play at the event much less against Fnatic, who had come off a recent loss on the map. The first half of the map produced no significant results or one-sided narratives as it came down to a 6-6 draw by the end.

Nonetheless, as sides changed and Fnatic got hold of Offense, Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov and others stepped up to the Challenge and took five consecutive round placing them only one short of having the advantage. Even though they recouped and attempted one last push, Fnatic hampered their efforts and finished the map 13-9. Next map to welcome both teams was Bind, NRG’s map pick. With the intention of attempting a possible comeback and extend their chances of winning, NRG were met with an unfortunate reality as Fnatic unleashed their brutality with no hesitation to take a 10-2 lead and subsequently finish it off in the second half before NRG even made it to 5 rounds with Chronicle once again leading the charge. He finished both maps with an average 1.64 Rating of 308 ACS.

VCT 2023 - Masters Tokyo

Fnatic

2

X

0

NRG Esports

Upper Bracket Quarter Final, Best of 3 - June 17, 2023 - 3:00AM

13

Fracture

9

13

Bind

4

Fnatic

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Chronicle

1.55

274

38/23/21

+15

1.65

90.9%

159.5

23%

50%

3

3

Alfajer

1.37

239

37/16/8

+21

2.31

90.2%

148.4

34%

67%

6

3

Leo

1.16

195

28/13/16

+15

2.15

94.8%

123.8

21%

100%

3

0

Derke

1.04

218

29/24/9

+5

1.21

78.2%

138.5

21%

43%

6

8

Boaster

1.02

187

24/23/19

+1

1.04

87.3%

110.1

17%

86%

6

1

NRG Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

s0m

0.98

196

28/32/11

-4

0.88

54.0%

120.3

17%

75%

6

2

Victor

0.69

177

23/31/3

-8

0.74

60.6%

119.1

23%

23%

3

10

crashies

0.54

135

18/29/2

-11

0.62

53.1%

89.9

32%

40%

2

3

ardiis

0.49

132

16/32/5

-16

0.50

52.4%

99.6

20%

44%

4

5

FNS

0.45

101

14/32/7

-18

0.44

60.6%

80.5

19%

0%

0

4

A Grand Finals rematch with the same outcome

VCT 2023 - Pacific League came to end with Paper Rex lifting the trophy after defeating DRX at the Grand Finals. The win also placed them directly in the 1st round of Playoffs. In contrast, DRX had to take on the Chinese Attacking Soul Esports, and after falling to Evil Geniuses, they took on FUT Esports for a second chance at a Playoff spot. After establishing a stable base for their journey in Tokyo, they were met with their rivals once again but this time of the world stage with a plethora of eyes fixated on their every moments to marvel at the talent and skill level possessed by the pros. DRX is not stranger to thriving under pressure given their 3rd-4th place at LOCK//IN. However, their luck struck a wall against their Pacific counterparts as Paper Rex took the win and advanced to the 2nd round of Upper Brackets.

As teams left on Split, a pattern began to emerge not immediately but rather gradually as Paper Rex start taking one round after another despite initially trailing 3-2. Paper Rex finished the half with 9-3, a notorious position for comebacks in VALORANT esports. While the efforts made by Korea to do so experienced fruition, they had limited success in terms of establishing a consistent momentum and therefore it wasn’t too late before Paper Rex closed out the map 13-10. Bind soon followed with an almost identical first half except that the deficit was a point lower at 8-4.But, DRX once again managed to retaliate with ferocity and tied up the score at 10 a piece. Unfortunately, DRX’s run came to an early end at that point, and Paper Rex emerged once again as the winners. Wang "Jinggg" Jing Jie led the way with 1.52 Rating on 323 ACS, an impressive feat to say the least.

VCT 2023 - Masters Tokyo

Paper Rex

2

X

0

DRX

Upper Bracket Quarter Final, Best of 3 - June 17, 2023 - 5:40AM

13

Split

10

13

Bind

10

Paper Rex

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Jinggg

1.52

323

53/34/8

+19

1.56

84.8%

203.5

19%

69%

9

4

mindfreak

1.15

199

35/28/19

+7

1.25

84.8%

120.2

29%

50%

4

4

f0rsakeN

0.95

186

29/33/15

-4

0.88

82.6%

123.1

25%

55%

6

5

d4v41

0.95

175

29/26/14

+3

1.12

76.1%

123.2

32%

71%

5

2

cgrs

0.84

145

22/31/22

-9

0.71

76.1%

86.8

28%

57%

4

3

DRX

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

MaKo

1.16

218

36/32/19

+4

1.13

80.4%

152.7

35%

17%

1

5

Rb

0.98

197

35/32/6

+3

1.09

67.4%

122.8

28%

44%

4

5

Zest

0.97

167

29/32/19

-3

0.91

73.9%

93.2

37%

43%

3

4

BuZz

0.94

234

35/40/5

-5

0.88

73.9%

150.7

16%

47%

9

10

stax

0.61

120

17/32/18

-15

0.53

65.2%

85.5

27%

20%

1

4

Masters Tokyo is far from offer and certainly bound to produce more exciting and intesense matchups. Make sure to check out our VCT 2023 Masters Tokyo event page for more information!