Singapore's Paper Rex advance to VALORANT Champions grand finals with 2-1 victory over EG

Singaporean VALORANT juggernauts Paper Rex are the first team to advance to the grand finals of VALORANT Champions 2023 after they outlasted the United States' Evil Geniuses (EG), 2-1, in an epic showdown in the upper bracket finals on Friday (25 August).

Paper Rex and EG have cemented themselves as the two strongest squads in VALORANT Champions so far, and their titanic clash at the upper bracket finals was certainly one of the most anticipated matchups of the tournament.

Paper Rex had a flying start to their VALORANT Champions campaign, earning the top seed of Group A after sweeping through Latin America's KRÜ Esports and China's EDward Gaming. In the Playoffs, the Singaporean squad swept Turkey's FUT Esports, 2-0, then defeated Brazilian defending champions LOUD, 2-1, to reach the upper bracket finals.

Meanwhile, EG earned the top seed of Group B with sweeps over China's FunPlus Phoenix and FUT Esports. The Playoffs then saw them defeat EDward Gaming, 2-1, and sweep South Korea's DRX, 2-0, to face Paper Rex for the first spot in the grand finals.

Paper Rex came out swinging to start the series, winning four of the first five rounds in game one at Ascent as the Attacking side. While EG were able to rally with three-straight wins from rounds 8 to 10, the Singaporean squad still held a 7-5 lead by halftime.

Paper Rex maintained a 10-8 lead by round 18 before the Americans flipped the script, racking up five-straight rounds to take the 13-10 win and the series lead.

Corbin "C0M" Lee led the way for EG in game one with 28 kills and six assists against 12 deaths. Despite the loss, the trio of Singaporean star Wang "Jinggg" Jing Jie, Russian import Ilya "something" Petrov, and Aaron "mindfreak" Leonhart still put up 20 kills apiece.

EG held their momentum through the first half of game two at Bind and held a 6-2 lead by round 8. However, Paper Rex showed signs of life and got to within 5-6 by round 11 before the Americans won the last round of the first half and the first two of the second to take a commanding 9-5 lead after round 14.

Despite their huge deficit, Paper Rex put on a Defense side masterclass and won an incredible eight-straight rounds to take game two 13-9 and force the series to a deciding game three.

The Singaporeans notably pulled off their first comeback win of the series despite something struggling mightily and only putting up a KDA of 8/14/8.

Jinggg and Khalish "d4v41" Rusyaidee led the way for Paper Rex, racking up 22/16/4 and 20/15/2, respectively. Jason "f0rsakeN" Susanto and mindfreak also picked up the slack with 16/14/5 and 14/12/12 lines.

With the first spot in the grand finals on the line in game three at Pearl, Paper Rex and EG went blow-for-blow in a map of runs that ended with an epic overtime victory for the Singaporean squad.

EG struck first as the Defending side by winning the first three rounds before Paper Rex struck back hard and won six-straight rounds. However, the Americans managed to stabilize and win the last three rounds of the first half to tie the score at 6-6 by halftime.

EG then entered the second half with guns blazing, winning five-straight rounds to get within two rounds of the grand finals after round 17. With their backs against the wall, Paper Rex put on another Defense masterclass to win five-straight rounds of their own to force a 11-11 by round 22.

The Americans then won a pivotal round 23 to take match point. F0rsakeN then came up clutch in round 24, spraying down three EG players with an Odin through smoke to force game three to overtime.

Both squads traded the first two rounds of overtime before Paper Rex clutched the next two to take the hard-fought 15-13 win at Pearl and claim the 2-1 series victory.

The trio of f0rsakeN, mindfreak, and Jinggg led the way for Paper Rex in the decider, notching 29/21/9, 23/14/14, and 21/22/10 KDAs respectively. Something and d4v41 also pitched in with 16/21/5 and 15/21/17 lines.

With their incredible victory over EG, Paper Rex are the first grand finalists of VALORANT Champions 2023 and have guaranteed themselves at least a second place finish and US$400,000 in winnings.

Of course, the Singaporean squad have their eyes set on becoming this year's VALORANT world champions in the best-of-five grand finals on Sunday (27 August).

Meanwhile, EG drop down to the lower bracket finals, where they will face the winner of the lower bracket semifinals between Fnatic and LOUD on Saturday (26 August) for the chance to earn a rematch with Paper Rex in the grand finals.

For more esports news updates, visit https://yhoo.it/YahooEsportsSEA and check out Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia’s Facebook page and Twitter, as well as our Gaming channel on YouTube.