Singapore's Paper Rex advance to VALORANT Champions Playoffs with sweep over China's EDG

Singaporean VALORANT powerhouse Paper Rex has qualified for the VALORANT Champions 2023 Playoffs after they swept China's EDward Gaming (EDG), 2-0, in the Group Stage Winners Match for Group A on Friday (11 August).

As the top seed of the VALORANT Pacific League, Paper Rex were seeded into Group A alongside EDG, Latin America's KRÜ Esports, and Spain's Giants.

The Singaporean squad soundly swept KRÜ in the first of the group's opening matches to advance to the Winners Match. Meanwhile, EDG defeated Giants, 2-1, to earn the right to challenge Paper Rex for a spot in the Playoffs.

Paper Rex started the series strong by taking six out of the first seven rounds as the Attacking side in game one at Fracture. While EDG were able to rally and take three more rounds before the side switch, Paper Rex still ended the first half with a comfortable 8-5 lead.

The Singaporean squad continued their momentum by taking the first three rounds of the second half. EDG bounced back and took two-straight, but Paper Rex were able to close out the first map by round 20 with a 13-7 lead.

Paper Rex's game one win was an all-around effort as all five players recorded double-digit kills.

The team's trio of Singaporeans led the way, with Wang "Jinggg" Jing Jie putting up a 19/16/4 KDA, Aaron "mindfreak" Leonhart adding 17/9/8, and Jason "f0rsakeN" Susanto pitching in with 16/11/11. Russian import Ilya "something" Petrov also had a stellar 15/13/15 line while Malaysian Khalish "d4v41" Rusyaidee contributed with 12/13/4.

While the series opener in Fracture was a comfortable win for Paper Rex, game two was a slugfest that had to be decided in overtime.

EDG seemed determined to tie up the series as they edged out their Singaporean opponents, 7-5, in the first half as the Attacking side. The Chinese squad looked like they could indeed force a game three after they won four of the first five rounds after the side switch to take a commanding 11-6 lead.

However, Paper Rex were able to mount an incredible comeback, winning five-straight rounds and having the opportunity to close out the series with a 12-11 lead heading into round 24. EDG managed to win that tightly-contested round to force overtime.

While the Chinese squad got the first round of overtime, Paper Rex could not be denied no longer as they won four of the next five to secure the series sweep with a 16-14 victory in Pearl.

Once again, the Singaporean squad got the win off a team effort. While f0rsakeN led the way with a 30/18/2 KDA, Jinggg and something also came up huge in moments that couldn't be captured in their respective 24/22/11 and 16/20/3 scorelines.

In a game two where the duelists were the difference, Jinggg and something racked up stellar first kill numbers with eight and six, respectively.

D4v41 was also instrumentl in the win, recording 23/14/15 with a stellar 87% kill participation rate while mindfreak set up his teammates with a game-high 16 assists to go with 14 kills against 18 deaths.

With their victory over EDG, Paper secured the first Playoff spot from Group A, joining Western powerhouses Evil Geniuses and Fnatic in the first batch of teams to make the Playoffs.

Meanwhile, EDG will get another shot at advancing as they await in the Group A Decider Match. They will be facing the winner of the group's elimination match between KRÜ Esports and Giants.

The VALORANT Champions 2023 Group Stage will take place from 6 to 13 August, featuring four groups of four teams each fighting in a double-elimination GSL format where the top two teams of each group will advance to the Playoffs.

The VALORANT Champions 2023 Playoffs will follow with two phases, the first taking place from 16 to 20 August while the final leg of the tournament will be hosted from 24 to 26 August.

The teams will be fighting for the right to be crowned as this year's VALORANT world champions as well as the lion's share of US$1 million out of the tournament's US$2.25 million prize pool.

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