Evil Geniuses get its revenge over Paper Rex to become the new champions of the VCT.
NA VALORANT fans can rejoice as Evil Geniuses are your new VCT Champions after they defeated Paper Rex in the grand finals 3-1. This comes despite PRX initially dropping EG down from the upper bracket finals only for the boys in blue to get their revenge when it mattered most.
With that win, EG picked up its first-ever championship, completing its villain arc and being seen as underdogs. And EG will not only take home the VCT Champions trophy but also the million-dollar first prize. As for PRX, they will go home with $400,000 USD after their second 3-1 grand final loss.
The first game was PRX's pick of Split, a map they were 1-1 in at LAN while EG was 0-2. But it was the latter who started off relatively well with a pistol round and the next to make it a quick 2-0. However, that lead didn't last long as PRX went on a three-round win streak with full-buy. Both teams would take two of the next four rounds each back-and-forth as PRX closed out the first half with four wins in a row.
And it was EG who came out guns blazing in the second half with two rounds in a row before PRX took one back with a thrifty. But from there on, it was an EG freight train who took a thrifty round back and then went on to win five more rounds to go to match-point. While PRX managed to win their second thrifty round, EG would deal the killing blow right after to go one up in the best-of-five.
Game two was on EG's pick of Ascent, a map they would have plenty of confidence in with a 4-0 record at the tournament. PRX, on the other hand, were only 1-1. But this proved to be PRX's map from the get-go with four straight rounds to start things off. While EG eventually got on the board with two rounds of their own with one being a thrifty, PRX would take one back before the NA squad took two more to keep the score 4-5 in their favour.
The last three rounds was a back-and-forth between both teams as PRX won two to make it 7-5 by halftime. Despite PRX holding a slim lead, EG would start the second half strong once again, winning four out of five rounds to take a 9-8 lead. This also included a nasty quad kill for Ethan "Ethan" Arnold. After a timeout call by the PRX coach, the VCT Pacific League champions stormed out in a four-round win streak to take match-point and eventually, the second map.
Bind was PRX's second map choice of the series, which was what they used to beat EG with during the upper bracket finals. That was EG's only loss on Bind with the other two being wins. And they proved just why with an overall dominant display that included nine of the 12 first-half rounds that also saw Corbin "C0M" Lee pull out a 4K in the second round. While PRX did win the first two rounds at the start of the second half, EG would instantly go on a tear to win four in a row and the third map.
After the past three maps, it was evident that EG in the second half was a different breed and they showed it once more on Lotus. The first half was a tight match-up with back-and-forth wins between both teams. But even a slim 7-5 lead for PRX, every round EG won they did so with conviction. Kelden "Boostio" Puello's ace was testament to that.
And once the second half commenced, it was only a matter of when and not if EG would start to dominate. They went on to win the first four rounds in a row, which also included a quad kill for Max "Demon1" Mazanov in the 14th round. As EG took the lead 9-7, PRX would take another timeout to rework the strategy and it appeared to have worked at first as they went on to win two defuse rounds in a row.
Unfortunately for them, EG did not let that deter them as they went on to win three more rounds in a row to put themselves on match-point. With the score in EG's favour of 12-9, there seemed to be no way back for PRX but they somehow managed to pull one back that made things interested for a brief moment. Sadly, the moment passed soon after as EG went on to take the following round and the series.
And with that, VCT Champions 2023 is officially over with EG being the new world champions. PRX will return with their heads held high, knowing that they went against almost all odds to represent the entirety of the Pacific in the grand finals. The org will also bid farewell to JingYing "Jinggg" Lim as he will head off to his country's mandatory national service.
