EDward Gaming extinguish its demons against Paper Rex.
Day two of the VCT Masters Madrid saw even more upsets with EDward Gaming coming from behind to win 2-1 against Paper Rex, making it their first win against the Pacific team in five meetings. EDG will now join the likes of Gen.G Esports and Karmine Corp in the upper rounds to determine who moves on to the playoffs.
As for PRX, they will now drop to the lower rounds alongside teams like LOUD and FunPlus Phoenix, both of whom lost yesterday. It has not been a great time for the VCT Pacific League Kickoff first runner-up as they will now have to win their next two games in order to qualify for the playoffs.
EDward Gaming on top
Heading into the first match of the series on Sunset, EDG managed to take a quick two-zero lead but it didn't last long when PRX pulled out a next-level Sage wall play. This threw EDG off but it did enough for PRX to take the following three rounds in a row. EDG would win just once more before PRX went on a six-round win streak. That streak also saw Ilya “Something” Petrov pick up a clean 4K in the seventh round with the Op.
PRX then went on to take the next two rounds after the break to put them up 11-3. However, after a key timeout, EDG was able to slowly claw themselves back with a five-round swing that also included a 4K for Senxu “Nobody” Wang. But PRX managed to compose themselves after its own timeout to get the win with back-to-back round wins to seal the first map. Both Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto and Aaron “mindfreak” Leonhart managed to clutch up for the team with 3Ks in the 20th and 21st rounds respectively.
When the game moved to Bind, PRX started on the front foot this time with three straight round wins. But EDG managed to come back with a thrifty before PRX took one back. EDG then went on an upwards trajectory seven rounds in a row with Yongkang “ZmjjKK” Zheng getting a 3K in the seventh. Neither team managed to maintain any real dominance in the second half but EDG were not to be outdone as Guo “haodong” Haodong also got himself a 4K in the 17th round and soon after, the game.
The third and final match of the series took place on Split and it was EDG once more who took the pistol round and followed it up with two more rounds in a row. PRX have looked out of sorts since the second game and that followed into the third as they only managed to win four rounds in the first half. But in true PRX fashion, they still managed to do so in style as f0rsakeN got himself an ace in the fourth round.
PRX even managed to take the pistol and subsequent round to keep the score close but they could not get any real consistency going. While EDG could not do the same, their first-half performance was enough to see them through to the finish line. This included 3Ks from Shunzhi “CHICHOO” Wan and ZmjjKK that further highlighted how well-rounded the team was. Despite putting on a show, PRX came up short in the end, even after a dominant showing from one of its IGLs in f0rsakeN, who had a clean 4K in the 16th round.
Paper Rex would play their next match against Team Heretics as both teams will look to keep its tournament hopes alive.
