Paper Rex send home the second EMEA squad at VCT Masters Madrid

Paper Rex do it once more by sending home the second EMEA team at VCT Masters Madrid.

The fourth and final team through to the playoff have been finalised as Paper Rex took the best-of-three series 2-1 against Karmine Corp. This makes it the second EMEA team in a row that PRX has knocked out of VCT Masters Madrid, making it a clean sweep. PRX will now join LOUD, Sentinels, and Gen.G Esports in the playoffs with a guaranteed top-four finish.

And with the live draw concluded, it has been confirmed that PRX will face Gen.G in the upper bracket semifinals, a team they will know very well from VCT Pacific. This means that the other upper bracket semifinal series will be between Sentinels and LOUD. Talk about making it an all-VCT Pacific and Americas semifinal showdown.

It was a roller coaster series between the two teams that had plenty of showmanship and talent on display in all three maps. And it was a close first game win for PRX, but KC managed to answer with a shut-out second map only to lose it in overtime in the third and final match.

Paper Rex have done it yet again

Bind was the map of choice by PRX and they showed just why with a quick 5-0 lead that shell shocked many in the arena. This included an ace in the fourth round for Cahya “Monyet” Nugraha on his international LAN debut, in a do-or-die series. KC would manage to secure at least one successful defuse in the sixth round before PRX went for another three in a row. The French-based squad would eventually claw it back in the last three rounds to make it 8-4 in favour of PRX.

The second half was a lot more scrappy than the first with PRX getting the first blow with a flawless pistol round. KC were not deterred and managed to take two of their own, followed by PRX with three on the bounce right after. With match-point in their hands and KC six points behind, it was in PRX's hands and yet in typical fashion, they gave away four straight rounds until the 23rd where they managed to walk away with the first map win.

KC's map choice in the second game was Lotus, something that PRX has had issues with in the past and today was no different. In the shortest game of the series, PRX would win only four of the first 12 rounds of the half that included the pistol. KC, on the other hand, had a great showing on Lotus with a five-round streak that saw Marshall “N4RRATE” Massey clutch up with one-versus-three in the fifth round. This was only bested by back-to-back 3Ks for Martin “marteen" Pátek.

With an 8-4 lead at the break, it looked like PRX had somehow found a way back into the game with two rounds straight off the bat. Sadly, that confidence was short-lived as KC was able to read PRX's next few plays to perfection. This resulted in a five-round swing to KC as marteen secured a one-versus-two in the 17th while Ryad "Shin" Ensaad had a 3K of his own in the 18th. This gave KC match-point and soon after, the game to force a third and final map.

Ascent was a game of two halves that saw one team slightly edge out over the other. The first half had KC a quick 2-0 lead that also featured a flawless second round. While PRX managed to take the third round, KC took the fourth right away with a thrifty and a 4K from marteen. KC would eventually take the first four out of five rounds before PRX managed to get back four of their own that had Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto claim a 3K of his own.

But after some sloppy misplays, KC managed to overwhelm PRX to sweep the last three rounds of the half to make it 7-5 in their favour. KC would take their second pistol round of the map followed by a subsequent round after that to take a four-round lead in the game. And just when hope seemed lost, PRX managed to dig deep to take three rounds right after to close to gap. This also featured a 3K from Monyet that ended in a clutch one-versus-one.

KC would not be denied and took the 18th and 19th round to go even closer to match-point as Martin “MAGNUM” Peňkov managed to win his one-versus-two to get a 3K in the latter round. But PRX stood their ground yet again and swung the momentum back to their end with four straight-round wins. This showcased some great overall gameplay from the likes of Ilya “something” Petrov, who was something else with the Operator in his hands as he got a 3K in the 22nd round.

PRX even managed to go to match-point first before KC after a clutch retake in the 23rd round to defuse the bomb with a second left on the clock. And just when you thought PRX had done it, who else but marteen to clutch up with a 4K, which made it his second of the game. With overtime on the table, PRX still somehow managed to edge it out over KC with two straight wins that also had Ahmad Khalish Rusyaidee “d4v41” bin Nordin end it with a 3K of his own to close out the series.

There will now be a two-day break before the start of the VCT Masters Madrid playoffs this Thursday, March 21. The playoffs will be a double-elimination format, which will give the final four teams a second chance if they were to look the first series. All games will be a best-of-three bar the lower bracket final and grand final, which will be a best-of-five.

Here is how the schedule will look like:

Thursday, March 21