Image credit: VALORANT Esports (Photo by David Lee/Riot Games)
100 Thieves live to fight another day Paper Rex from VCT Masters Shanghai.
Paper Rex has been eliminated from VCT Masters Shanghai after their loss against 100 Thieves in the lower bracket quarter-final. It was a back-and-forth series between the two teams after 100T convincingly won the first map on Breeze, only for PRX to steal it back on Sunset to set up a climactic showdown on Icebox.
And it would go down to the wire as both teams gave it their all to force the final game of the series into overtime. Unfortunately, that was the last two rounds PRX would play at Masters Shanghai as 100T would take back-to-back rounds to seal the deal. The VCT Americas number-one seed will now get to play at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in a few days while also having secured a top-four finish.
As for PRX, they bow out in the shared fifth/sixth spot, which is its lowest-ever finish since VCT LOCK//IN at the beginning of the last season. The first map indicated that this would not be PRX's day as 100T dominated the first half on Breeze while on the attack side. 100T would take the first eight out of nine rounds in the first half. This also saw Sean “bang” Bezerra pick up a crucial one-versus-two clutch to keep 100T's momentum alive.
While PRX managed to win the final three rounds to keep the score 8-4 going into the second half, 100T did not let its foot off the gas one bit. They would go on to win the second pistol round before PRX clawed one back. However, 100T then managed to take four rounds in a row to end game one. Sunset has been one of PRX's better maps this season so it's no surprise to see them go with it for the second game.
And what wasn't surprising was also how well they managed to turn the tables on 100T. The first round saw PRX on the attack side, proving why they are at their best when they are being ultra-aggressive. They took the first six rounds and would end up trading the last six of the first half as 100T managed to get themselves on the board to make it 8-4 in favour of PRX. This also saw some great individual play from the likes of Jing Jie “Jinggg” Wang and Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto, both of whom had 4Ks during the first half.
But 100T almost made a comeback in the second half as they started strong by taking the first two rounds. PRX would get one to give themselves a 9-6 lead but that was swiftly cut down as 100T went on to win four in a row. Having reestablished its lead, albeit a close one at 10-9, PRX somehow managed to will themselves to take the following four rounds in a row to win on Sunset. It also helped that on its route to winning the second game was another 4K from Jinggg to get PRX match-point and consequently, the map.
With Icebox being the deciding map, it was easily a game of two halves as both teams worked to outplay one another. 100T managed to get the first four rounds before PRX took two back to keep it at 4-2. The seventh round was easily one of the most entertaining after Ilya “Something” Petrov got himself a 4K early on to give PRX a huge advantage to secure a third. However, up stepped Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk who managed to clutch up and get a 4K of his own to win the round for 100T.
Both teams would trade rounds back and forth with Jinggg able to get yet another 4K for his troubles, but it still wasn't enough as they ended the first half trailing 5-7. While PRX did manage to win the first two rounds of the second half, 100T went on another four-round win streak to put themselves up 11-7. But PRX would do what they always did and that was enough for them to get a four-round win streak of their own to tie it at 11-11.
100T did manage to get the 23rd round to get to match-point first, putting the onus on PRX to force a tiebreaker, which they did and sent the third and final map into overtime. While many thought this would be another classic PRX comeback, bang had other ideas as he would come up clutch for his team once again as he won the two-versus-one to put 100T on match-point once more. They would then go on to win it emphatically to ensure they live on in Masters Shanghai.
