Paper Rex eliminated from VALORANT Champions 2025 by DRX

Masters Toronto champion Paper Rex has been eliminated from VALORANT Champions 2025 by fellow Pacific team DRX.

Before the Pacific derby in the lower bracket, VCT Americas team NRG defeated EMEA’s Fnatic, with the latter now set to face DRX in the Lower Bracket Final.

As a global trophy winner and VCT Pacific Stage 2 champion, Paper Rex (PRX) was the clear favourite in its lower bracket series against Pacific’s fourth seed DRX. But with thorough preparation and reliance, the underdog came out on top (2-0).

On Ascent, PRX typically runs Sage and Vyse just like Fnatic. Whilst the team struggled during its previous Ascent defence halves on the map, PRX’s defence was strong this time around (9-3). From the first pistol round win, Wang ‘Jinggg’ Jing Jie, locked down every choke point with his lethal battle Sage. It took an incredible killing streak from Song ‘HYUNMIN’ Hyun-min on the A site to secure DRX’s third round.

At this point, the game seemingly turned into a battle between two carries – Jinggg versus Hyunmin. With HYUNMIN’s aim shredding through the opposition, PRX remained winless for several rounds, except for the anti-bonus. At 10-10, it was Jinggg’s turn to frag out and help his team reach overtime. However, it was DRX that proved itself on both the defence and offence, securing its map pick 15-13.

Lotus was next, which saw DRX’s HYUNMIN switch from his beloved Waylay to Raze. Starting on the attack again, DRX struggled with risky game plans and indecisive mid-round calling. In addition, the Korean team was often denied entry to the sites by Ilia ‘something’ Petrov Operator. Whenever DRX could claim a site, its members held strong crossfires.

Following a competitive 7-5 half, DRX looked fully in control. Whereas PRX’s players showed hesitation, DRX members took gunfights without fear. At match point, an impressive Raze ultimate from Jinggg stopped DRX’s spike defuse at 0.33 seconds remaining to keep PRX in the series for one more round before falling 8-13.

The first series of the day was the Upper Bracket Final between VCT Americas Stage 2 runner-up NRG and EMEA’s Fnatic. What began as a close match concluded with a dominant Abyss performance and a clean 2-0 victory for NRG.

Fnatic’s map pick, Ascent, saw both teams abuse Odins and sniper rifles to shine on the defence. The team compositions, on the other hand, were very different. While NRG relied on a more traditional comp, Fnatic played its signature double-sentinel style. 

NRG got to defend first and showed up well-prepared for the opponent’s favoured slow split-pushes on the attack. As a result, Fnatic lost the first pistol round, only making successful defaults when one of its players found an opening kill. The half ended 4-8, which is a decent attack score considering Fnatic’s defensive strength.

Facing two sentinel walls, NRG had to execute swift defaults and simultaneously navigate around a sniping Yoru. A pistol win allowed Fnatic to snowball several rounds until NRG eventually found its footing on attack. Although a deadly backstab from Kajetan ‘kaajak’ Haremski forced overtime, it was NRG’s young duelist Adam ‘mada’ Pampuch who determined the outcome of the first game. Thanks to his overtime frags, NRG won Ascent 14-12.

On Abyss, Fnatic didn’t seem to know how to deal with NRG’s Harbour/Omen team comp. Set up switches, Odin buys, aggressive plays – nothing could stop NRG’s near-flawless attack (12-1). The team’s defaults enabled flexible mid-round pivots as needed, turning an already attack-favoured map into a nightmare for Fnatic. 

Whenever the EMEA team survived through the initial site hits, NRG leveraged innovative positioning and Harbour utility to outwit any retake attempts from the opponent. Logan ‘skuba’ Jenkins had a massive attack half while Fnatic’s players were quiet. In the second half, the roster started a comeback off the back of a pistol round win, but ultimately fell to an impressive eco-buy from NRG (5-13)

With Paper Rex eliminated, only three teams remain in the race towards this year’s VALORANT Champions trophy. The Lower Bracket Final between Fnatic and DRX will commence at 11 AM BST and determine which team will advance to the Grand Final.

Thanks to NRG’s flawless Playoffs run so far, the Americas team can sit back until October 5th, 11 AM BST, and wait for its final opponent to emerge.

Fans can tune into the final VALORANT Champions 2025 matches via VCT’s official YouTube and Twitch channels.