As the dust settled at the Sangam Colosseum after an eventful second day of VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Pacific Stage 2 Playoffs, it was the Masters Toronto winners, Paper Rex, who became the first Pacific team to guarantee themselves a spot at Champions Paris 2025.
Both the Upper Bracket Semifinal matches took place on the day (Aug. 14), and the winners punched their tickets to the Finals Weekend at the LaLa Arena Tokyo Bay, securing minimum top-four finishes.
Jinggg spearheads Paper Rex’s win over T1
Paper Rex beat T1 on Sunset with a 13-8 score, winning the final six rounds in a row on the Attacker side.
With momentum on their side, and on their map pick of Bind, Paper Rex pulled ahead to an 8-4 lead on the Defender side. Despite some close rounds and T1 picking up a couple of wins, Paper Rex managed to secure a 13-6 victory on Bind and, therefore, a 2-0 sweep in the series.
Paper Rex is heading to Champions Paris. Image: Riot Games
Paper Rex’s legendary IGL, Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto, had to settle for 2nd place on the scoreboard for their match against T1, as Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie put up a mind-boggling performance. With a rating of 1.61, 44 kills, a 320 ACS, and nine first kills, Jinggg was an unstoppable force on the server.
TALON scores first VCT win against DRX
Before the Upper Bracket Semifinals match in the VCT Pacific Stage 2 Playoffs, DRX had a clean 6-0 record against TALON. On Bind, the map pick of TALON, DRX came back from a four-round deficit in the first half to avoid overtime, and beat TALON 13-11.
While it seemed like DRX would extend their win streak to 8-0 over TALON and secure a 2-0 victory, the Thai squad had other ideas.
IGL Thanamethk “Crws” Mahatthananuyut rallied his team to take a commanding 9-3 lead in the first half of Haven, DRX’s map pick. Despite DRX’s attempts at a comeback, TALON secured a 13-9 win to tie up the match 1-1.
TALON is all smiles after reverse-sweeping DRX. Image: Riot Games
On the third and deciding map, Lotus, TALON took a decisive 8-4 lead as the Attackers, and finished off proceedings with a 13-7 win, smothering DRX with their solid defense. With the win on Lotus, TALON completed the reverse-sweep, breaking their losing streak against the South Korean side.
Here’s the short but sweet highlights video featuring both the TALON vs. DRX and Paper Rex vs. T1 matches below.
Judging by their performances in the Playoffs thus far, the Paper Rex vs. TALON Upper Bracket Final match promises to be a banger. It is set to take place on August 17, with one team moving on to the Grand Final and the other to the Lower Bracket Final.
Due to a lack of VCT Pacific points, TALON’s only chance of reaching Champions Paris 2025 is by clawing their way to the Grand Final. The stakes couldn’t be higher.