Paper Rex Defeats OpTic Gaming, Secures VCT Masters Copenhagen Finals Spot
OpTic Gaming and FunPlus Phoenix to battle it out in the lower bracket finals!
Cover-Credits:
Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) 2022: Stage 2 Masters Copenhagen is ending and the finish line looks pristine. The last few teams left standing have been battling it out in tense mano-a-mano looking to make it to the grand finals. On 22nd July, the upper bracket finals and the lower-bracket semi-finals took place, and currently, three teams are in the running towards claiming the title and the trophy. Notably, Paper Rex (PRX) from the Asia Pacific (APAC) region took down the reigning champion OpTic Gaming and booked its ticket to the grand finals of VCT Masters Copenhagen. Meanwhile, after defeating Fnatic in the lower semis, FunPlus Phoenix (FPX) is gearing up to take on OpTic in its next series.
Paper Rex becomes the first team to make it to the finals
For the first time, an international event like VCT Master is being played out in front of a live audience. The last four matches of the playoffs are hosted at the Forum Copenhagen, which is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Frederiksberg, Denmark. After a five-day break, Paper Rex came out swinging and took down North America’s (NA) OpTic Gaming with a 2-1 map score. With this, PRX made history as the first Valorant team from Asia to make it to a grand final at an international LAN.
Paper Rex won Haven and Fracture while OpTic secured a win on Bind in the second match. All three matches were fairly one-sided for the winning team. PRX won Haven and Fracture with 13-3 and 13-5 round scores, respectively, and OpTic won Bind with a 13-9 scoreline.
Battle of the EMEA squads in the lower semis
In a battle of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) squads in the lower bracket of VCT Masters Copenhagen, Fnatic lost to FPX and will watch the rest of the tournament from the sidelines. With a final score of 2-1, FPX will move on to face OpTic Gaming today in the lower final, and if FPX wins, it will secure its ticket to the grand finals against PRX.
The first map of the series was Split and it was too close to call. Fnatic fought back in the match and evened the round scores taking it to overtime to eventually win Split with a 15-13 round score. The second map – Bind – was one-sided and FPX had a lead over Fnatic throughout the game. FPX secured a win on Bind with a score of 13-7. The decider of the series was played on Fracture and FPX translated its momentum from game two into wins in game three. Despite winning a few rounds towards the first half and bringing the score to 9-3, Fnatic was unable to come back in the second half, and eventually, FPX closed out the series with sweet revenge over Fnatic.
On 23rd July, FunPlus Phoenix and OpTic Gaming will look to win the lower bracket final before advancing to the grand final of VCT Masters Copenhagen against Paper Rex.
