We’ve finally reached the later stages of the tournament, and the time has finally come for VALORANT’s first international match to be played in front of live fans. VCT 2022 Stage 2 Masters Copenhagen will host an extraordinary series with the audience: Paper Rex vs OpTic Gaming. The two teams will face off in the Upper-Bracket Final and will try to be the first team to qualify for the Grand Final.
Paper Rex
While some might consider Paper Rex only as a small region team, they come from a region with strong teams and serious investments in VALORANT. Unlike other teams, the APAC representative took a longer route to Masters Copenhagen. In doing so, they had to go through tough opponents like Bleed eSports, LaZe, XERXIA and Team Secret. Ultimately, they participated in the tournament as APAC’s first seed.
In the Stage 1 Masters Reykjavík tournament, the organization eliminated the best teams from EMEA and North America and made it to the last 4. In Stage 2, they took their success one step further and are already among the top 3 teams. However, Paper Rex are stronger than before and are not at the end of the road.
The APAC representatives started Masters Copenhagen in the Playoffs with the advantage of being the first seed. Their first opponent was Guild Esports. Contrary to popular belief, the Singapore-based team crushed their opponent and made it to the next stage with a 2-0 result. Their opponents here were stronger: EMEA Stage 2 Champion Fnatic. The European giant reached here after a really decent season and had one of the deepest strategy pools and strong firepower for the tournament.
It doesn’t matter that Fnatic were the favorite of most fans, Paper Rex dominated their opponent on both maps and took a 2-0 result. This result proved two things:
OpTic Gaming
OpTic Gaming’s story is different from all the teams participating in the tournament. The team, which wants to be best associated with the definition of continuity, aims to be the first team in VALORANT history to become back-to-back global champions. And they are very close to achieving this.
Unlike Paper Rex, OpTic’s journey started badly in the group stage. In their first game in Group A, they lost to Guild, putting themselves in a difficult situation. However, subsequent wins over LOUD and KRÜ Esports were enough to get them into the playoffs.
OpTic’s most outstanding player was Marved, the team’s controller. Alongside his 1.21 Rating, 238 ACS and 152 ADR stats, the Canadian was able to step up in the most crucial moments to save his team. He has undoubtedly been the best player on his team so far and he will have to continue this performance against Paper Rex.
The series between Paper Rex and OpTic Gaming will be played on July 22nd. You shouldn’t miss this match as we’ll have a clash of styles and a real banger in our hands.
