Paper Rex ends runner-up curse, wins Valorant Masters Toronto crown

MANILA, Philippines — The Paper Rex Express — having failed to capture an international Valorant title twice — are runners-up no more, finally lifting a trophy after defeating FNATIC, 3-1, in the grand finals of the Valorant Masters Toronto early Monday morning (Manila time).

The third seed from the Pacific Region, Paper Rex almost didn't make it to Masters as it stumbled during VCT Pacific. The team started the group stages with back-to-back defeats. Yet, it managed to not only make it to the playoffs but also secure a ticket to Toronto.

During the play-ins, Paper Rex started strong with a sweep of Europe's Team Heretics. Though it suffered at the hands of fellow Pacific team Gen.G Esports, Paper Rex managed to outlast Team Liquid to stay alive in the tournament.

In the playoffs, the Express were at full speed, sweeping all their matches from the top seeds of the American region, G2 Esports and Sentinels, to tournament dark horses, China's Wolves Esports, to secure their spot in the grand finals.

On the other side, European champion FNATIC saw a long journey in the lower bracket after suffering at the hands of Gen.G Esports. The team then went on an undefeated run, outlasting RRQ, Sentinels, G2 and Wolves Esports to face Paper Rex for the title.

Paper Rex capitalized on its map pick of Sunset, taking eight consecutive rounds that even though FNATIC was able to bounce back on their attacking side, Paper Rex managed enough round wins to take the opening map, 13-11.

FNATIC's pick of Icebox was tightly contested between the two teams, and though FNATIC was up at match point 7-12, Paper Rex managed to tie the series and force overtime but the train would eventually run out of steam, giving FNATIC the map, 15-17.

Paper Rex had a slow start in their map pick of Pearl but after switching to the attacking side, the Express was back in full gear. It took five consecutive rounds to not only take the lead but close out the map to seize the series lead, 13-10.

FNATIC's hopes of forcing a map five seemed to come true as the squad fought back from a deficit at the half to not only tie the series but take the lead and get to map point, only for Paper Rex to compose themselves to force another map overtime.

"From my point of view, we were just trying to rush it. I had to tell them to calm down, as usual. We've been faced with that loads of times and I'm glad how we were able to close it out,” said Paper Rex' coach Alexandre "alecks" Sallé during the post-match interview.

In overtime, Paper Rex remained its composure, securing their defensive round. But a rush to plant the spike seemed to go FNATIC’s way. However, Jason "f0rsakeN" Susanto and Ilia "something" Petrov completed an impossible 2v4 scenario to end their second place curse and life the Masters Toronto trophy.

Paper Rex's win marks the third consecutive time a Pacific team has won Masters since last year's Masters Shanghai going to Gen.G Esports, while Masters Bangkok this year was won by T1.

The victory also saw the first Filipino to win an international Valorant title — Paper Rex rookie Patrick "PatMen" Mendoza, who joined the squad just this March.