Valorant: Paper Rex books double qualification after sweeping T1

MANILA, Philippines — Paper Rex has secured a ticket to Tokyo, the venue for the final two days of Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Pacific Stage 2 as well as the upcoming Valorant Champions in Paris — the culminating event of the Valorant Champions Tour.

Having ruled the Masters Toronto last June, Paper Rex soared to the leaderboard in championship points among VCT Pacific Teams to guarantee itself a place in Valorant Champions Paris.

The qualification comes after Paper Rex swept Masters Bangkok winner T1, 2-0, in the upper bracket semifinals of the VCT Pacific Stage 2 playoffs.

T1's map pick of Sunset saw both teams trade leads. But eventually, the Paper Rex express took a comfortable lead to take the opening map, 13-8.

In Paper Rex's pick of Bind, the Masters Toronto winner was on point in its defensive side, mounting a 8-4 lead, not giving the South Korean squad any leeway to make mistakes. Paper Rex continued its domination, ending the map at 13-6 to punch a ticket to both Tokyo and Paris.

"I think the most important thing is we have more time to work on visas, work on our game, so I'm really pleased that we managed to [qualify early]. We have [the] time." shared Paper Rex' coach Alexandre "alecks" Sallé.

With Paper Rex' qualification, Patrick "PatMen" Mendoza became the sixth Filipino to reach the Valorant Champions, the last being Team Secret, whose all-Filipino team qualified for Valorant Champions Berlin back in 2021.

With a qualification berth secured, Paper Rex is now focused on winning VCT Pacific Stage 2 by first taking down fellow Southeast Asian organization, Talon, in the upper bracket finals on August 17 at 4 p.m. (Manila time).