(SPOT.ph) It was the X-games over at the VALORANT esports scene, as the Southeast Asian organization Paper Rex (PRX) and the European organization FunPlus Phoenix (FPX) battled it out during the grand finals of the VALORANT Masters Copenhagen tournament throughout the night of Sunday, July 24, PH time. The winner? They walked away with fame, respect, and, oh, U.S. $200,000 (roughly P11.2 million) in prize earnings. Just career-making rewards. No biggie.
The grand finals in Copenhagen was the culmination of the second and last Masters tournament of the VALORANT Champions Tour 2022. It's arguably the biggest competitive-level event VALORANT will have until the final Championship in September.
For those watching along with us, you may have noticed that the winners of the previous Masters tournament OpTic Gaming, as well as the runner-ups LOUD, weren't in competition at this grand final. The North American team OpTic was eliminated by FunPlus Phoenix for a slot in the final, while the Brazilian team LOUD wasn't even able to make it to the playoffs this time around.
Luckily, this new match-up between Southeast Asia and Europe set the stage for an exciting showdown that proved these oft-underlooked teams and regions are ones worth keeping a close eye on.
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Here are the highlights from the VALORANT Masters Copenhagen grand finals:
Going into the grand finals, Paper Rex was the logical bet to win, as they had only lost one match in the entire stretch of the Masters playoffs. Meanwhile, FunPlus Phoenix had to recalibrate after being forced to substitute a player early on (due to a visa complication) and a first-game loss to North American team FNatic, but the team quickly rallied back to secure a spot in the finals.
With the first game of the best-of-five series, Paper Rex was noticeably hyped up with confidence, as Jason "f0rsakeN" Susanto chose to run the Duelist Yoru on their map selection, Bind. Yoru is a particular fun character to use on Bind, as a player can make aggressive plays with Yoru's teleport and Dimensional Drift abilities combined with the teleporters built into the map.
However, the aggressive playstyle, always a bit risky, was what ultimately caused Paper Rex's downfall in the first game. Paper Rex failed to hold down sites and fend off FunPlus Phoenix's more deliberate and methodical pushes, with the score at halftime being 11 to 1, in favor of FunPlus Phoenix.
Normally the player with the most kills in these scenarios, f0rsakeN ended the first half with only two kills as Yoru. What was supposed to be an "easy win" for Paper Rex ended with a 13 to 3 loss for them and was the signal that FunPlus Phoenix was not messing around.
The second game took place on FunPlus Phoenix's pick, Icebox. This was a risky game for Paper Rex, as they had not competed on Icebox at all throughout this Masters run. Interestingly, FunPlus Phoenix opted not to have an aggressive Duelist on the team and, instead, ran a comp with two Initiators, for increased reconnaissance on the intricate, maze-like map.
This match saw the first and only Ace (a whole team/five-man wipe) from Paper Rex's Jing Jie "Jinggg" Wang, who was playing as the healer Sage, of all agents. Jinggg ended the first half with an astonishing 18 kills. The match showed Paper Rex was just warming up, as their aggressive plays worked better here than on the previous map, and they won the match with a respectable lead of 13 to 7.
With both teams warmed up with one win each on the board, the third game on Fracture was as heated as you'd expect. The teams were trading blows, kills, and rounds, which resulted in a tied half-time score of 6 to 6. However, as Paper Rex took on the defensive side in the second half, their problems defending as seen in Bind started to reappear. Ultimately, Paper Rex was only able to secure one win on the defensive side, so FunPlus Phoenix walked away with their second win at 13 to 7.
The fourth game took place on the three-site map of Haven. Both teams ran virtually identical line-ups, with the only difference being the choice of smokes. FunPlus Phoenix ran with the always reliable Omen, while Paper Rex took yet another risk by running Astra, who's suitable for Haven but more difficult to use in general.
Aaron "mindfreak" Leonhart, Paper Rex's Astra, proved to be the MVP of the game, with his precise use of the Odin machine gun and impeccable timing of using the Astra wall ability. He managed to pull off an insane clutch using Astra's smokes in the 15th round and also even survived a literal rocket launcher blast from FunPlus Phoenix's Pontus "Zyppan" Eek as Raze. We don't know how it happened either.
The Raze rocket launcher ultimate ability was clearly not working for anybody, as FunPlus Phoenix's Andrey "Shao" Kiprsky managed to score a win even while taking the full blast of it in the second half. However, with Paper Rex's team firing on all cylinders, they took the win in Haven, which meant the tournament was going to a fifth and final match.
The deciding match took place on the sunny shores of Breeze. Feeling a wind of confidence, Paper Rex decided to yet again run a risky and unusual team composition of two Duelists (Yoru and Neon), two Initiators (Fade and Breach), and smokes being Astra, instead of Viper—who is typically the smokes character to run on Breeze.
The final match... went as you'd expect. Paper Rex was making aggressive plays, even while on defense, while FunPlus Phoenix played it more steady and deliberate all throughout. Prioritizing speed above all, Paper Rex was able to plant the spikes and set up for post-plant positions relatively quickly. While doing well to catch the opponent off guard, this strategy was clearly far from fool-proof, as the score at halftime was a close 7 to 5, in favor of FunPlus Phoenix.
Paper Rex was able to tie it up back again to a score of 7 to 7. However, as what has been the case throughout the finals, FunPlus Phoenix's more methodical approach allowed them to avoid rounds wherein they were too poor to purchase guns, while Paper Rex's more risqué playstyle often made them lose crucial gun rounds.
Ultimately, FunPlus Phoenix won the game and the tournament in a final round where they were outnumbered two to four. Winning three out of the five games, FunPlus Phoenix earned the title of champion at the VALORANT Masters Copenhagen 2022. From beginning to end, it was a thrilling match-up between the two teams, whose rematch in the Championship leg in September we'll be anticipating.
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