KUALA LUMPUR – Paper Rex’s (PRX) journey at the Masters Madrid, a part of the Valorant Champions Tour, ended earlier this morning after losing 3-1 to Sentinels in the lower-bracket final at the Madrid Arena.
In the best-of-five series, PRX, still trying to find themselves after losing star player Wang Jing “Jinggg” Jie after the Singaporean decided to complete his national service, could not contend with the Americas League first seeds.
In a tight first map, Lotus, both teams were trading rounds before the game was tied 12-12. Sentinels took the initiative and clinched their map pick 14-12.
PRX needed to bounce back quickly but failed to do so after losing their map pick Ascend 13-6.
However, on Sentinels’ map pick Split, PRX shocked everyone by trouncing the Americas team 13-5.
PRX’s Cahya “Monyet” Nugraha put in an inspired showing with 24 kills, 10 deaths and three assists.
Momentum should have been on the side of the reigning Pacific League champions but Sentinels bounced back to win the next map Sunset 13-3 to book their place in the Grand Final early Monday morning.
PRX left Madrid with a third-place finish and US$65,000 (RM307,775) in prize money.
Sentinels will have a chance to exact revenge on Gen.G in the Grand Final after the South Koreans sent them to the lower bracket after defeating the Americas team 2-1 on Friday.
Gen.G have gone through the entire tournament unbeaten, only dropping three maps in the process. – March 24, 2024