Dream Run ended: EDG vs Paper Rex VCT Masters Tokyo Playoffs Elimination

China’s final representative, EDward Gaming, took on Pacific’s 1st seed, Paper Rex in a bid for continued survival in VCT Masters Tokyo. EDward Gaming has been on a dream run since their first match, fighting through the lower brackets of Groups, and taking down some of Valorant’s biggest names.

EDward Gaming entered this Masters as their third international Valorant tournament with little expectations placed on them. Many still had no idea where to place them because while they had not posted any wins at international events, they clearly had serious skill and potential in their lineup. Meanwhile, Paper Rex came into the tournament with a massive asterisk, as star fragger Ilya “something” Petrov was unable to attend Tokyo due to visa delays.

Thus, their eventual official clash in Tokyo breathes life into some of the ongoing narratives in both rosters as we find ourselves deep into the tournament.

 

Limited by Circumstances

As reported earlier, Paper Rex’s attendance to Tokyo was marked with question marks due to missing one of their key players in “something.” Instead, they ran with a stand-in, substitute player Patiphan “CGRS” Posri. Despite that, Paper Rex had finished the VCT Pacific Playoffs as the 1st seed, automatically placing them within the top 8 of VCT Masters Tokyo. With the head start, they were able to prep for their competition. In their opening match, they took down DRX. They fell to Fnatic in the second round, sending them to the lower bracket. Now, they have taken down the Wild Beasts of Asia, collecting another victory despite concerns for the overall capabilities of the cobbled together squad.

Head coach Alexandre “alecks” Sallé addressed this during the post-game press conference, where he asserted that the team was just there to ‘do their best to make it as far as they could.’ Despite their best efforts, “alecks” stated that their approach has always been to ‘try their best and just go in with the attitude that their best is enough.’ He said that obviously they had their sights on beating their Asian rivals, that they wanted to beat some teams but after the Fnatic series, reassessed and admitted that it’s clear that they might be ‘slightly outclassed strategically’ in this tournament.

Much of PRX’s efforts in preparation in the aftermath of the VCT Pacific season has been to make sure “CGRS” knew ‘how [PRX] played, made some plans, refreshed certain things, go through protocols with [CGRS].’ Because of that, “alecks” said that throughout Tokyo, their mindset has been to ‘not have high expectations on themselves,’ and that they just want to ‘do their best’ and not ‘expect we can win.’ Their efforts instead has just been focused on performance, rather than results.

 

 Double-Edged Sword that is Success

Meanwhile, EDG has been catching many eyes since the start of their Tokyo eyes. Their victory over T1 and especially NA’VI and LOUD has drawn much attention to both their unorthodox playstyle and increasing success internationally. This has become a double-edged blade in the sense where with more attention placed on them, more emphasis on prep against them comes into play as well as the respect increases.

Much like Paper Rex in 2022, they are swiftly realizing that simply having an aggressive playstyle and mechanical reliance is not enough to contend with the best. Constant adaptations, absorption of experience, and growth whilst maintaining their core playstyle identity are all exceedingly difficult.

EDG player Wan “CHICHOO” Shunzhi spoke in the post-game press conference, apologizing to all the fans who had supported them. He said, ‘to be honest, we are not supposed to lose this game (against PRX). Coming into top 6 right now, the mentality for all of us is that we should take more victories, as many as we can. To be honest, it’s really tough to face the fact that we lost today.’

Lo “AfteR” Wen-hsin spoke on how the main reason they lost to Paper Rex was that the latter’s ‘frantic playstyle’ was something they were unable to ‘adapt to fast enough.’ However, he also assured that thanks to the event, they ‘probably have a good grasp of what teams are going to do or their playstyles, but he also thinks that they ‘still should have more improvement on that.’

Perhaps the biggest concern for the teams comes in the form of Pacific teams. EDG IGL Guo “Haodong” Haodong spoke on how they ‘definitely absorbed a lot of experience playing games against EMEA and Americas,’ but that it also felt a ‘little bit weird’ because they struggled to do the same when facing Asian teams. This does potentially suggest that teams more familiar with either the team or the playstyle, can find much greater success against them, and as such, should be a great focal point of improvement for the roster.

 

Mirror Self

During the post-game press conference, both teams confirmed that the other was a scrim partner that they face on a semi-consistent basis due to their regional proximity. Thus, even before the series, there was familiarity on both sides. As an added bonus, because of concerns for teams to battle each other who are also competing in the same league, for teams like EDG and PRX, who compete in different leagues, having a high caliber scrim partner can be extremely rewarding.

“alecks” spoke on how this did aid them in the series, with their performance attributed more to adjustments rather than straight anti-strats. ‘We scrim EDG like twice a week back in Singapore,’ he said. EDG “CHICHOO” also named PRX as familiar opponents who they expressed shame for losing to.

“AfteR” spoke in the post-game press conference, addressing their loss to Paper Rex that saw them eliminated. ‘Everyone in the world knows that Paper Rex is very aggressive. We faced off against them back in Istanbul and we kind of knew what kind of team they are, but it feels like we couldn’t really accept or take their tendency as a very fast and furious team, an aggressive team, into the progress of adjustment. So, it’s not like we can’t compete with them, it’s more like we can’t take their pace. So then, upgrading, absorbing, and learning. Hopefully, we can use different approaches to face them in the future.’

The main sentiment when watching these two teams could be simplified into their signature, which is aggression. Whether it is aggressive plays or aggressive holds, both EDG and Paper Rex are known for their ‘no-fear’ style of play. This has led many to compare the two roster, citing that EDG look very much like an earlier Paper Rex. However, coach “AfteR” was quick to dismiss the comparison. He said, ‘Personally from my perspective, I don’t think we have the exact same playstyle as Paper Rex. It feels very aggressive when we play but in terms of the details and the game that we really play, I think we have some differences, especially communication. So, maybe the playstyle we are having right now, they seem really similar, they’re not. Especially on the inside.’

 

A Star in the Making

VCT Masters Tokyo is where EDG player Zheng “ZmjjKK” Yongkang finally experienced his breakthrough as a new recognized superstar in the Valorant community. His exploits and flashy OP shots have already swiftly made him a household name. More than his mechanical prowess, however, his professionalism and energy on-stage has caught the eyes of many more. At 19 years-old, he credited his team for his success, delivering kill after kill while hyping up the roster. When asked after their match what his biggest improvement has been at Masters, he stated that learning to ‘basically never give up and to keep pushing oneself, win or lose’ has been his biggest takeaway. He stated that during their LOUD series, he felt like his entire teams was already at a ‘god level’ and that they were already ‘outplaying’ him. This motivated him to ‘do more and practice more to catch up with them.’

 

Paper Rex live to fight another day as EDG now find themselves eliminated from VCT Masters Tokyo. Paper Rex are now set to face off against NRG, Americas' 2nd seed. Can Paper Rex continue defying expectations? Or will NRG chalk themselves up another win?

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Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games