The last time Paper Rex and DRX faced off was for a top 4 spot at Champions Paris last year. In that series, DRX got the better of the Masters Toronto winners. This time, it went back the way of Paper Rex in an incredible 2-1 series between two favourites of VCT Pacific Kick-Off.
The first map of this series was Haven, with Paper Rex bringing out the Chamber, Yoru, Phoenix composition. Utilising their ‘W Gaming’ playstyle with a very aggro composition went perfectly with their team.
They took the first half 8-4 and then had a tougher time on their attack side with DRX showing resilience especially since they opted for a solo duelist comp, relying on their defence side to bring them rounds. Unfortunately for DRX, it wasn’t enough as Paper Rex closed out Haven 13-11 in a close fought affair.
The second map was Corrode, with Paper Rex continuing their Waylay/ Phoenix composition whilst DRX lent onto the NRG composition from Champions, relying on the solo Waylay to carry their attack side.
That is exactly what he did. After a tightly contested first half ending 7-5 in Paper Rex’s favour, DRX took the map 13-8 taking 8 rounds as Paper Rex only took 1 on their defence half.
Breeze was the destination for the decider of this series, where Paper Rex changed up their composition with something going back to the Jett. Jinggg and F0rsaken swapped roles and F0rsaken returned to the Yoru which he was profoundly good at when Yoru was a very unpopular agent.
The map started strong for DRX, with HYUNMIN having a monster of a first half ending 18-6 and giving DRX an 8-4 lead going into their attack half. However, it was Paper Rex who came out swinging in the second half, claiming 7 rounds in a row putting the game into their hands.
They closed out the final map 13-10 in Paper Rex’s favour, confirming their survival in Kick-Off and cementing the end of Kick-Off for the top 4 Champs team of last year, DRX.
Despite the heroics of HYUNMIN on Breeze, it wasn’t enough to carry the team over the finish line, ending their Kick-Off here.
Meanwhile, Paper Rex will now advance onto another series where they will face off against the loser of T1 vs DetonatioN FocusMe that will be taking place in the Middle Bracket on the 13th of February.
Valorant Digest 
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