Paper Rex & Nongshim RedForce win VALORANT Masters Santiago Playoff openers.

The initial phase of the Playoffs bracket at VALORANT Masters Santiago commenced yesterday, featuring triumphs by the reigning Masters Toronto titleholder, Paper Rex, alongside the VCT Pacific squad, Nongshim RedForce.

Their respective adversaries, FURIA from the Americas and Gentle Mates representing EMEA, have since been relegated to the lower elimination bracket.

The opening Playoff series in Santiago witnessed the Masters Toronto victor, Paper Rex, hard-foughtly securing a 2-1 victory over a relatively less experienced FURIA lineup.

Starting on Haven, FURIA faced difficulties confronting Paper Rex’s characteristic aggressive strategy involving Phoenix, Yoru, and Chamber. Nonetheless, through outstanding maneuvers by Daniel ‘eeiu’ Vucenovic and some less-than-optimal ultimate deployments by their rivals, FURIA successfully equalized the score at 6-6. During their offensive phase, the top seed from VCT Americas displayed greater steadiness. In spite of conceding both pistol rounds, FURIA managed to seize Paper Rex’s chosen map with a 13-9 score.

Moving to Breeze, Paper Rex appeared poised to be outmaneuvered in terms of aiming and trading until the third seed from Pacific quickly regained their self-assurance and eliminated opponents effectively in the initial half (leading 9-3 for PRX). Conversely, FURIA was prevented from accessing their preferred B site and struggled to prevent multiple clutch plays by Ilia ‘something’ Petrov. This pattern persisted into the latter half, with FURIA only claiming a single round before being defeated by their adversary (4-13).

The concluding map, Split, began with a competitive opening half. Paper Rex often faced repercussions for their aggressive tactics, while FURIA reverted to the calm, decisive strategy they showcased on the first map (Paper Rex held a 7-5 advantage). However, in the subsequent half, this steadfastness proved insufficient as Paper Rex dominated their opposition. The in-game leader (IGL), Khalish ‘d4v41’ Rusyaidee, delivered a commanding offensive performance in both eliminations and strategic direction, culminating in a 13-7 triumph for his squad.

The day proceeded with a confrontation involving two squads marking their inaugural global VCT appearances at Masters Santiago. Nongshim RedForce’s initial performance on the Chilean stage resulted in a 2-0 clean victory over the Swiss Stage participant, Gentle Mates.

For the initial map, Haven, Nongshim transformed an early 0-4 deficit into a 7-5 lead by halftime. Gentle Mates had initially outmaneuvered the Pacific’s top seed with deceptive site incursions, yet their strategy appeared predictable by the close of the half. During Nongshim’s offensive rounds, Lee ‘Dambi’ Hyuk-kyu proved unstoppable by Gentle Mates’ Cypher abilities. The French contingent experienced multiple instances of overextension and opponent clutch plays, ultimately conceding their map choice with a 10-13 score.

The map Corrode mirrored the course of the first game. Nongshim faced considerable difficulty asserting control over B-main against Gentle Mates’ newly introduced Phoenix agent, but they managed to stabilize, ending the defensive half 5-7. In the subsequent half, the Korean roster once more overpowered Gentle Mates with their aggressive site entries. Despite a pistol round victory in the second half for EMEA’s second seed and occasional errors by Nongshim, these were insufficient to reverse the momentum for Gentle Mates, leading to a 13-10 win for Nongshim.

While Nongshim’s Dambi and Park ‘Ivy’ Sung-hyeon put forth exceptional displays to aid their team in clinching the win, Gentle Mates’ Martin ‘marteen’ Pátek distinguished himself as the top eliminations player in the entire series. Utilizing Yoru and Phoenix, marteen achieved a kill-death-assist (KDA) record of 47/38/13 and an average combat score (ACS) of 299.

Consequent to the contests held yesterday, both FURIA and Gentle Mates have been relegated to the lower half of the Playoffs bracket at Masters Santiago, where they will contend to remain in the tournament on March 8th.

Concurrently, Paper Rex and Nongshim RedForce are positioned in the second stage of the upper bracket matchups, awaiting their subsequent adversaries, who will be determined by today’s victorious teams.

Commencing at 5 PM BST on March 7th, the primary regional seeds, All Gamers and BBL Esports, are scheduled to mark their inaugural VCT global appearances in Santiago, competing against G2 Esports and NRG, in that order.

For continuous updates regarding the Masters Santiago Playoffs phase, enthusiasts have the option to watch the event’s authorized Twitch and YouTube streams.