Paper Rex catches Valorant Masters Santiago bus
MANILA, Philippines — Paper Rex, with Filipino player Adrian "invy" Reyes, secured the final slot for the region to the Valorant Masters Santiago as they rushed past Indonesia's RRQ, 3-1, in the lower rounds of Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Pacific Kickoff tournament.
In a rematch of last year's Stage 2 grand finals, Paper Rex overturned a 4-8 deficit in the first half of its map pick of Haven by dominating on the attacking side to take the opening map at 13-9.
RRQ answered back with a solid attacking side on its map pick of Corrode to secure enough of a lead to stem off Paper Rex's comeback to equalize the series at 10-13.
But not wanting to miss out on the year's first international event, Paper Rex edged out RRQ thanks to star player's Jason "f0rsakeN" Susanto, who secured map Aces for both Breeze and Pearl.
The win makes Paper Rex the third Pacific team to qualify for Masters Santiago along with South Korea's Nongshim RedForce and T1. It also sees Reyes as the second Filipino to play in a Masters tournament, following Patrick "PatMen" Mendoza, who qualified to Masters Toronto last year.
"To be honest, coming into the tournament, I didn't want to have expectations as we are a new team. I'm [still] adapting to the team. And now since we [qualified], I'm just really happy that I finally made it. The last international event that I went to was LOCK//IN in Brazil and since we're going to Santiago, it's the same region. So yeah, I'm very happy,” Reyes said in the post-match conference.
A total of five Filipinos competed in VCT Pacific Kickoff, with Jessie "JessieVash" Cuyco and Kelly "kellyS" Sedillo of Team Secret exiting the tournament at 11th to 12th place after falling to ZETA Division, 1-2. Global Esports' "PatMen" and Xavier "xavi8k" Juan had some successes in the tournament but with the team’s alternating win-loss record, it eventually exited the tournament at seventh to eighth place.
Valorant Masters Santiago is the first global tournament of the 2026 season and will take place at the Espacio Riesco Convention Center in Santiago, Chile beginning on February 28.
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