NRG and Paper Rex will meet in the semi-finals of the VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: Masters Tokyo. It's interesting to watch an Asian team that continues to win against the odds and surprise.
That said, and NRG doesn't seem like such a strong team that they're about to break through and the guys will make the finals. However, in this clash, the North American team does seem to be the favourites, as Paper Rex do not stand out in terms of their play.
In general, we can only watch, but my opinion is that the Asian team has gone too far. And the North Americans are much more interesting by idea The International. So here I would lean on the NRG team to win.
Form NRG
The second team in the North American ranking did not play their best game at the VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: Americas League but still managed to win the second place and go to Tokyo.
Already in the group stage of the VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: Masters Tokyo, the North American squad was beating Natus Vincere and T1 to advance to the play-offs.
Here, NRG was instantly defeated by Fnatic, but they began to recover in the lower rounds. As a result, the team has dealt with DRX and Team Liquid, showing a good game against their rivals.
NRG's latest results:
- A 2-1 victory over Natus Vincere.
- Defeated T1 2-1.
- 0-2 defeat of Fnatic.
- Beat DRX 2-0.
- Beat Team Liquid 2-1.
NRG's best scores:
- Haven - 82% wins.
- Bind - 71% wins.
- Pearl - 67% wins.
- Split - 63% wins.
Don't forget that the North American team doesn't appear on the Fracture map.
Paper Rex uniforms
The first Asian Pacific team managed to shoot for the VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: Pacific League, and the boys did not look their best in the regular season.
In the play-offs, however, Paper Rex managed to spin out to beat DRX twice in the process, and at the same time make a direct run to the Masters play-offs in Tokyo.
As for Long Sogpeg at VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: Masters Tokyo, here the Asian squad also lost to Fnatic, but tackled DRX and EDward Gaming in passing to stay afloat.
Paper Rex's latest results:
- A 2-0 win over DRX.
- Victory over DRX by a score of 3-2.
- A 2-0 win over DRX.
- A 0-2 loss to Fnatic.
- Beat EDward Gaming 2-1.
Top scores for Paper Rex:
- Haven - 100% wins.
- Bind - 80% wins.
- Pearl - 71% wins.
- Fracture - 71% wins.
- Lotus - 67% wins.
- Split - 63% wins.
- Ascent - 50% wins.
The Asian team, in turn, routinely gives up on Haven.
NRG - Paper Rex encounter statistics
The teams met once last season at the VALORANT Champions Tour 2022: Stage 2 Masters - Copenhagen and Paper Rex won 2-1.
NRG vs Paper Rex
My opinion doesn't change: Top 4 is the ceiling for the current Paper Rex roster. And the squad keeps jumping ahead of themselves, offering nothing but aggressive moves from match to match.
In turn, NRG tries to play from the head, and in the game with Team Liquid the team can even be called The International. And in terms of scoring, the North American team is much more heresy than The International, if you take it over the long haul.
So in this case I would recommend betting on the NRG team to win.
