Paper Rex and Nongshim RedForce won the first games of the VALORANT Masters Santiago Playoffs

VALORANT Masters Santiago started the Playoffs yesterday with a victory over Masters champion Toronto Paper Rex and the VCT Pacific group Nongshim RedForce.

Team rivals, FURIA (American) and Gentle Friends (EMEA), has now dropped to the lower bracket.

The first Playoffs match in Santiago saw Toronto Masters champion Paper Rex hit the mud 2-1 win against the inexperienced FURIA system.

FURIA got off to a rough start The portstruggling with the relentless rage from Paper Rex’s signature Phoenix, Yoru and Chamber agent combination. However, due to the great performances of Daniel’hey‘ Vucenovic and the wrong use of the opponent, FURIA was able to draw the score 6-6. On their offensive side, the VCT Americas first seed looked like a more composed team. Despite losing both guns, FURIA stole Paper Rex’s map pick 13-9.

Opened The windPaper Rex looked like it would be targeted and outplayed again until the third seed of the Pacific quickly renewed its confidence and explosive power in the first half (9-3 to PRX). FURIA, on the other hand, found itself locked out of its favorite B domain and could not deny Ilia’s few clutches.somethingPetrov. This trend continued in the second half, where FURIA won only one round before succumbing to its opponent (4-13).

Final map, Separateit started with a half back and forth. Paper Rex was often punished for their dangerous plays while FURIA went back to making cold decisions from the first map (7-5 ​​in favor of Paper Rex). However, in the second half this relief was not enough as Paper Rex tore through its opponent. In-game leader (IGL) Khalish’d4v41‘ Rusyaidee also had a big part of the attack in terms of fouls and calls, which led to his team’s 13-7 victory.

The day continued with a clash between two teams making their VCT world debut at Masters Santiago. Nongshim RedForce’s first show on stage in Chile was 2-0 swept against the Swiss group Stage Gentle Mates.

In the first map, The portNongshim turned an 0-4 start into a 7-5 halftime lead. The Gentle Mates initially outsmarted the first Pacific seed with spot-hits, but looked one-sided towards the end of the half. In the attack on Nongshim, Lee ‘Dambi‘ Hyuk-kyu could not be contained by the Gentle Mates’ Cypher utility. The French team faced a lot of heat and enemy capture, losing their choice of map 10-13.

Rust followed the same path to map one. Nongshim had a tough time controlling the B-main against the new Gentle Mates pick for Phoenix, but he settled down and got 5-7 defense points. In the second half, the Korean team again defeated the Gentle Mates with explosive bombs. A second-half shootout victory for the EMEA second seed and occasional poor play by Nongshim was not enough to turn the tide in Gentle Mates’ favor, resulting in a 13-10 win for Nongshim.

Although Nongshim’s Dam and ParkIvy‘ Sung-hyeon delivered an amazing performance to help the team secure victory, Gentle Mates’ Martin ‘marteen‘ Pátek was the most broken player in the series. In Yoru and Phoenix, marteen achieved a kill-to-death ratio (KDA) of 47/38/13 and an average combat score (ACS) of 299.

After yesterday’s matches, FURIA and Gentle Mates were relegated to the lower bracket of the Playoffs at Masters Santiago, to fight for survival on March 8.

Meanwhile, Paper Rex and Nongshim RedForce await in the second round of the upper bracket games for the teams’ next opponent, the winners of today’s games.

From 5 PM BST on March 7, the first regional seeds All Gamers again BBL Sports will make VCT worldwide in Santiago, face it G2 Sports again NRGrespectively.

To stay up-to-date on the Masters Santiago Playoffs stage, fans can tune in to the event’s official Twitch and YouTube broadcasts.