Through the lower bracket: how Paper Rex won Pacific Stage 1

Paper Rex are Pacific Stage 1 champions, and they did it the hard way.

The run looked in danger early. In the upper semifinal, Global Esports took the series 2 to 1 and sent PRX into the lower bracket, where every match is an elimination match and every map loss gets magnified.

What followed was the kind of run that builds a team's reputation for years.

Four series, no second chances

PRX opened the gauntlet with a 2 to 1 win over Kiwoom DRX, then survived another 2 to 1 against T1, two series that could have gone either way against the strongest Korean cores in the league.

Then something changed. In the lower final rematch against Global Esports, the team that had beaten them a week earlier, PRX swept 3 to 0. In the grand final against FULL SENSE, they swept again, 3 to 0, closing the stage with six straight map wins.

The shape of the team

This roster has carried the "chaotic but brilliant" tag since its early days, but the Stage 1 run was something else: disciplined closing. Russian duelist something, with the team since March 2023, has become one of the steadiest opening presences in the region, and the supporting cast around him repeatedly won the rounds that decide close series.

The full match history from the run is on the Paper Rex team page, and the broader results picture is on our results page.

What it means for London

PRX arrived at Masters London 2026 carrying that lower-bracket scar tissue, and it matters. Teams that have already stared down four elimination series in a row tend not to flinch in international playoffs.

Their quarterfinal is on the matches page. Watch the map veto: a team this confident in its lower-bracket form tends to leave opponents' comfort picks open on purpose.

Match data via vlr.gg.