PRX takes down Vitality, seals Champions Shanghai spot

MANILA, Philippines – Paper Rex (PRX) continues to steamroll after taking a 2-1 victory over EMEA Stage 1 runner-ups Team Vitality in the Upper Bracket Semifinals of 2026 VCT Masters London.

The win guarantees a top three finish for the last Pacific team in contention, keeping their hopes alive for back-to-back Masters’ Grand Finals appearances.

The train at full speed

The Singaporean-based squad only needed 31 minutes to make quick work of EMEA representatives to strike first on Breeze, 13-3.

However, Vitality retaliated on Split with a 13-6 map win to send the match to Fracture as the decider.

From there, PRX easily dominated the map to cap off the series with a 13-6 triumph and send the European team down the lower bracket. 

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Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie took the Match MVP honors following his 49/37/12 statline and 243 ACS performance throughout the series, helping the team to secure their place in the Upper Finals.

During the post-match interview, Filipino ace Adrian Jiggs “Invy” Reyes shared that the squad is now more prepared for Masters London than they were in Santiago.

“I think in Split, we kind of just didn’t play as a team. We were also not playing our own game, we were a bit hesitant. We were making a lot of not really good decisions,” Invy said.

“And coming into Fracture, we kind of just have like a goldfish memory, and we just like reset and played our own game like we usually do,” he shared on the team’s performance in the last two maps before securing the series.

Race to Champions Shanghai opens up

Having scored 21 points and with two slots open for Pacific, PRX has virtually secured a place in the season’s crowning event in Shanghai, China, from September 24 to October 18.

Nongshim Redforce currently sits at second place behind PRX with 12 points, and T1 ranks third with 10 points in the regional rankings. 

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At Champions Shanghai, the top two teams from Stage 2 in each international league will secure their slots in the global event along with the next two highest-ranked teams based on championship points.

With the lone Pacific team aiming for the region’s fifth Masters trophy, PRX is set to face VCT China’s Edward Gaming in the Upper Bracket Final on June 19, 10:00p.m. (By Clyde Jan Pascual, INQUIRER.net Intern)