Paper Rex and Gen.G both with a point to prove – Masters Toronto Day 3 Preview

With only two days played of Masters Toronto so far, already a host of Swiss stage hopefuls are on the brink of booking their spot in the playoffs. Day three will see the current 1-0 sides compete, with the two winners moving on to the next stage while the losers will get one more chance to qualify in the coming days.

Bilibili Gaming vs Sentinels – SEN with another favoured draw

The first match of the day, set to kick off at 12:00 PM local time (18:00 CEST) is between China’ Bilibili Gaming and Americas fan favourites Sentinels. The latter will be heavy favourites in the tie and should progress with relative ease.

Bilibili were hugely lucky to start off with a win. Their opening opponents were EMEA’s Team Liquid, a side that would have been the favourites in the matchup were it not for nAts’ visa issues preventing him from travelling for TL’s opening game (his visa has since been granted). His replacement penny put in a shift during Team Liquid’s map two, overtime victory, however that was sandwiched between close-fought BLG wins. With a loss now expected, realistically, BLG’s best bet is to hope for a lucky draw at the 1-1 stage and hope that they can scrape their way to playoffs.

Sentinels would have also counted themselves lucky for their opening draw, placed against Wolves Esports — often considered the weakest team at the tournament. When asked on that matchup by Hotspawn during the post-match press conference, coach Kaplan admitted that he’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t “more comfortable with the draw than other scenarios”.

But the opening phases of the series saw Wolves on top, starting 4-0 and going into halftime with an 8-4 lead. Though Sentinels were able to turn things around in map one, and secure a more one-sided win in map two, it was certainly a wake-up call for the Americas second-seed to ensure that they do not take perceived weaker opposition at this tournament lightly, no less if they’re from China.

Paper Rex vs Gen.G – A test for both teams

Considerably the tighter matchup on paper is the all-Pacific clash between PRX vs Gen.G. They’ve only faced off once before this season, Gen.G the victors on that occasion during VCT Pacific Stage 1, but that was before Paper Rex’s resurgence that saw them win 5 series back-to-back to qualify for Masters.

Though Paper Rex’s Pacific comeback eventually ran out of steam, being eliminated by eventual winners Rex Regum Qeon 3-2 in the lower bracket, the break until Masters seems to have done them good. They competed in some other events with the addition of previously-benched mindfreak and found good results, setting themselves up to hit the ground running in Toronto.

And hit the ground running, they did, smashing EMEA’s Team Heretics with a stunning 13-1 opener on Pearl. Flex player f0rsakeN was a menace on the server, going 18/3/8, while Jinggg was the one to pop off in the closer 13-9 win in map two. The win immediately raised their stock, and they’ll fancy themselves a place in the playoffs next.

Strangely, mindfreak was again on the bench, seen in the coaching boot alongside alecks, in fact, with the latter confirming that his player has been helping out in a coaching capacity.

Fellow Pacific organisation Gen.G also completed a statement opening win, the Koreans too beating Western opposition in a 2-0 scoreline. But Gen.G’s was, somehow, even more dominant.

The opening map, Sunset, didn’t bring with it quite as explosive a win as Paper Rex’s, but Gen.G’s 13-5 dismantling of MIBR was a statement in its own right. Then, on their own Haven pick, Gen.G took things up a notch to finish 13-1, winning the final 11 rounds consecutively. The entire squad was on fire — no player received a negative kill-death ratio in either of the two maps. The second map, Haven, featured a particularly inspired performance from t3xture, finishing with a ludicrous 340 ACS.

Gen.G had felt like a sleeping giant this season, keeping together 3/5 of their Masters Shanghai-winning roster from last season but struggling to find their form early on in the year. Things looked as though they were moving in the right direction during their ramp-up through Stage 1, though their grand final loss to RRQ — almost single-handedly swayed by the brilliance of Jemkin — put a dampener on Gen.G’s hype.

Now the hype is back and fans will be firmly believing that they can challenge for a Masters title again. Paper Rex will prove to be a good barometer for Gen.G’s current level, and Gen.G for Paper Rex.