PRX vs DRX Masters Tokyo: PRX takes down DRX despite something’s absence

Teams are being sent to the lower bracket while others are looking to keep their momentum strong in the upper portion. With PRX vs DRX, we've seen it half a dozen times. Paper Rex has had the upper hand as of late, but DRX's resiliency should never be understated after making it out of the Group Stage.

Of course the Bracket Stage draw put together a PRX vs DRX match in the Upper Quarterfinals. These two teams can't shake each other. They are the Pacific league's version of LOUD and NRG from the Americas league.

DRX has won the majority of their encounters, but PRX took them down when it counted recently. Both the Upper Final and Grand Final led to Paper Rex hoisting the Pacific league trophy. But how will the lack of Benedict "Benkai" Tan and Ilya "something" Petrov affect this rematch at VCT Masters Tokyo?

With the former benched and the latter unable to make the trip, the capabilities of PRX remain uncertain. And DRX, for the first time, was in danger of a Group Stage exit. That leaves plenty of question marks revolving around both teams. Let's see how it plays out.

A lot of eyes will be on the PRX vs DRX series. There's a number of co-streams happening for you to watch alongside your favorite streamers or content creator. You can also simply watch along with us in the embedded stream.

Pure aggression is how this one started for Paper Rex. PRX pushed DRX relentlessly on their attack to take an early lead. DRX gained equal footing with their weapons and managed to stall PRX's speed for a brief moment. The Pacific league champions fought back hard, though, and guaranteed themselves at least a tie at halftime from a Jinggg 3K. Shortly after, a halftime lead was certain and sides switched with PRX up 9:3.

The second half began similarly. DRX won the first couple of rounds as the attacking team before PRX stopped their progression after gaining better weapons. DRX didn't let them extend their lead too far as Rb stormed onto site, gaining quite a lot of kills within just a few rounds. One round even saw him snag an Ace as DRX looked to gain ground. It just wasn't meant to be, though. A wild spray and clutch from mindfreak got PRX to map point. And the next was theirs, giving them map one 13:10.

While CGRS didn't have a highlight game on Split, he showed up to start Bind with a 3K. He was clearly more comfortable playing Gekko here. A 3K from Jinggg followed and PRX were up. DRX, like in the prior map, battled back when they got their guns. They could only get so far, but still grabbed one more round before halftime than they did on the first map. And of course, more frags by Jinggg kept PRX rolling.

Halftime ended and DRX looked to turn things around again. The first couple of rounds were easily won to close the gap a bit, though Paper Rex took the bonus to reach nine. They did not gain any momentum off of that as DRX tied the score. Back and forth they went until CGRS took matters into his own hands. Wingman planted the Spike, Thrash hunted down DRX, and his shots simply landed to help PRX take two rounds to reach series point. A quick execute onto the site ended it with a mirrored score of 13:10 to send DRX down to the Lower Bracket.

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