Paper Rex beats Team Heretics to win VALORANT India Invitational 2022
Paper Rex defeated Team Heretics 3-1 in the grand finals of the Galaxy Racer VALORANT India Invitational 2022 on Sunday, bringing home a prize of $50,000.
The championship saw eight teams competing for the prize. Team Heretics, Paper Rex, Team Secret, Rex Regum Qeon and BOOM Esports were invited to the tournament. Meanwhile, Enigma Gaming, GodSquad and Bleed Esports entered the competition by winning the Indian and SEA Qualifiers.
Team Secret and Heretics defeated Rex Regum Qeon and Enigma in Group A, while Paper Rex and Bleed eSports beat GodSquad and BOOM Esports in Group B. Then, team Heretics dominated Bleed eSports by winning every map to become the first finalist. On the other hand, Team Secret lost to Paper Rex, allowing the Singaporean squad to reach the grand finals.
Paper Rex dominates grand finals
Team Heretics picked the Bind map for the first round to face Paper Rex. The Spanish team dominated the game and claimed a 2-0 lead. Aaron “mindfreak” Leonhart and Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto retaliated to even out the score, and Paper Rex kept their momentum to win the first half 9-3.
Team Heretics pushed back during the start of the second half. However, the Spanish team’s effort was insufficient because the Singaporean team still won the first round with a 13-11 score.
The second round occurred on the Fracture map, where Paper Rex went on the full offensive from the first until the fifth game. The European team finally got their first win thanks to Auni “AvovA” Chahade’s clutch play. The first half ended in a 6-6 draw.
Team Heretics’s Aleksander “zeek” Zygmunt took control of the second half, helping his team to gain seven consecutive wins against their Asian counterparts. The second round ended with the Spanish team winning 13-6.
The teams fought on the Breeze map in the third round. Team Heretics struggled to penetrate Paper Rex’s defense and lost the first half 9-5. The European team tried to close the gap in the next half and managed to turn the scoreboard to 9-11. However, Paper Rex regained its footing after a tactical time-out and crushed its opponents 13-10.
The fourth round took place on the Ascent map, with Team Heretics dominating the early game with a 6-2 score. Paper Rex did not stay behind for long and ended the first round with a 6-6 draw.
In the next round, Paper Rex flanked Team Heretics. The strategy effectively allowed the Asian team to defeat the European squad 13-8. Team Heretics had to settle for the second runner-up spot and receive a consolation prize of $20,000.
Delays, production issues plague tournament
The first day of the tournament witnessed many issues, including delays between matches that lasted for four hours.
According to Team Secret manager Yamyam Villanueva Yui, the organizers kept saying that the matches would begin in “30 minutes.” Then, after half an hour passed, they would say they needed another “10 minutes.” The first match only started after a one-and-a-half-hour delay.
The match between RRQ and Team Heretics also experienced a delay that lasted four hours due to technical and other unknown issues.
Galaxy Racer partners with AMD
The Galaxy Racer VALORANT India Invitational 2022 is South Asia’s first international VALORANT tournament. AMD acknowledged the importance of the event through its partnership with Galaxy Racer.
Galaxy Racer Chief Gaming Officer Siddharth Ravishankar said the collaboration would ensure “high-quality and fluid performance” for the teams participating in the event.
“This is an exciting opportunity for our brand to demonstrate AMD’s value proposition to India’s top esports athletes and enthusiasts,” AMD India Marketing Head Mukesh Bajpai added.
