EDward Gaming and Sentinels Join The 1-0 Pool In Madrid

The second day of VCT Masters Madrid has come to an end. Both first-seed representatives of the Americas and China regions have won their matches.

The first round of the Swiss Stage format has ended, with EDward Gaming defeating a struggling Paper Rex, and Sentinels continuing to prove what they’re made of.

EDward Gaming 2-1 Paper Rex

Since 2022, EDG has never been able to defeat Paper Rex, having a 0-3 head-to-head record. However, with the absence of Jinggg, EDG took advantage and finally got their revenge on the Pacific squad.

In the first map, Paper Rex could post a strong 9-3 first half, despite losing the pistol round on their comfortable map pick of Sunset. After converting the second pistol round and the anti-eco, Paper Rex sat at an 11-3 lead, and the game looked over. The Chinese side struck back with five straight, but it wasn’t enough, as Paper Rex eventually got the job done with a 13-8 score. 

Most of the individuals of the Paper Rex roster went missing on the second map, Bind. Despite winning the first three rounds, Paper Rex lost their footing in the first half, allowing EDG to gather 8 rounds on their defense. The Malaysian-Singaporean org put up a decent fight in the following half, but it wasn’t enough to stop EDG’s march to a third map. 

On the decider, Split, Paper Rex pulled out an interesting triple Duelist lineup. The EDward Gaming boys took an early 3-0 lead, and looked to take the fourth round. However, with his back against the wall, f0rsaken managed to clutch a miraculous 1v5 clutch to keep the half competitive. 

Unfortunately for Paper Rex fans, something on his Jett went completely missing on the server, ending the game with a KDA of 6/20/3 – a rare sight. The poor performance from the Paper Rex prodigy allowed EDG to run away with the map 13-9 and win the series. 

Sentinels 2-1 Team Heretics 

Team Heretics, together with Karmine Corp, pulled off a massive upset in the EMEA region, eliminating Fnatic and Natus Vincere from the first international tournament of the year. We recently saw how scary Karmine Corp looked, so Team Heretics should not be any pushovers either. 

Team Heretics started the series by sending a message, taking an early 7-2 lead on Lotus, the map pick of Sentinels. However, the Sentinels woke up after half time, winning 9 out of 10 rounds in the second half to pull off a comeback and convert their map pick to a 13-9 win. 

On Sunset, Team Heretics showed they deserved to play on the stage with a 6-0 start to their defensive campaign. With the help of some heroic plays from zekken, the Sentinels could at least collect four rounds to end the half with an 8-4 score. However, RieNs and MiniBoo hard-carried the team to a quick 13-5 victory. The two players ended the map 21/11/9 and 20/10/6, respectively. 

In the decisive map of Bind, Team Heretics once again took an early lead, this time 6-1 on their defense. However, after a tactical timeout, the Sentinels remembered they were the number one team in the Americas region, and won five straight to end the half 6-6. As usual, zekken stepped up for the team gathering 16 kills on the offense. 

Sentinels continued to display a strong performance on their defense, taking the lead 11-8. However, Team Heretics posted three straight to tie the game at 11-11. Still, North American fans can sleep well tonight, as the Sentinels won the last two rounds to win 13-11 in the tight game. 

The series MVP was actually MiniBoo from Team Heretics, who ended the series 65/46/17 with a 1.23 rating despite the loss. Keep in mind that this kid is only 18, and is looking to take out his anger on the team’s next match. 

With the first round of the Swiss Stage concluding, the next set of matchups have been set.

Matches in the 1-0 pool (March 16):

• EDward Gaming vs. Gen.G Esports (1-0 Pool)
• Sentinels vs. Karmine Corp (1-0 Pool)

Matches in the 0-1 pool (March 17):

• Team Heretics vs. Paper Rex
• FunPlus Phoenix vs. LOUD

Header: Sentinels