VCT Masters Shanghai Playoffs Day 3 Predictions

The first round of the Upper Bracket of VCT Masters Shanghai has ended. Four teams were sent to the Lower Bracket and forced to play elimination matches. On Day 3, we will bid farewell to two participants.

We will expect to see the following matchups on the third day:

• FUT Esports vs. Fnatic
• Paper Rex vs. EDward Gaming

Two inter-regional matchups will be played. Two European teams, FUT and Fnatic, must eliminate each other. In the EMEA Stage 1 tournament, Fnatic finished as the first seed, while FUT barely scraped by with third place. Meanwhile, one of the three remaining Asian teams must go home. 

FUT Esports vs. Fnatic

As mentioned earlier, this is not the first time these two teams have met. FUT and Fnatic played against each other twice in the EMEA Stage 1 event. In the Group Stage, the Turks took down Fnatic with a convincing 2-0, but Fnatic defeated them in the Playoffs 3-1 when it actually mattered.

We’ve only seen Fnatic play one match in Shanghai, which was against the South Korean titans; Gen. G. Fnatic nearly defeated the second-place finisher at Masters Madrid in a narrow Best of 3 series. The EMEA squad took the first map but made several mistakes on Bind and Breeze to lose the series 1-2. 

The loss on Breeze was extra painful, as Fnatic led with as much as 10-6. Still, Gen.G is a very tough opponent, and losing to them is nothing to be ashamed of. If Fnatic cleans up their gameplay just a bit, we can expect them to make a very deep run here at Masters Shanghai.

Lost to GenG 1-2. Close series though. We’re now a lower bracket grind team

Felt really nice to be back on the international stage. Crowd was awesome❤️

— FNATIC Boaster (@OfficialBoaster) May 30, 2024

FUT is one of the teams that had to go through the Swiss Stage, where they defeated Dragon Ranger Gaming and Leviatan, which aren’t the most potent teams at the event. However, come Playoffs, 100 Thieves annihilated FUT, and it would be factual to say that they displayed an embarrassing performance. 

In a Best of 3 series, FUT only managed to gather seven rounds across two maps, losing their map pick of Icebox 13-2 and 13-5 on Bind. Honestly speaking, the EMEA representatives looked completely lost in the match, and barely had ideas to win rounds. They are not looking great.

Fortunately for FUT, they are playing against a familiar opponent and definitely have some sort of counter-strats against Fnatic. On paper, Fnatic is looking infinitely better on paper, but FUT could see this as a comfortable matchup. Fnatic should win the series, but FUT can potentially deal some damage. It wouldn’t be too surprising if they can take a map. 

Paper Rex vs. EDward Gaming

For the second series of the day, we have another familiar matchup. Paper Rex will take on the final Chinese team, EDward Gaming. One of the two will be sent home today, and the Chinese crowd is praying that it won’t be their home team. 

Despite being two top-seeded teams from their region and selecting their first-round opponents, Paper Rex and EDward Gaming displayed disappointing performances at Shanghai. The two are clearly not in top shape.

Paper Rex was the first to choose their opponents and decided to go with G2, one of the weakest teams left at the tournament. Jinggg had a great first map after his extended break from the competitive scene, stomping Split 13-7.

However, that flare was dissipated throughout the remainder of the series. Despite getting six rounds on their defensive side on Lotus, Paper Rex could not find anything on their offense, losing 10-13 on their map pick. After that, they were destroyed on their map pick, 5-13, where Jinggg could barely find any impact.

GGs 1-2 g2 we go lower bracket, thank you everyone for the support, see you again later!!! ♥️🔥!!!

— PRX f0rsakeN (@jasonsusantoo) May 31, 2024

Though Paper Rex did not perform to expectations, we’d argue that EDward Gaming did worse. They also had a tough opponent in the first round, Team Heretics, but got blown out of the water in a quick 0-2 defeat.

Team Heretics destroyed the Chinese squad on their map pick, 13-6 on Sunset. EDward Gaming had minimal effectiveness on offense, and their defense did not look good either. EDward Gaming picked Split for the second map and did even worse. They lost the first half 2-10, and eventually the map, 3-13. 

Everyone in the community would agree that Paper Rex will easily win the series. Even though they are not in top shape, EDward Gaming should be relatively easy opponents, and this series should end 2-0 for the Pacific squad.

Header: Paper Rex