The main event of the year in the discipline is nearing its conclusion. We've been watching the thrilling matches of Valorant Champions 2023 for over a week, and only 4 matches remain. The first of these will take place in the upper bracket final, where the top-1 teams of their regions will face off - Paper Rex vs. Evil Geniuses.

Evil Geniuses Form

The first participants are the well-known American tops, Evil Geniuses, although their bad reputation precedes the team's results. We've already written about the players of EG using profanities, flaming opponents, and mocking future adversaries. You can read more about this in our article. However, their arrogant behavior hasn't allowed the players to win a major tournament since the beginning of the season. The team has a 2nd place finish at Masters Tokyo and a 3rd place in the regular season of VCT 2023: Americas League. In the current championship, the team emerged as the favorite of Group B, advancing to the playoffs thanks to two easy victories. Although in our opinion, this is the merit of the opponents because Group B is considered the weakest among the other three. Despite this, in the playoff stage, the "thieves" are showing their better side, having won against EDward Gaming 2-1 and DRX 2-0, the team earned a slot in the final and might become the first participant in the championship grand final.

From the beginning of 2023 to the present day, the team has played 25 matches, out of which they've won 14. The team's overall win rate is 58%, which is relatively low compared to the other remaining participants.

Form of Paper Rex

The next team, also a top of their Asia-Pacific region, unlike their opponents, has not shown their worse side. On the contrary, the Singaporean team is always polite with its opponents and says farewell to the teams that have left the championship. Even in terms of results, the team surpasses its future rivals. Since the beginning of 2023, Paper Rex won the regular season of VCT 2023: Pacific League and also took 3rd place at Masters Tokyo. However, there was a high chance that the team would not make it to the World Championship in full, as their lurker, "something", had visa issues. But later, he got the opportunity to travel to Los Angeles. In the current tournament, few spectators could call the Singaporean club favorites, they were usually described as stable mid-tier performers who, although advancing from the group, would soon exit the tournament. So far, f0rsakeN and the team are showing the highest level of gameplay, with victories over FUT Esports 2-0 and the reigning world champions LOUD 2-1, proving that even mid-tier teams can achieve great results.

From the beginning of 2023 to today, the team has played 22 matches, of which they won 17, with an overall win rate of 77%.

Match Forecast

First, we want to note that the teams have already met in an elimination match during the lower bracket final of Masters Tokyo, where EG secured a victory with a score of 3-2. It's tough to determine the winner of this clash; both teams are evenly matched, and both still have a chance at redemption. If they lose, they will enter the lower bracket. Despite Paper Rex playing the role of the "good" in this match and EG the "villains," we believe the victory will go to the latter. The aggressive playstyle of the "Geniuses" will allow them to suppress their opponents, so the match might end with two clean maps.

Result: Evil Geniuses victory 2-0

We remind you that the playoffs of Valorant Champions 2023 end on August 26th. We look forward to clashes between the remaining 4 teams in the championship, fighting for the main prize fund of $1,000,000, the champion's cup, and the title of the strongest team for the entire next year.

Read more: Events Taking Place During the Final Days of Valorant Champions 2023