Lower bracket quarters in Paris were ruthless. PRX shook off yesterday’s mess and smacked Heretics out, DRX finally broke their top-four curse by dumping MIBR, and two fan favorites got bounced in one afternoon.

The Accor Arena phase is now set up to be a brawl.

Paper Rex vs Team Heretics – PRX Shake Off The Lotus Curse

PRX had one job today: prove yesterday’s Lotus collapse against Fnatic was a blip, not a blueprint. They did exactly that, grinding past Heretics 2-1 with the series swinging through three maps: Ascent 13-11 PRX, Bind 13-9 TH, and a decisive 13-4 Lotus closer for PRX.

On Ascent, Heretics actually controlled the first half 8-4 behind Wo0t and RieNs’ pacey entries, but PRX’s mid-round calls flipped the script late for the turnaround and a 1-0 start.

Bind flipped right back: Heretics leaned into their double-duelist “mosquito” looks, found value in post-plants, and closed it out to force a decider.

Then came Lotus, the same map PRX coughed up to Fnatic – only this time they slammed the door, racing to 8-4 at half, converting the bonus, and never letting the lead go. f0rsakeN was the series anchor with a 1.22 rating, 53 kills, and 78% KAST (yes, on Controller duty), while PatMen and Jinggg handled the dirty work when the pace got scrappy.

Result: PRX survive, Heretics bow out in 5-6th after a strong tournament, and the APAC champs earn a spot in finals weekend, against DRX.

MIBR vs DRX – DRX Steel Up For Their First Top 4 Since 2022

This series kicked off on Sunset, a map DRX have historically avoided, and for a while it looked like they were going to flip the narrative. They were up 9-3 at halftime and it looked like DRX had it in the bag, but MIBR woke up on defense. Aspas finished with 29 kills and dragged his team to a 13-10 comeback. He was only 5 kills shy of dropping another best-of-three kill record that he set yesterday in the VALORANT Champs Upper Bracket Semifinals.

Ascent turned into a slugfest. Neither side could pull away, rounds kept flipping back and forth, and it had to go all the way to overtime before DRX finally closed it. DRX leaned on BeYN’s fragging power and free1ng’s timing to hold off another MIBR rally, eventually squeaking out a 15-13 win. It wasn’t pretty – lots of scrappy rounds and clumsy trades – but it kept them alive in the series.

Bind was the closer, and this time DRX refused to let it slip. HYUNMIN and Flashback cracked sites open on attack, MaKo anchored the defense with clutch utility, and a clean second half sealed a 13-10 win. Flashback’s ace was the exclamation mark, but really it was a team effort that finally slowed aspas down after another monster performance.

The result means DRX reach their first Champions top-four since 2022, while MIBR’s run ends in 5-6th after two hard-fought lower-bracket matches. Aspas left with 76 kills across three maps – insane numbers in back-to-back elimination games, but DRX left with the win that matters.