Paper Rex made a huge statement at VALORANT Masters Toronto after crushing the iconic esports team Sentinels for the first time. The squad handed Sentinels a 2-0 defeat in the Upper Bracket Semifinals on Monday, June 16.

The Pacific team entered the match as underdogs. Sentinels had gone undefeated on the Swiss stage, showing clean form against Wolves Esports and Bilibili Gaming. They even went on a 2-0 victory against Xi Lai Gaming in the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals. The Sentinelsâ€?winning streak came to a halt when Paper Rex turned up the heat in the playoffs. 

Their match kicked off on the map Split, where Paper Rex took full control. They stormed through with a 13-3 win, led by standout play from Ilya ‘something�Petrov's Yoru and Wang ‘Jinggg�Jing Jie's Raze. The energy never dropped as they closed the series with a 13-11 finish on the Sunset map.

With this win, Paper Rex is now through to the Upper Finals, where they’ll face Wolves Esports on Friday, June 20. A win against the Wolves will take them straight to the Grand Final for their first major global title.

Meanwhile, Sentinels fall to the Lower Bracket Quarterfinals against Fnatic. They have to fight back up to reach the final again.

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Team Liquid starts Valorant Masters Toronto 2025 without their leader, Ayaz ‘nAts�Akhmetshin, due to Visa delays.

Valorant Masters Toronto begins on June 7. The event features 12 top teams from around the world competing for a $1 million prize. Team Liquid earned their spot at the Masters by finishing third in the VCT EMEA Stage 1. Their first match starts at 8 PM BST against Bilibili Gaming.

However, nAts said he probably won’t make it to Canada in time for the first match. He hopes to arrive later and has asked fans to keep supporting the team.

nAts joined Liquid in November 2022. He began playing Valorant in 2020, after switching from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). He’s known for smart moves and skill with the agent Cypher. Before Liquid, nAts played for Gambit, where he helped the team win Masters Berlin 2021 and finish second at Valorant Champions that year.

Without nAts, Canadian player Erik ‘penny�Penny steps in as a stand-in. Penny has played for Version1 and G2 Esports. He also competes in the Challengers North America league. Penny said he feels excited and will do his best for Team Liquid fans.

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