VALORANT Champions Shanghai playoffs hit Day 3 on Friday October 9 with the first lower-bracket elimination matches, and the opener produced a huge comeback. T1 beat Paper Rex 2-1, finishing Summit 13-11 after trailing 3-10, which ends the season for one of Pacific's two big international names. The second Lower Round 1 series, 100 Thieves vs Nongshim RedForce, went to a decider and ended 100 Thieves 2-1 after Ascent finished 13-1. Nongshim are out.
Every score, veto and stat line below comes from the VLR.gg T1 vs Paper Rex match page, the VLR.gg 100 Thieves vs Nongshim match page, VLR's T1 comeback recap and the VLR.gg playoff bracket. Round-by-round detail is read from VLR's round log for each map. Patch 13.05. Where a number comes from a written recap instead of the match page, it is labeled.
If you are catching up, our Day 1 recap covers NRG 2-0 T1 and LOUD 2-0 Paper Rex, and our Day 2 recap covers G2 2-0 100 Thieves and Vitality 2-1 Nongshim. Draw logic and format are in the bracket preview.
Day 3 at a Glance
- Lower Round 1, Match 1 (4:00 AM CT): T1 2-1 Paper Rex. Lotus 13-7, Ascent 6-13, Summit 13-11.
- Lower Round 1, Match 2 (listed 7:10 AM CT on VLR): 100 Thieves 2-1 Nongshim. Summit 13-5, Sunset 9-13, Ascent 13-1. 100T move to Lower Round 2.
- Paper Rex are out. They finish 7th-8th and take home $50,000 from the $2,250,000 prize pool, per VLR's prize table.
- T1 are guaranteed more. Lower Round 2 losers sit in the 5th-6th row of VLR's prize table ($85,000), so T1 have locked at least that.
- Pacific's count: Paper Rex are gone, and Nongshim are also out (7th-8th), so T1 are Pacific's last team standing.
T1 2-1 Paper Rex: Seven Straight Rounds on Summit
Series scoreboard
Series: T1 2-1 Paper Rex. Aggregate rounds: T1 32, Paper Rex 31. That is as close as a best-of-three gets. VLR's recap notes the head-to-head over the last seven meetings was 4-3 to Paper Rex before this one, so the series is now level at 4-4. Paper Rex reached two international grand finals this year, which is why their exit here lands harder than a normal lower-bracket loss.
Veto
Per VLR.gg: T1 banned Split, Paper Rex banned Abyss, T1 picked Lotus, Paper Rex picked Ascent, T1 banned Haven, Paper Rex banned Sunset, and Summit remained as the decider, a map where Paper Rex came in unbeaten and T1 came in winless, per VLR's recap.
Lotus: T1 13-7
Lotus was T1's strongest map by far, but it came in a bit fractured after their loss to NRG on Wednesday. VLR's recap says T1 stayed on its Omen-Viper look, with BuZz on Neon and Meteor on Chamber (the match page lists stax on Omen, Munchkin on Viper, iZu on Fade). Paper Rex ran their Yoru-Raze double-Duelist comp, with veteran d4v41 on Vyse.
Paper Rex took both pistols on the map, and VLR's round log shows them up 2-0 before T1 won four in a row to flip it to 4-2. T1 led 8-4 at the half and finished the map 13-7. The recap credits T1's extended runs in heated rounds and a full eco win in the second half that wiped out a chance for Paper Rex to chip back. Meteor's sharp shooting on defense got a specific mention, and Munchkin closed the map with a four-kill round. By the numbers on VLR's match page, Munchkin posted 18/8/8 with a 1.58 rating on Lotus and Meteor went 20/14/6.
Ascent: Paper Rex 13-6
Ascent has been Paper Rex's most experimented-with map in Pacific Stage 2. VLR's recap notes looks with Miks, Killjoy and Harbor all showing up in recent months, and the constants being something and invy on Sova. The match page shows this time they ran invy on Sova, something on Yoru, f0rsakeN on Omen, Jinggg on Sage and d4v41 on Chamber.
invy opened the map with an ace on the pistol as part of a 7/0 start for him, per VLR's recap. T1 had a three-round run to get back to 4-4 in the round log, but then Paper Rex won seven in a row to go up 11-4 and walked to a 13-6 finish. Half was 8-4 to Paper Rex. The recap says T1's Sage usage looked much more polished on this map, even though the result was unchanged.
On VLR's map sheet, invy had the best line: 19/8/7, a 1.75 rating. something had a map-high 24 kills and a monster 366 ACS as the lone Duelist.
Summit: the 3-10 comeback
Summit was a map both teams had been waiting for, for different reasons. VLR's recap says Paper Rex entered with no losses on Summit and T1 entered with no wins. T1 went with Chamber and Sage, a look that VLR calls disappointing against FUT Esports in the group stage. Paper Rex fielded a solo Sage, double Controller comp, and something played Neon, an agent the team has struggled to figure out all year.
The round log tells the story.
- Rounds 1 to 2: Paper Rex win the pistol and the follow-up round to go up 2-0. This was their fifth pistol of the series.
- Rounds 3 to 4: T1 win two, making it 2-2.
- Rounds 5 to 11: Paper Rex win seven straight to go up 9-2. VLR's recap says a thrifty win snowballed into a dominant attack half. T1 take round 12 to close the half at 3-9.
- Round 13: Paper Rex win the second-half pistol, their sixth of six in the series, making it 10-3. VLR's recap highlights a d4v41 1v3 on this map, with his signature celebration.
- Rounds 14 to 16: T1 win three to get to 6-10.
- Round 17: Paper Rex go up 11-6. This is the last round they win.
- Rounds 18 to 24: T1 win seven straight. 7-11, 8-11, 9-11, 10-11, 11-11, 12-11, 13-11.
On the map sheet, iZu went 25/16/7 with a 1.52 rating on Summit and 290 ACS. Jinggg was just ahead on rating for Paper Rex at 1.55 with 23/16/11. T1's Meteor had a rough closing map at 13/21/4, which makes the comeback more notable.
Series stats (VLR.gg overall)
iZu led T1 with 52 kills, Meteor was second at 50, and BuZz took on the opener role with 21 first interactions, winning 10 of them (10 FK and 11 FD). something led all players with 54 kills in the losing effort.
One data note. VLR's written recap quotes different series ratings than the match page's overall column: it lists Munchkin at 1.20 as T1's top rating, and something at 1.24 and invy at 1.22 for Paper Rex. The match page shows Munchkin 1.10, something 1.08 and invy 1.07, with iZu 1.15 and Jinggg 1.11 on top. We use the match page everywhere in this guide. The kill totals match in both places.
What it means for T1 and Paper Rex
For T1, the story is how they got here: a group-stage win over FUT to steal the last playoff spot, a 2-0 loss to NRG on Day 1, and now a win over a team with two international finals. They stay alive and wait in the lower bracket for the loser of G2 vs Vitality. That is a tough pull. Either a North American team that swept 100 Thieves or the top EMEA seed coming off a three-map war.
For Paper Rex, the season ends at 7th-8th. Their pistol record (six for six) and an Ascent that looked like a world-beater are the part you remember. They lost the series on a map where they led by seven rounds. VLR's recap describes Paper Rex as "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory," and that is hard to argue with.
If watching a comeback like that has you itching to grind your own ranked, AccountShark keeps Valorant account listings for players who want a fresh start at a higher rank.
100 Thieves vs Nongshim RedForce
Series scoreboard
Series: 100 Thieves 2-1 Nongshim RedForce. Aggregate rounds: 100 Thieves 35, Nongshim 19.
Veto
Per VLR.gg: 100T banned Abyss, Nongshim banned Lotus, 100T picked Summit, Nongshim picked Sunset, 100T banned Split, Nongshim banned Haven, and Ascent remained as the decider.
Summit: 100 Thieves 13-5
Summit was 100T's pick and it played like one. VLR's round log has 100T up 3-0 to open, Nongshim winning round 4, and then 100T working to a 9-3 lead at the half. Nongshim took the second-half pistol to make it 9-4 and won the next round too (9-5), but 100 Thieves then won four rounds in a row to close 13-5. The map took 1:01:34, the longest of the series.
On VLR's map sheet, bang had the best line at 18/10/15 with a 1.63 rating on Harbor, and Asuna was right behind on Sage at 18/10/10 and 1.54. Cryocells went 17/10/2 on Chamber.
Sunset: Nongshim 13-9
Sunset was Nongshim's pick, and 100T started well. By round 8 they led 6-2 after winning both opening pistol-bonus rounds. Nongshim then won four straight to tie the half at 6-6. 100T took the second-half pistol and the round after it (8-6), Nongshim got one back (8-7), and 100T went up 9-7. That was the last round 100T won on the map: Nongshim took six straight, rounds 17 through 22, for a 13-9 win.
Rb was the story on the Nongshim side with an 18/13/9 line and a 1.34 rating on Omen, with Francis at 18/13/3 and 1.31 on Yoru. For 100T, Cryocells went 19/14/2 on Chamber and posted a 1.03 rating.
Ascent: 100 Thieves 13-1
The decider was the shortest map of the series at 29:10, and it was not close. VLR's round log shows 100T winning the first seven rounds, Nongshim getting a single round (7-1), and then 100T winning the next six to finish 13-1. The half-time score was 11-1. According to the map's starting lineup on VLR, 100T ran Phoenix, Omen, Cypher, Sova and Jett, and Nongshim ran Omen, Neon, Chamber, Sage and Sova.
Cryocells was the best player on the server by a distance: 20/3/9 with a 2.12 rating, 335 ACS and 100% KAST on Cypher. Timotino had 14/8/6 with 304 ACS on Jett, and Asuna went 13/4/9. On the Nongshim side, Francis led with 12 kills, and nobody else had more than five.
Series stats (VLR.gg)
Cryocells led the series with 56 kills and a 1.41 rating. 100 Thieves also won 5 of 6 pistol rounds by VLR's round log (they lost only the Summit second-half pistol), which matters in a series where Nongshim had the better Sunset half but could not carry it onto Ascent. Dambi's 10 first kills against 15 first deaths is a good short summary of Nongshim's series: lots of early contact and not enough wins from it.
VLR had not yet published a written recap or press-room quotes for this series when we wrote this section, so everything here comes from the match page and its round log.
Updated Bracket: Who Plays Whom
Times are from the VLR.gg playoff bracket, which stores each match as a timestamp. The Central Time and Shanghai columns are our conversions (Shanghai is 13 hours ahead of CDT). The Lower Round 2 pairings below are confirmed by the bracket page except where marked.
Upper semifinals (Saturday October 10)
- NRG vs LOUD, 4:00 AM CT. Day 1 winners meet. NRG are the reigning champions, and LOUD swept Paper Rex on Wednesday.
- G2 vs Vitality, 7:00 AM CT. G2 swept 100 Thieves, Vitality survived Nongshim on a Haven overtime. The winner goes to the Upper Final. The loser drops to play T1.
Lower Round 2 (Sunday October 11)
- 4:00 AM CT: 100 Thieves vs the loser of NRG vs LOUD. VLR's bracket now prints 100T in this slot. The NRG/LOUD loser filling the other side is our reading of the bracket structure, since the page shows it as TBD.
- 7:00 AM CT: T1 vs the loser of G2 vs Vitality. VLR's bracket page prints T1 in this slot, and the T1 recap says they await the losing team between G2 and Vitality.
Finals weekend
Lower Round 3 and the Upper Final are both on Friday October 16 (CT). The Lower Final is a best-of-five on Saturday October 17, and the Grand Final is a best-of-five on Sunday October 18 at 1:00 AM CT, which is 2:00 PM in Shanghai. The finals are scheduled for the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, per the schedule we cited in earlier posts, and the prize pool is $2,250,000.
How to Watch
Playoff matches stream on the official VALORANT Champions Tour channels, and VLR.gg links regional co-streams from each match page. For Central Time alarms, Saturday's upper semifinals run 4:00 AM CT and 7:00 AM CT, and Sunday's lower round 2 repeats that pattern.
What Friday Means Going Into Saturday
The Pacific situation got simple. Paper Rex and Nongshim are both out, and T1 are the last Pacific team alive, facing one of G2 or Vitality. Americas keep three teams in the upper bracket (NRG, LOUD and G2) plus 100 Thieves in the lower, while Vitality carries EMEA's last upper-bracket life.
For Saturday, NRG vs LOUD is the more interesting Americas-internal fight and G2 vs Vitality is the stylistic one. The loser of NRG vs LOUD drops into a Lower Round 2 match against 100 Thieves, and the loser of G2 vs Vitality plays a T1 team that just proved it can win from nine rounds down.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won T1 vs Paper Rex at Valorant Champions Shanghai?
T1 beat Paper Rex 2-1 on October 9 in Lower Round 1. T1 won Lotus 13-7, Paper Rex won Ascent 13-6, and T1 won Summit 13-11 after trailing 3-10. VLR.gg is the source for all three scores.
How did T1 come back from 3-10 on Summit?
According to VLR's round log, Paper Rex led 10-3 and later 11-6. T1 then won the last seven rounds in a row, from 6-11 to 13-11. VLR's recap describes the comeback as slow, disciplined defense-breaking with several flawless rounds and strong post-plants.
Who is eliminated from Valorant Champions 2026 after Day 3?
Paper Rex are eliminated and finish 7th-8th for $50,000. Nongshim RedForce are the second team out, also 7th-8th for $50,000, after losing to 100 Thieves 2-1.
Who does T1 play next?
T1 play the loser of G2 vs Vitality in Lower Round 2. VLR lists that match for Sunday October 11 at 7:00 AM CT.
What is the result of 100 Thieves vs Nongshim?
100 Thieves won 2-1. Summit finished 13-5 for 100T, Sunset finished 9-13 for Nongshim, and Ascent finished 13-1 for 100T. All three scores are from the [VLR.gg match page]({NS_MATCH}). 100T move to Lower Round 2 and Nongshim are eliminated.
When are the upper semifinals?
NRG vs LOUD is listed for Saturday October 10 at 4:00 AM CT, and G2 vs Vitality for 7:00 AM CT, per VLR.gg.
When is the Valorant Champions 2026 grand final?
VLR lists the Grand Final for Sunday October 18 at 1:00 AM CT, which is 2:00 PM in Shanghai. It is a best-of-five, scheduled for the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai.
Who had the best stats in T1 vs Paper Rex?
On the VLR.gg match page, iZu led T1 with 52 kills and a 1.15 rating, and something led all players with 54 kills. Jinggg had the top rating for Paper Rex at 1.11. VLR's recap quotes slightly different ratings, so we use the match page.
What time are the matches in Central Time?
VLR's bracket lists Friday's openers at 4:00 AM CT and 7:10 AM CT, and Saturday's upper semifinals at 4:00 AM CT and 7:00 AM CT. Shanghai is 13 hours ahead of CDT.
Where can I read the earlier days of the playoffs?
Our Day 1 recap covers NRG 2-0 T1 and LOUD 2-0 Paper Rex. Our Day 2 recap covers G2 2-0 100 Thieves and Vitality 2-1 Nongshim.
Final Take
T1 are the story of Friday. They lost to NRG on Wednesday, then took out a team with two international finals by winning the last seven rounds on a map they had never won. Paper Rex's exit is a reminder that pistols and early leads do not close series in this format.
100 Thieves needed a decider and then barely let Nongshim touch Ascent. They finished the map 13-1, with Cryocells posting a 2.12 rating, and head into Sunday against whoever drops from NRG vs LOUD. Nongshim's season ends 7th-8th.
Saturday is the card: NRG vs LOUD at 4:00 AM CT and G2 vs Vitality at 7:00 AM CT. Set the alarms.
Buy or sell Valorant accounts?
Browse available Valorant accounts from screened sellers.
