The grand final of VALORANT Masters Santiago has concluded with Nongshim RedForce being crowned as champions. In a show of dominance and class, Nongshim RedForce defeated Paper Rex 3–0. Here’s what went down in the final of VALORANT Masters Santiago.
The story of Nongshim RedForce is one to remember, as they were a team that qualified for VALORANT Challengers League (VCL) Korea through Premier in 2024. They went on to win VCL Korea and become the champions of VCT Pacific Ascension 2024 and 2025. The victory during VCT Pacific Ascension 2025 helped them get a spot in VCT Pacific during the VCT 2026 season.
Going into this match, Paper Rex has had their ups and downs but recently found their footing to qualify for the final through the lower bracket. On the other side, Nongshim RedForce were on a seven-game winning streak while being undefeated in the VCT 2026 season.
In our preview for the match, we stated that our pick for the winner would be Nongshim RedForce. The reason for this was the team’s ability to be chaotic on attack and methodical on defense.
The first map of the grand final was Corrode. This was a close affair with Paper Rex taking the initial lead, but Nongshim RedForce secured the map 13–11.
The second map was played on Split. Prior to this map, Paper Rex were undefeated on it this season. Nongshim RedForce, during their defensive half, shut down the chaos-driven Paper Rex and took nine rounds on defense.
They followed this up by winning four rounds on attack and securing the map 13–4. Park “Ivy” Sung-hyeon came up clutch for his team, having a KDA of 19/8/2 and even securing an ace under his belt.
Image source: Riot Games
The last map of this series was played on Abyss. At this point, Nongshim RedForce had won two maps already, and we could see that the mentality of Paper Rex was down and out.
Nongshim RedForce shocked the world once again by shutting down Paper Rex on defense, leading 10–2 in the first half.
At this point, Xross had a KDA of 16/3/2, something which is unseen against Paper Rex.
After Paper Rex got the first round in the second half, it was the curtain call for this match. Nongshim RedForce went on to win the next three rounds in a row and be crowned as champions.
With this result, four VCT Pacific Teams have won a VALORANT Masters Trophy back-to-back. It does feel like this era of VALORANT esports has been the Pacific show. With this trophy, Nongshim RedForce becomes the third Korean team to become a VALORANT Masters winner.
Featured image source: Riot Games
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