Updated on June 21, 9:30 a.m. (GMT+8): Paper Rex’s Ilya “something” Petrov has confirmed on Twitter he will not be able to attend the remainder of VCT masters Tokyo.
Paper Rex has made roster changes to their Valorant team before Masters Tokyo, to take place from June 11 to 25.
The Singapore-based esports organization announced on June 4 that they have benched Benedict “Benkai” Tan.
Making his move to the team’s active roster is Ilia “something” Petrov, who left the VCT Japan Challengers scene to join the organization for the inaugural VCT Pacific League.
Something made his debut in Week 4 of the regular season, and since then, the team has been on a seven series win streak since he joined the starting lineup.
Paper Rex makes pivotal roster change ahead of Masters Tokyo
PRX tweeted about their plans for the remainder of the VCT 2023 season, explaining why they made a roster change.
“Paper Rex’s initial idea was to have rotating roles and agent compositions for different maps — an exercise to experiment and promote creativity,” said the organization.
“Over the course of the VCT Pacific league, PRX decided that roster stability was more crucial to successful outcomes, a thought echoed by our coach Alexandre “alecks” Sallé,” the organization continued. “The team realized that other teams in the league were improving faster with each passing week, and it was challenging to rotate more than 6 players into meaningful training and valuable practice time.”
Benkai has been with PRX since February 7, 2021, when the organization moved its CS:GO division to Valorant.
As the team’s captain and in-game leader, he successfully led PRX to qualify for four major global Valorant LAN events: Masters Berlin in 2021, Masters Reykjavik and Copenhagen in 2022, and Valorant Champions in 2022.
In addition to Benkai moving to the bench, PRX also stated that they are preparing for a scenario where the team plays at Masters Tokyo with substitute Patiphan “CGRS” Posri instead, for there is a chance that something might not be able to compete in the early part of Masters Tokyo with his Japan visa applications still being processed.
Paper Rex’s Valorant roster
- Khalish “d4v41” Rusyaidee
- Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto
- Aaron “mindfreak” Leonhart
- Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie
- Ilya “something” Petrov
- Patiphan “CigaretteS” Posri (substitute)
- Benedict “Benkai” Tan (bench)
- Alexandre “alecks” Sallé (coach)
PRX qualified for Masters Tokyo after they defeated T1 2-0 in the upper bracket semifinals on May 20. They went on to win the championship after defeating Korean powerhouse team DRX in the grand final with a 3-2 reverse sweep.
Aside from taking home the inaugural VCT Pacific trophy, PRX secured a spot in Masters Tokyo’s playoff.
PRX will compete in the upper bracket quarterfinals of Masters Tokyo, which is scheduled to take place on June 16 and 17 alongside the top eight teams in the tournament.
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