Paper Rex
Paper Rex is a Singaporean esports organization based in Singapore. The organization was co-founded in January 2020 by Harley "dsn" Örwall and Nikhil "nikH" Hathiramani. The organisation is mainly known for their Valorant division, being announced as one of the pioneer franchises in Valorant's premier competition, VCT 2023.[1]
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Industry | Esports |
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Founded | 2020 |
Founders | Harley Örwall |
Headquarters | Singapore |
Website | www |
History
Paper Rex was founded in January 2020 by Harley "dsn" Örwall, an ex-professional Counter-Strike player and Nikhil "nikH" Hathiramani, the founder and chief editor of CSGO2ASIA.[2] The team uses the Dreamcore Dream Centre, a 10,000 sq ft (930 m2) esports, entertainment hub, and retail store located in Singapore, to house their training centre and management staff.[3]
Valorant
History
Paper Rex moved into Valorant with their first roster on July 20, 2020, acquiring members of the Singaporean team Vindicta. The team would undergo multiple roster changes before letting go of every player, with the last two players being benched on February 5.
On February 8, Paper Rex started their 2021 season by announcing the move of their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster into Valorant, a team consisting of Kumaresan "Tommy" Ramani, Aaron "mindfreak" Leonhart, Jason "f0rsakeN" Susanto, Benedict "Benkai" Tan, Jorell "Retla" Teo and Khalish "d4v41" Rusyaidee and Alex "alecks" Salle as their coach.[4]
On May 20, 2021, Paper Rex announced the departure of Tommy. On May 21, 2021, just a day later, Paper Rex announced the signing of Zhan Teng "shiba" Toh. Paper Rex would go on to place 2nd in the Southeast Asia Stage 3 Challengers Playoffs, qualifying for VCT Masters 2 Berlin and placing 13th – 15th.[5]
On September 28, 2021, Paper Rex announced the signing of Wang "Jinggg" Jing Jie, moving shiba to a substitute position due to his compulsory military service.[6]
They started the 2022 season by placing 1st in MY/SG Stage 1 Challengers and the APAC Stage 1 Challengers, qualifying for Masters Reykjavík as the top seeded team for the APAC region, where they placed 4th, their then-record high placing in an international event.[7][8] Paper Rex would go on to repeat their domestic record in the next stage, placing 1st for MY/SG Stage 2 Challengers and APAC Stage 2 Challengers. This qualified them for Masters Copenhagen, where they placed 2nd behind FunPlus Phoenix, and were the first Asian (and APAC) team to reach the Grand Finals, surpassing their previous achievement and recording their highest placing in an international event thus far.[9][10] Paper Rex qualified for Valorant Champions 2022[11] in Istanbul, Turkey but would fail to get out of group stage and placed 13th – 15th.[12] On September 21, 2022, Riot Games announced that Paper Rex were selected to be one of the 30 franchise teams for VCT 2023.[13][14] PRX won the Valorant India Invitational 2022.[15]
On 22 March 2023, midway through the VCT Pacific season in Seoul, Paper Rex signed Ilya "something" Petrov, a Russian player who previously played for Sengoku Gaming.[16]
Paper Rex qualified for Masters Tokyo and Champions Los Angeles after taking down T1 on May 20, 2023 in the upper semi-finals. The team then head on to win the tournament on May 28, 2023, taking down DRX 3-2 with a reverse sweep.[17] Shortly after finishing first in the VCT Pacific League championship, Paper Rex announced their decision to make newly signed player Iylia "something" Petrov permanent by moving their In-Game Leader, Benedict "Benkai" Tan, to an inactive position on the roster.[18]
Due to Ilya "Something" Petrov being unable to get a visa to play in Tokyo, the team called upon their substitute player Patiphan "CGRS" Posri to take his place. Even though they played without their full roster, they managed to achieve third place falling to Evil Geniuses in the lower finals (3-2). [19][20]
Roster
Paper Rex Valorant roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Players | Coaches | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Alexandre "alecks" Sallé | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Legend:
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Roster updated September 16, 2023. |
Sponsors
Paper Rex has 5 sponsors.[21]
References
- Galindo, Daryll. "Riot Announces Franchise Teams For 2023 VALORANT Regional Leagues". esports.inquirer.net. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
- Rex, Paper. "Paper Rex | About | Paper Rex Esports". Paper Rex. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
- "Watch Your PC Get Assembled at this Massive Dream Centre | TechieLobang". December 21, 2021. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
- "Jason "f0rsakeN" dan Mindfreak Pindah ke Paper Rex Valorant!". SPIN (in Indonesian). February 8, 2021. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
- "VALORANT: Southeast Asia's Paper Rex make early exit from VCT Masters Berlin". malaysia.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
- "Paper Rex replaces Shiba with Jinggg before VCT APAC Last Chance Qualifier | ONE Esports". www.oneesports.gg. September 29, 2021. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
- "VALORANT Esports". valorantesports.com. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
- Robertson, Scott (March 29, 2022). "Riot reveals VCT Masters Reykjavík 2022 format, awards playoff spots to G2, The Guard, Paper Rex, and top seed of Brazil vs. LATAM playoff winner". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
- "Paper Rex make history as the first APAC team to reach a Masters grand final | ONE Esports". www.oneesports.gg. July 23, 2022. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
- Manske, Nadine (July 22, 2022). "Paper Rex book tickets to VCT Masters Copenhagen grand final after dismantling OpTic". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
- Bahri, Syazwan (August 30, 2022). "Exclusive: Paper Rex Talks About Heading To Istanbul for VALORANT Champions 2022". IGN Southeast Asia. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
- "ZETA DIVISION continue underdog run, eliminate Paper Rex 2–1". Upcomer. April 23, 2022. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
- Appleford, Danny (September 21, 2022). "All VALORANT partnered teams for VCT 2023". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
- Daniels, Tom (September 24, 2022). "Who are the VALORANT VCT Pacific partner teams?". Esports Insider. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
- Soejatno, Eric (November 21, 2022). "Paper Rex crowned VALORANT India Invitational champions". VALO2ASIA. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- Juandi (March 22, 2023). "Paper Rex unveil something". VALO2ASIA. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
- "Paper Rex seizes inaugural VCT Pacific League championship | ONE Esports". www.oneesports.gg. May 29, 2023. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
- https://twitter.com/pprxteam/status/1665207237177139200
- Robertson, Scott (June 20, 2023). "Paper Rex confirms superstar something's status for rest of VCT Masters Tokyo". Dot Esports. Retrieved August 20, 2023.
- "Evil Geniuses vs. Paper Rex | Champions Tour 2023: Masters Tokyo | Playoffs | Valorant match". VLR.gg. Retrieved August 20, 2023.
- Rex, Paper. "Paper Rex | Partners | Paper Rex Esports". Paper Rex. Retrieved October 1, 2022.