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.

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. The team uses the Dreamcore Dream Centre, a esports, entertainment hub, and retail store located in Singapore, to house their training centre and management staff.

''Valorant''

History

Paper Rex moved into ''Valorant'' with their first roster on 20 July 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 5 February.

On 8 February, 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.

On 20 May 2021, Paper Rex announced the departure of Tommy. On 21 May 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.

On 28 September 2021, Paper Rex announced the signing of Wang "Jinggg" Jing Jie, moving shiba to a substitute position due to his compulsory military service.

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. 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. Paper Rex qualified for Valorant Champions 2022 in Istanbul, Turkey but would fail to get out of group stage and placed 9th – 12th. On 21 September 2022, Riot Games announced that Paper Rex were selected to be one of the 30 franchise teams for VCT 2023. PRX won the Valorant India Invitational 2022.

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.

Paper Rex qualified for Masters Tokyo and Champions Los Angeles after taking down T1 on 20 May 2023 in the upper semi-finals. The team then went on to win VCT Pacific on 28 May 2023, beating DRX 3-2 with a reverse sweep. 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.

During VCT Masters Tokyo 2023, the team had to call upon their substitute player Patiphan "CGRS" Posri as Ilya "Something" Petrov was unable to secure a visa to participate in the tournament. The team achieved third place despite not having their usual roster, falling to Evil Geniuses in the lower finals (3-2).

The team attended 2023 Valorant Champions with their full roster, and managed to attain 2nd place, after falling to Evil Geniuses in the grand finals (3-1).

During the aforementioned Champions event, after Paper Rex's 2-1 victory over LOUD, Round Up Gamers interviewed Coach Alex "alecks" Salle, who revealed that Wang "Jinggg" Jing Jie would be departing the roster for the 2024 Season due to his compulsory military service. He was subsequently moved to the substitute position following the conclusion of Champions.

On 11 September 2023, Paper Rex announced via social media that Patiphan "CGRS" Posri did not renew his contract and would be 'departing Paper Rex to pursue new endeavors'. On 16 September, just 5 days after the announcement of CGRS' departure, Paper Rex announced the addition of Cahya "monyet" Nugraha to the Valorant team to replace Jinggg, who will not be able to compete in 2024 to serve National service in Singapore. On the same day, Paper Rex also announced the departure of Benkai.

Roster

Achievements

Listed below are Paper Rex's Valorant Team's Achievements.

2020

* TheGym Singapore Invitational: 2nd Place
* First Strike Malaysia & Singapore: 1st - 4th Place (Qualifiers); 7th - 8th Place (Playoffs)

2021

* eFire Master League #1 Asia: 1st Place
* Champions Tour Malaysia & Singapore Stage 1: Challengers 2: 1st - 4th Place (Qualifiers); 4th Place (Playoffs)
* Champions Tour Malaysia & Singapore Stage 1: Challengers 3: 4th Place (Playoffs)
* Champions Tour Malaysia & Singapore Stage 2: Challengers 1: 1st - 4th Place (Qualifiers); 2nd Place (Main Event)
* Champions Tour Malaysia & Singapore Stage 2: Challengers 2: 1st Place (Main Event)
* Champions Tour Malaysia & Singapore Stage 2: Challengers 3: 1st Place (Main Event)
* Champions Tour SEA Stage 2: Challengers Finals: 3rd Place
* KJC eSports VALORANT Tournament: One: 1st Place (Singapore Qualifiers); 2nd Place (Playoffs)
* VALO2ASIA Invitational: 3rd - 4th Place
* Champions Tour Malaysia & Singapore Stage 3: Challengers 1: 1st Place (Main Event)
* Champions Tour Malaysia & Singapore Stage 3: Challengers 2: 2nd Place (Main Event)
* Champions Tour Malaysia & Singapore Stage 3: Challengers 3: 1st Place (Main Event)
* Champions Tour SEA Stage 3: Challengers Playoffs: 1st - 4th Place (Group Stage); 2nd Place (Playoffs)
* KJC eSports VALORANT Invitational: 1st Place (Playoffs)
* Royal SEA Challenge: 1st - 2nd Place (Group Stage); 3rd - 4th Place (Playoffs)
* The Esports Club Showdown: 1st Place

2022

* Champions Tour Malaysia & Singapore Stage 1: Challengers: 1st Place (Playoffs)
* Champions Tour Asia-Pacific Stage 1: Challengers Playoffs: 1st Place (Knockouts)
* Valorant Champions Tour Stage 1: Masters Reykjavík: 4th Place (Playoffs)
* Champions Tour Malaysia & Singapore Stage 2: Challengers: 1st Place (Group Stage); 1st Place (Playoffs)
* Champions Tour Asia-Pacific Stage 2: Challengers Playoffs: 1st Place (Playoffs)
* Valorant Champions Tour Stage 2: Masters Copenhagen: 2nd Place (Playoffs)
* 2022 Valorant Champions: 9th - 12th Place (Group Stage)
* Valorant India Invitational by Galaxy Racer: 1st - 2nd Place (Group Stage); 1st Place (Playoffs)

2023

* Champions Tour 2023: Pacific League: 2nd Place (League Play); 1st Place (Playoffs)
* Champions Tour 2023: Masters Tokyo: 3rd Place (Playoffs)
* 2023 Valorant Champions: 2nd Place (Playoffs)

Sponsors

Paper Rex has 5 sponsors.

* YOU•C1000 which is their main sponsor and their beverage sponsor.
* HyperX (owned by HP) which is their peripheral sponsor.
* Dreamcore which is their performance sponsor.
* ZOWIE (owned by BenQ) which is their monitor sponsor.
* Secretlab which is their gaming chair sponsor.

References

{{reflist

Esports teams established in 2020
Esports teams based in Singapore
Valorant teams
2020 establishments in Singapore
Defunct and inactive Counter-Strike teams