Leslie “Bulb” Soen has rejoined Paper Rex to bolster their coaching staff, splitting skipper duties with Alexandre “alecks” Sallé.
SINGAPORE – Paper Rex have announced a new addition to their backroom team: Leslie “Bulb” Soen, who will be returning to the organization he represented as a player in 2020 now taking on the Assistant Coach role. The move was made public during the VCT Pacific Stage 2 broadcast before their game against DRX in the Regular Season, with Bulb already having arrived in Seoul.
Bulb (formerly Bobosaur) will be working closely with a familiar face, having teamed up with Alexandre “alecks” Sallé during their tenure under the B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape banner in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive from 2018 to 2020.
Stepping into his new role, Bulb brings extensive experience from his tenure with Singapore’s premier Counter-Strike team, where he competed in a number of tier-one events in the past including IEM Sydney 2019, IEM Shanghai 2018, and eXTREMESLAND 2018 & 2019.
In addition, Bulb is no stranger to the Paper Rex organization or some of the players either, having spent four months in the initial phase of Paper Rex CS:GO with alecks, Aaron “mindfreak” Leonhart and Khalish “d4v41” Rusyaidee before Benedict “Benkai” Tan came into the picture. Bulb will now be working with a different iteration of the lineup in a different FPS title.
With the newest addition to Paper Rex’s backbone, the Southeast Asian powerhouse will be hoping to improve on their results, particularly in international events following their recent 5th-6th place finish at the VALORANT Masters Shanghai.
In a post-match interview with VALORANT Esports Thailand, alecks mentioned that Bulb will be working in tandem with him to “give alternative viewpoints” as he has competitive experience as well. “He knows what he needs to do, and he’s got a personality type where he is very calm, and I want that around the boys. He’s very calm, he doesn’t get nervous, and I want him to bring a winning mindset into the team.”
Their next challenge will be qualifying for VALORANT Champions Seoul by either accumulating more Championship Points or making a top-three finish in Stage 2.
With the addition of Bulb, Paper Rex now have:
- 🇮🇩 Aaron “mindfreak” Leonhart
- 🇷🇺 Ilia “something” Petrov
- 🇮🇩 Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto
- 🇸🇬 Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie
- 🇲🇾 Khalish “d4v41” Rusyaidee
- 🇫🇷 Alexandre “alecks” Salle (Coach)
- 🇸🇬 Leslie “Bulb” Soen (Assistant Coach)
(Photo courtesy of Paper Rex)
For more insights on the Asian VALORANT scene and upcoming content like this, be sure to like and follow VALO2ASIA on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.
Cover photo courtesy of VALO2ASIA
