If there’s anyone from Challengers Philippines who deserves a shot at tier-one, PatMen is one of them.
SOUTH KOREA – Paper Rex have officially signed Patrick “PatMen” Mendoza, a Filipino player previously with ZOL Esports and NAOS Esports competing in the tier-two Challengers Philippines circuit.
Coming as the team’s sixth man, PatMen will join the squad in Seoul in the coming weeks once all logistics and paperwork are finalized, according to the announcement.
“As VALORANT reaches its 5th year, it’s no surprise that the VCT circuit is more competitive than ever, and we must energise and reinvigorate ourselves. An injection of new blood with young eyes brings fresh perspectives to our game. Adding PatMen to the PRX family allows us to widen our experiments with a greater breadth of playstyles,” said Paper Rex Chief Gaming Officer (CGO) Harley “dsn” Örwall.
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(Photo courtesy of Manila Standard)
Results have not been so positive for Paper Rex early this year, as the team failed to qualify for VCT Masters Bangkok, marking their first missed international VALORANT event since Masters Berlin in 2022. To address this, PRX have turned to PatMen.
PatMen has steadily built his reputation since 2021, competing with several top domestic teams. He played for SR Nacague in 2022 before moving to ZOL Esports in 2023 and 2024. Earlier this year, he had a brief stint with NAOS Esports. PatMen was also part of TALON Esports during the pre-partnership era when the organization fielded a roster in Challengers Philippines.
With ZOL Esports, he was a key player in their strong 2024 campaign, where they finished second in Challengers Philippines, narrowly missing out on Ascension Pacific Jakarta. He capped off his time with ZOL by winning the Predator League Philippines title in Cebu, finishing as the second-highest-rated player in the event—only behind Federico “Papi” Evangelista, who now plays for Global Esports.
More recently, during Challengers SEA Split 1 with NAOS Esports, PatMen continued to impress, posting the third-highest ACS (1.19) in the event. He trailed only Anupong “thyy” Preamsak, who has since been promoted to TALON’s main roster, and Xavier “xavi8k” Juan.
PatMen’s addition marks Paper Rex’s return to an extended roster setup, similar to when Ilia “something” Petrov joined in 2023. His arrival also expands PRX’s diverse lineup, which now features players from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Russia, and the Philippines, along with Thai representation through content creator Patiphan “CGRS” Posri.
Looking ahead to the 2025 VCT Pacific Stage 1, Paper Rex are set to compete in Group Alpha alongside DRX, Gen.G, DetonatioN FocusMe, Global Esports, and BOOM Esports. The Regular Season kicks off in two weeks.
Paper Rex are now:
- 🇲🇾 Khalish “d4v41” Rusyaidee
- 🇮🇩 Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto
- 🇮🇩 Aaron “mindfreak” Leonhart
- 🇷🇺 Ilia “something” Petrov
- 🇸🇬 Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie
- 🇵🇭 Patrick “PatMen” Mendoza
- 🇫🇷 Alexandre “alecks” Sallé (Head Coach)
- 🇸🇬 Kumeresan “Tommy” Ramani (Team Manager)
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Cover photo courtesy of Paper Rex
