The Singaporean player will not be a part of Paper Rex’s active lineup moving forward, including their next two international campaigns in Tokyo and LA.
SINGAPORE – Benedict “Benkai” Tan has been moved to the bench of Paper Rex, the Singaporean organization has announced. The 26-year-old will no longer be an active member of their team for the upcoming VALORANT Masters Tokyo and Champions Los Angeles.
Over the course of the VCT Pacific league, Paper Rex decided that roster stability was more crucial to successful outcomes, a thought echoed by coach Alexandre “alecks” Sallé in a recent interview with VALORANT Esports Philippines. In a press statement, the team acknowledged the rapid improvement of other teams in the league week after week, making it challenging to rotate more than six players effectively for meaningful training and valuable practice time.
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This decision marks the end of a long-standing partnership between Benkai and Paper Rex, which began when he joined the active roster in June 2020. Together, they dominated the Southeast Asian scene, securing victories in the 2022 VCT APAC Challengers Stage One and Two, during which they only dropped a series, and qualifying for the Masters Reykjavík and Copenhagen.
Paper Rex are also making preparations for a scenario where Patiphan “CGRS” Posri would substitute for Ilia “something” Petrov. The organization has identified a potential situation where something may be unable to compete in the initial phase of the 2023 VCT Masters Tokyo due to the ongoing processing of his Japan visa applications.
However, Paper Rex are hoping to play with its complete roster and is working tirelessly to expedite his travel documents. The management has been working closely with all the relevant authorities, including Riot Games in Korea and Japan, to help expedite the process. Paper Rex is hopeful that Ilia will join the team for the later part of the tournament, should the team make it deep into the playoffs.
The team’s next tournaments will be VALORANT Masters Tokyo this month, followed by VALORANT Champions in August.
Paper Rex’s lineup is as follows:
- 🇲🇾 Khalish “d4v41” Rusyaidee
- 🇮🇩 Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto
- 🇮🇩 Aaron “mindfreak” Leonhart
- 🇸🇬 Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie
- 🇷🇺 Ilia “something” Petrov
- 🇹🇭 Patiphan “CGRS” Posri (Substitute)
- 🇸🇬 Benedict “Benkai” Tan (Benched)
- 🇫🇷 Alexandre “alecks” Sallé (Head coach)
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Cover photo courtesy of Lance Skundrich/Riot Games
