It took a while but the Paper Rex train finally arrived at an international championship.
W Gaming reigns supreme as the Pacific’s very own Paper Rex faced down EMEA’s Fnatic to become the VALORANT Masters Toronto Champions. This is the ultimate vindication for the team after stumbling twice in international grand finals in 2022 and 2023.
What’s more amazing is that Paper Rex were very much the underdogs coming into Masters Toronto. As the Pacific’s third seed, many expected them to get reasonably far in the tournament until they get knocked out by a first seed team.
That was looking to be true after they lost to the Pacific champions, Gen.G Esports, in the swiss stage. That put Paper Rex in a do-or-die match against EMEA’s Team Liquid, where they scraped out a 2-1 victory. People believed that Paper Rex wouldn’t be so lucky next time, but it turns out they didn’t need luck.
During playoffs, Paper Rex turned into the massive prehistoric monster that they’re named after and tore through the bracket. They 2-0’d America’s first and second seed, G2 Esports and Sentinels. They 2-0’d Worlves Esports, the surprise dark horse from China, as well in winners finals. It seemed like there was nothing stopping the Paper Rex train from becoming the Master Toronto Champions.
Fnatic certainly gave it their best shot. After an initial stumble against Gen.G in the upper bracket quarterfinals, Fnatic basically clawed their way back up to meet Paper Rex in the grand finals. However, the momentum behind the Pacific squad was just too strong.
Every grand finals match was a nailbiter, with both teams reaching double digit rounds, but there were no breaks in the Paper Rex train. Paper Rex would defeat Fnatic 3-1 and win their first international trophy.
A Triumph for Southeast Asia
With Paper Rex becoming the Masters Toronto Champions, this is the third Masters event won in a row by the Pacific. Not only that, this is a boost for SEA VALORANT as the Paper Rex squad is made up of a mixture of Indonesian, Malaysian, Singapore, and Filipino players.
Special mention also has to go to Patrick “PatMen” Mendoza, Paper Rex’s Filipino rookie player. Though he’s classified as a rookie on the professional and international level, he’s been grinding for years in the amateur scene in various third party and Challenger tournaments.
PatMen joined Paper Rex at the start of the season with a lot of scrutiny. He was replacing fan-favorite Alessandro “mindfreak” Leonhart and many were worried that Paper Rex would lose its signature chemistry and playstyle.
Turns out he was a rock-solid addition to the team. Not only was he able to jive with the rest of the players, he could also clutch things out when the need called for it. His presence helped Paper Rex get to that next level to become the Masters Toronto Champions.
Banner photo by Liu YiCun / Riot Games.