Photo byColin Young-Wolff via Riot Games
Paper Rex’s VALORANT division has once again returned to the international stage as Asia-Pacific’s representatives at VALORANT Champions. But Aaron “Mindfreak” Leonhart believes the team aren’t as well-prepared as they were for the previous event and shouldn’t be considered a favorite.
In their opening game of VALORANT Champions, Paper Rex defeated EDward Gaming, though it wasn’t convincing. Mindfreak doesn’t see his squad as the front-runners for the title this time. “I’m not sure if we are a favorite,” he said in an interview with Nerd Street. That opinion might be surprising for some since the squad claimed second place at VCT Masters Copenhagen after narrowly losing to FPX in the finals in July.
Paper Rex’s controller player admitted the squad aren’t playing as well as they were back in Denmark due to a packed schedule and lack of practice. “Today, we just felt out of practice. We aren’t playing as well as we were back in Copenhagen,” he said.
After Masters Copenhagen, Paper Rex took a two-week break and then immediately went into a 10-day bootcamp, which didn’t leave them much time for in-depth practice. Mindfreak sees this as a major reason behind their form. “We actually didn’t expect to win today because of our lack of practice because we didn’t have as much time.”
Following their victory against EDG, Paper Rex will play in the Winners’ match of Group A against Leviatán, who surprisingly beat Team Liquid in their opening game of the event. The series is scheduled to take place today at 1pm CT.