Paper Rex Favorites to Win Shanghai? Head Coach Alecks speaks on outside expectations for the team

Alexandre "alecks" Sallé is one of the more tenured coaches operating in VALORANT. Before he became known for his desk-slamming antics and as the head coach of Paper Rex, he played and coached Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competitively since 2015.

Coming off the back of a dominant VCT Pacific Stage 1 performance, Paper Rex hit an early stumbling block in the shape of G2 Esports in their opening match at VCT Masters Shanghai. The team has since bounced back with a clean victory against EDward Gaming to prolong their tournament life in the Lower Bracket.

After their victory in the series, I sat down with Coach alecks to get his thoughts on the team's performance thus far at Shanghai, the sudden return of their star Wang "Jinggg" Jie months after his equally sudden disappearance after Champions 2023, and so much more.

Paper Rex is still finding their stride at VCT Masters Shanghai

"We didn't want to be the team to knock EDG out"

Brutally honest, alecks highlighted the reluctance his roster had to be the executioner for VCT China's final representative at Shanghai.

[Interviewer] I wanted to get your initial thoughts and feelings after this series. The team spoke yesterday on how EDG managed to come away with a win last time in Madrid, so you guys were kind of looking for that rematch. And you managed to get it on their home turf, no less. It must have felt pretty amazing.

I don’t know. I mean, we didn’t want to be the team to knock EDG out, you know? I don’t think anyone wants to be because that’s like a painful thing for them. When I look at them, you know, it looks really like it hurts them, you know. And they’re good friends.

Yeah, I mean, the revenge is great, but I think they’re just like, they’ve been struggling a little bit. I think a lot of pressure. So hopefully, when we next play them - I mean, we play them every event almost - when we next play them, I think it will be a lot better, I think. A closer game.

Alecks also spoke on the adaptations that his team has been doing to accomodate the return of Jinggg.

"I think if we were still running no Duelist, we would still be running KAY/O, because I think it allows f0rsakeN to make a lot more plays, you know. I think he did a lot of self-sacrificing in this event, and I think his stats are showing, you know, we're going to try and fix that ASAP. It's just simply so that we can enable Raze plays better."

[Interviewer] In an earlier interview, I recall f0rsakeN speaking on how he wanted to enable Jinggg a lot more, so he's been shifting to a lot more Initiators. Is that all part of the same game plan, to get Jinggg back in?

Yeah, because I mean, if you haven't played for five months, I mean, for him it must have been like eight months, you know. So, he hasn't played for eight months, and when you come into play, I think it's very important that we get him up and running, you know what I mean?

Because it can really, I think it can make or break your career, you know, if you lose your confidence halfway through. The way we play, you know, you need to have like, ultimate confidence that it's going to work, even if it fails, you know. And we didn't want to be like, running into a situation where he has self-doubt, you know.

So, I think what we did was we tried to enable him as best as we can. So far, I mean, that's what we're doing. I would like to move away from that soon, because I want f0rsakeN to play his game again, you know. He's definitely not playing the way he usually does, which is something we'll be addressing throughout the event, and hopefully by, if we make it to Champions, you know, then we'll be ready.

Bringing back Jinggg

[Interviewer] As I touched on earlier, the main story circling around Paper Rex since Stage 1 has been Jinggg's return. So, as much as we don't want to, of course, it generates a comparison between the roster that you guys had at Kickoff and Madrid, and then now this current iteration with Jinggg returning. Comfort was the main talking point, but was that the defining element that determined your end decision to bring back Jinggg, and swap out Monyet?

I think, yeah, I think, I mean, we've been with Jinggg for three years, you know. And I personally believe that I mis-profiled Cahya (Monyet). I think that he's a way better Controller player than he is a Duelist. But he is not a bad Duelist. It's because he hasn't played for like a year and a half, I think, and then I forced him back on Raze.

The way the game works is like, you need to be constantly playing your agents against scrims so that you understand what's going on and how you can play around the meta. And you know exactly what to do, and because we put him on Raze, it's going to take super long for him to get good at it.

Whereas if I actually tried to make it play a lot more double controller, I think we would have done slightly better in Madrid. Meaning I think we would have given Gen.G a closer fight, or Sentinels a closer fight. Winning depends, because it's a huge shift in playstyle, so I wouldn't know.

So, what I did was just get the Raze player back, the one that's used to the playstyle, so that we don't have to switch so much, because this is the way we wanted to play.

With the upcoming highly-anticipated Raze nerfs coming with patch 8.11, I also asked Alecks on if this decision would have held had he known at the time.

[Interviewer] If Raze isn't the determing Duelist anymore going forwards, as we now hear about the satchel nerfs, does that mean there might be a backtracking of the decision-making that you guys had before? Are you second-doubting yourself now?

Nah, I don't think I can second-guess myself. I think it's the same as in-game. If I second-guess my decisions as coaching, I think you lose respect. You can admit you're wrong, it's different from saying I'm not sure whether I'm right or wrong. But Chaya's in RRQ, so there's no backtracking from there. But I believe good players can switch agents, I think we've proved it. Every one of my players is very, very flexible, I think Jinggg has to learn. He doesn't play KAY/O very well, so I'll find some place for him. Not KAY/O (grinning).

Paper Rex, the Overwhelming Favorites to win Shanghai

"If we want to win a title one day, we would be called favorites [...] Maybe this is the time where we are."

Coming into Shanghai, this is possibly one of the first times that Paper Rex is entering the event as the overwhelming favorites to win everything. With all likelier rivals out of the picture - Sentinels, defending champions, not qualifying; LOUD absent for the first time since 2021, Fnatic no longer in 2023 form - Paper Rex looked the likeliest to lift the Shanghai trophy and their first Masters title.

[Interviewer] Did that add extra pressure onto you guys? Did that shift the team's mentality, sort of, for the first time you guys aren't coming in as slight underdogs, or maybe second, third favorites?

I mean, first of all, we're all very surprised that we're overwhelming favorites. I understand the narrative, but if you look at the way we play, people think that it's just slot Jinggg in. It's like, no, we had five months with a new roster, and we're trying to get here.

Sure, we beat Gen.G in the finals, but that's a different thing. When it's a regional matchup, you're playing a cat-and-mouse game with them in terms of anti-stratting. So, when we came here, we were like, ‘Yo, what the hell is going on? Why is everyone rating us so highly?’

But if we want to win a title, I think one day, we would be called favorites, eventually. And maybe this is the time where we are. I think we just need to learn to deal with it. And about pressure, yeah, there is pressure.

I think everyone says that if we don't win this event, we will never win any event. I don't believe that, but sometimes you read this kind of stuff, and it gets into your head. I think, the G2 game, we didn't start strong. I don't think it was because of pressure. I think it was because they were a lot better than we gave them credit for.

Paper Rex: The Goal for Shanghai

Every team may differ in approach. But every team ultimately favors winning over losing - obviously. So, I also asked alecks, where was the team's head at? How well do they see themselves placing at Shanghai?

[Interviewer] You spoke in an earlier interview with one of my colleagues, where you said you like to come into a tournament, and have a goal set in mind that: "Okay, we want to place at least this." So, what would be an acceptable position for you guys to end on? Would it be nothing short of a Grand Finals finish be good enough for you guys?

The same for every event we go to. We want to play in a bigger arena. So Top 4 would be great. I mean, I believe we can go a bit further. But I would settle for Top 4, you know? Hopefully we get to the Grand Finals. I think the atmosphere will be electric. I think that would be where we really want to play. As long as we get to the main stage, I would say it's a pretty good job.

[Interviewer] At what point do you think: ‘We need to win this event. Nothing short of winning the event would be acceptable’?

Never. I believe that just puts ridiculous pressure on yourself. When you go to these tournaments, and this is not like CS:GO. Sometimes you get hit by stuff that you've never seen before. The ability to adapt in-game, there's a limit to it. You have to rely on your protocols, your systems and all. Sometimes people just don't want you to win.

I think yesterday Fnatic, Alfajer, almost single-handedly carried Fnatic across Bind. I can't remember, but one of those maps, he was absolutely incredible. Sometimes these things happen. The guy just decides: ‘I'm going to hit every shot today’, and that's it. That's the way VALORANT goes.

I think we have the mindset where we go into these kinds of events, and ‘Okay, we try our best, we go as far as we can’, but if we put expectations to win, then... I mean NRG has expectations to win (smiles). It's very, very hard. Maybe it works for them, but it definitely doesn't work for us.

2023 was the year of Fnatic and then Evil Geniuses. Their simultaneous rise to success was awe-inspiring to witness as they transformed their legacy over the course of the year. As the saying goes, 'History is written by the victors'.

Maybe this will be the year of Paper Rex finally. From finishing top 4 most events, to finally lifting that trophy that many believe the squad has rightfully earned through their consistency throughout the years.

 

Stay tuned on Strafe YouTube for exclusive interviews, press conferences and more. You can also follow the tournament on Strafe.

Credit: Lance Skundrich/Riot Games

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