Paper Rex benches IGL Benedict “Benkai” Tan ahead of VCT Masters Tokyo

On May 28th, Paper Rex was crowned as the VCT Pacific champions. The team beat their kryptonite in DRX, coming back from a 0-2 score. The team’s former IGL Benedict “Benkai” Tan was missing in action for a while. Today, PRX Twitter announced the benching of Benkai. The squad will proceed with Illya “something” Petrov as the permanent fifth player of the squad and Patiphan “cgrs” Porsi as the substitute going in for something.

Paper Rex and Benkai:

Benkai was part of the Paper Rex rebuild of 2021. With the rebuild, PRX quickly became one of the strongest teams in the SEA. But it was when Jinggg joined later that they became the current powerhouse. In 2022, PRX was the APAC representative at the international VCT events. They had an amazing run at VCT Masters Reykjavik 2022 and VCT Masters Copenhagen 2022, where they placed 2nd after FPX.

PRX stood apart from the rest of the teams in the world because of their unique playstyle. With Riot announcing the partnership program and the international leagues, Paper Rex was the obvious choice.

Paper Rex post-VCT 2022:

At the introductory LOCK//IN event, Paper Rex lost to Cloud9. Starting the VCT, They were still the top two teams at VCT Pacific. Benkai was the team’s primary IGL, keeping the team intact in multiple situations and helping it reach its goals. Around the same time as the start of the Pacific League, PRX signed Russian, something that wreaked havoc in VCL Japan.

With something in Korea, PRX tried experimenting with six squad members, but as discussed by multiple coaches, it takes a lot of work for the team to succeed with six members and rotating rosters. Paraphrasing the PRX tweet,

“Over the course of the VCT Pacific league, the Paper Rex team decided that roster stability was more crucial to successful outcomes, a thought echoed by our Coach, Alecks, in recent interviews. The team realized that other teams in the league were improving faster with each passing week, and it was a challenge to rotate more than six players into meaningful training, and valuable practice time.”

With everything in mind and for the team’s betterment, PRX has decided to bench Benkai. something will be the starting member, and cgrs will be a substitute. In reference to something’s absence due to VISA issues, Cgrs will be standing in for the team. With something’s VISA still under process, PRX is trying to ensure they have their bases covered in case something’s VISA doesn’t come through. You can read the full statement here.

With the roster change, the Paper Rex roster for the rest of VCT 2023 will be as follows:

• Jason ‘f0rsakeN’ Susanto
• Jing Jie ‘Jinggg’ Wang
• Aaron ‘mindfreak’ Leonhart
• Khalish ‘d4v41’ Rusyaidee
• Ilia ‘something’ Petrov
• Patiphan ‘CGRS’ Porsi (substitute)
• Benedict 'Benkai’ Tan (benched)

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Credits: Riot Games // VCT Pacific

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