Filipino player Adrian Jiggs ‘invy’ Reyes has added a major milestone to his career, capturing his first Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Pacific title with Paper Rex after sweeping Thailand’s Full Sense, 3-0, over the weekend.
‘It feels amazing to finally win. I hope it’s the first of many. It’s a big confidence boost for me,’ said Reyes during the team’s stage interview.
The title comes after a period of adjustment for Reyes, who took on the initiator role for Paper Rex after years of being under the previously all-Filipino squad Team Secret.
‘Alecks has mentioned it before. [Initiator is] one of the harder roles, especially for this team. The past few months, my teammates have been helping me a lot despite me struggling in some moments. I really appreciate them and the coaching staff as well, they’ve helped me a lot, and gained back my confidence from those rough moments. It’s special because I get to help out all the boys shine also,’ said Reyes.
Paper Rex head coach Alexandre ‘alecks’ Salle said Reyes had long been on his radar.
‘I mean, the truth is, he was on my shortlist even in 2022. I mean, I just sorted by stats and I saw he’s top of the stats. So it was easy, like, oh, who’s this guy? And then we scrimmed against him a few times. I felt that he was a very good player already.’ said Sallé during their post-match conference.
Salle noted that Reyes’ performance performances have remained consistent through the years.
‘I’ve watched this guy top the stats every year. Every single game he plays for Team Secret is usually high impact. I still don’t think he’s on his best role. I think flash initiator is actually his best role. But as you can see, he can play quite a lot of roles pretty damn well. So very proud of him,’ added Salle.
Adjusting to Paper Rex, however, has presented its own challenges.
‘It’s very difficult to be in this team. When everyone has an idea and he has to choose which idea is the best. And he gets pulled apart by his duelists a lot,’ explained Sallé.
Reyes credited both his previous experience and his new environment for his development as a player.
‘I think my growth, from the start, being in Team Secret, there was a lot of ups and downs. I learned a lot, especially losing a lot of important games, like qualification matches,’ recalled Reyes.
He added that joining Paper Rex allowed him to further refine his play.
‘Everyone is really good, so I was able to absorb how they play and everything and put it in my play style. And also with the coaching staff, alecks is a really great coach. Whenever I had a bad game, he would always talk with me and sit down with me even for an hour, midnight or something. He would help me see another point of view in the game. And it really helps me be more confident in myself,’ said Reyes.
Reyes and Paper Rex hope to capture their second trophy of the year as they compete in Masters London next month. As the region’s top seed, they get an immediate ticket to the playoffs, while Filipino duo Patrick ‘PatMen’ Mendoza and Xavier ‘xavi8k’ Juan under Global Esports still begin their campaign in the Swiss Stages.