Pacific’s top seed and Masters Toronto champion Paper Rex has been eliminated in the Valorant Champions Tour’s culminating event – the Valorant Champions Paris – after suffering a 0-2 sweep from fellow Pacific be South Korea’ DRX in the lower bracket semifinals.
After an undefeated run in the group stages, Paper Rex absorbed its first loss of the tournament, against Europe’s FNATIC, which had enacted its revenge for falling to the Southeast Asian organization back in the grand finals of Masters Toronto.
Relegated to the lower brackets, Paper Rex managed to regroup and dispatch Europe’s Team Heretics to stay alive in the tournament, only to set up a Pacific El Clasico as it went up against fellow Pacific team DRX in the lower bracket semis.
In DRX’s map pick of Ascent, Paper Rex had a strong defensive side, finishing the half with a 9-3 lead, only for DRX to answer with a five-consecutive-round win to even out the series and eventually force an overtime. Though Paper Rex managed to take the opening round, it was DRX that would close out the map at 13-15.
The South Koreans continued to ride their winning momentum in Lotus, dismantling Paper Rex’s offensive side to sweep the Express, 13-8, and eliminate them from the tournament.
Though seeing the end of their 2025 season, the Express remained upbeat with what they were able to achieve after a rocky start in the beginning of the year.
‘If you win a trophy in any year, it’s a good year. We’ve attended the two big events, Toronto and Paris, and we did well in Champs, in my opinion. I think we would have lost to the two teams that are in the top three. So that means that if anything, I think we lost to better teams, and I’m very, very proud of their performance in general, especially their resilience at the start of the year. I think the fact that we still managed to stick together and go through our tough times, I think it’s a huge milestone for the team. As a group, I think I just want them to know I’m very proud of them. I thought that they improved all the way here. And particularly for PatMen, I think as a rookie to come into our team, it’s a hard thing to do, and I know there’s a lot of self-doubt, but I think you should look back and be proud of yourself because I think you played well throughout the year,’ said Paper Rex’ coach Alexandre “alecks” Sallé during the team’s post-match press conference.
Filipino player Patrick “PatMen” Mendoza, who joined Paper Rex last March took to social media to share his message to his Filipino fans after the tough defeat.
“Maraming salamat sa mga messages niyo kababayan kahit sobrang malas ko this game against DRX, sumusuporta pa rin kayo! Sana this offseason mabalik ko yung confidence ko tulad ng dati at mas makapag adjust ako nang mabilis sa meta and roles and mas mahandle ko nang maayos yung pressure. I realized na 3 years in tier 2 is not enough experience for me and playing in tier 1 is so much different but I learned a lot of things this year,’ Mendoza said on his Facebook page.
Echoing his coach, Mendoza said he is proud of the achievements he and his team has done for the year, vowing to do better in the next season.
“It’s been a good run this year still and hoping next year will be better for us and sana mas maraming Pinoy ang makapasok at masuportahan natin! It’s not the end of the world despite losing this and 4th place is not a failure. Thank you ulit sa mga suporta niyo! Next year, I will do my best to be a better player,’ he added.