Visa Complications Cast Doubt on Ilya Petrov’s Participation in VCT Masters Tokyo with Paper Rex

Due to visa complications, Paper Rex may be unable to attend VCT Masters Tokyo with Valorant star Ilya “Something” Petrov. The Singaporean organization reported on Twitter that there is a possibility that their application for a visa is still under review, and therefore they may miss the early stages of the VCT Masters Tokyo playoffs.

To break this deadlock, Paper Rex insisted they are “working tirelessly to expedite his travel documents” and are in frequent contact with Riot Games in Korea and Japan. If the squad advances far into the playoffs, Paper Rex is optimistic that Ilia will join them for the remainder of the competition. The news is disappointing for Paper Rex, who defeated DRX 3-2 to win the VCT Pacific League. 

With this win, the team will skip the group round and advance directly to the VCT Masters Tokyo playoffs. As a result, Paper Rex will perform in Tokyo at least June 16, when the playoff stage is supposed to begin.

A Rising Star

When Sengoku Gaming, a Japanese Challengers squad, joined Paper Rex in March, something played a crucial part in their championship run. He played mainly on Jett but also on Breach and Reyna in the Pacific League, averaging a tournament-high 1.22 VLR rating and 1.37 K/D. Also, Paper Rex has confirmed that Patiphan ‘CigaretteS’ Posri would serve as the team’s backup player in Tokyo as the status of the Russian star is uncertain. A member of the squad, Benedict ‘Benkai’ Tan, who has been with the team since February 2021, will not be joining in the upcoming VCT Masters Tokyo or the Valorant Champions.

Paper Rex stated that his original concept was to use varying agent compositions and functions for various maps to encourage experimentation and innovation. The Paper Rex club concluded during the VCT Pacific league that roster continuity was more important for positive results, a conclusion shared by our coach, Alecks, in recent interviews. Also, only two games have been played by CigaretteS, who joined Paper Rex in October 2022 as a reserve player. He participated on one map in the team’s VCT Pacific Week 5 match against Global Esports and faced Detonation FocusMe in the ONE Pro Invitational in December.

The lineup for Paper Rex at VCT Masters Tokyo:

  • Aaron ‘mindfreak’ Leonhart
  • Khalish ‘d4v41’ Rusyaidee
  • Jing Jie ‘Jinggg’ Wang
  • Jason ‘f0rsakeN’ Susanto
  • Ilya ‘something’ Petrov
  • Patiphan ‘CigaretteS’ Posri (backup)

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