Photo by Yicun Liu/Riot Games
Paper Rex opened its Champions Shanghai account with a 2-1 victory over Team Liquid, one that saw it battle through some serious adversity before closing things out the Paper Rex way.
In the press conference following the match, the team touched on a little bit of everything, from improved team chemistry a year into this roster, how anderzz‘s veteran presence has been shaping the team’s Champs prep, and an in-game moment that earned something a warning for having a little too much fun. Here’s what stood out.
Re-Finding Chemistry?
Despite everything we know about Paper Rex — the four-player core and longtime head coach alecks — the players shared that the team has made an active effort to get to know each other more this year.
“We don’t really get close with each other,” f0rsaken told Ult Orb. “So that made it harder to vibe as a team and to play as a team really well. I think in this year, I would say we already managed [to do] more team bonding, more trying to get to know each other so that in the game, in the match, we can have good chemistry.”
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“For me, the difference is I think last time… when we were in the same team, we don’t really get close with each other,” f0rsaken said. “So that made us harder to vibe as a team and also like, trying to play as a team really well. I think in this year I would say we already managed more team bonding, more trying to get to know each other so that in the game, in the match I think we can have good chemistry, you know?”
Those sentiments were echoed by d4v41, who is the oldest member of the PRX squad. He went into how integrating invy, who joined in the offseason, has played a part in growing closer to each other, too.
“Even the four of us have been together quite some time, but for us, having invy is still new,” he said. “There’s a lot of room for error, you know? He has to play under the pressure of having to perform like what we used to do since we got a trophy last year and stuff. There’s a lot of those, and self doubt, I would say, individually for all of us. Now we spend a little bit more time to actually get to know each other better outside of the game and in the game. Slowly but surely.”
Leaning on Anderzz’s Experience
Asked how the team’s longer break following a 5th-6th finish in Pacific Stage 2 factored into the team’s Champs prep, assistant coach Wendler turned the conversation toward Anderzz‘s role behind the scenes.
“It’s a lot of just reinforcement that we’re doing the correct things,” Wendler said. “Anderzz is someone like, as I was coming up in the space, that I’ve learned a lot from, so there’s ideas we share.”
Wendler says that onboarding Anderzz, who was on G2 Esports’ staff last year, is also preventing other teams from picking up someone who he believes makes Paper Rex that much stronger.
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“Part of it is competitive advantage to an extent,” he said. “We can deny the information that other teams might look for — because the past two years, a team always picks him up for Champs to get that same information.”
He continued, drawing a comparison to how the team had a similar dynamic in the coaching booth last year.
“It’s similar to what me and Mini did last year when Mini was with the team,” he said. “Just sharing ideas, reinforcing ideas, seeing if we can come up with any new ideas potentially, and then give that information to alecks to apply to the team.”
The Body Shots Heard Across The World
A lighter moment of the presser came when something was asked about picking up a warning for shooting bodies during the match.
Riot, as most may know, has prohibited shooting dead bodies/player pucks for the duration of Champions Shanghai, as well as “other inappropriate in-game conduct”.
In map one of PRX’s series against something, there were moments where he could be seen doing exactly that, and he received a warning following the match.
“That’s simple, that I just shoot too many bodies in one match,” something said, and then gave the reasoning for why he did what he did. “I used everything on the first match, which is okay, I guess, because… for me, the most important match is the first one on the stage, especially when it comes to Champs, to get the momentum by shooting bodies and having fun.”
Asked if it was worth it, he didn’t hesitate.
“I mean, yes, everyone was laughing so… definitely yes,” he said.
Paper Rex will continue its Champions Shanghai campaign against familiar foes: G2 Esports. The age-old clash on the international stage will take place on September 29 at 2 a.m. PST/5 a.m. EST, or 5 p.m. local time.
