Singapore's Paper Rex start VALORANT Champions Group Stage strong, sweep KRÜ Esports

Singapore's VALORANT powerhouse Paper Rex enjoyed a strong start at VALORANT Champions 2023 after they swept Latin America's KRÜ Esports, 2-0, in their opening match of the Group Stage on Thursday (10 August).

As the top seed of the VALORANT Pacific League, Paper Rex were seeded against KRÜ, winners of the Americas Last Chance Qualifier, in the first opening match of Group A in day four of the Group Stage.

Paper Rex kicked off the series with a strong 8-4 start as the Attacking side in game one at Split. The Singaporean squad continued to snowball after the side switch, taking the second half 5-3 to claim the 13-7 win at Split.

Singaporean star Wang "Jinggg" Jing Jie and Russian import Ilya "something" Petrov led the way for Paper Rex in game one, putting up 19 kills and four assists apiece against 15 and 14 deaths, respectively.

Paper Rex then came out swinging in game two at Pearl and winning eight-straight rounds on the Attacking side. However, KRÜ were able to rally and win the last four rounds of the first half before taking the first two rounds following the side switch.

But the Singaporean squad still managed to hold their opponents at arm's length by winning the next three rounds. While KRÜ would score two more rounds, Paper Rex could not be denied as they claimed rounds 20 and 21 to secure the 2-0 series sweep off a 13-8 victory at Pearl.

Something continued his strong performance in game two, putting up 15 kills (including five first kills) and four assists against 13 deaths. The rest of Paper Rex were no slouches either, with Aaron "mindfreak" Leonhart leading the way with a 19/10/9 KDA while Khalish "d4v41" Rusyaidee and Jingg respectively pitched in with 17/10/11 and 16/12/6 statlines.

With their victory over KRÜ, Paper Rex advance to the Winner's Match of Group A on Friday (11 August), where they will face the winner of the other opening match between China's EDward Gaming and Spain's Giants. The Singaporean squad need to win that match to secure a spot in the Playoffs.

Meanwhile, KRÜ drop to the Elimination Match of Group A on Saturday (12 August), where they will await the loser of the EDward Gaming-versus-Giants match.

The VALORANT Champions 2023 Group Stage will take place from 6 to 13 August, featuring four groups of four teams each fighting in a double-elimination GSL format where the top two teams of each group will advance to the Playoffs.

The VALORANT Champions 2023 Playoffs will follow with two phases, the first taking place from 16 to 20 August while the final leg of the tournament will be hosted from 24 to 26 August.

The teams will be fighting for the right to be crowned as this year's VALORANT world champions as well as the lion's share of US$1 million out of the tournament's US$2.25 million prize pool.

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