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VCT Pacific League is in its sixth week. With only two weeks to go and many teams in contention for five of the six playoff seats, all matches carry extremely high stakes. On Day 16 of VCT 2023's APAC split, Singapore's Paper Rex took on Thailand's Talon Esports. In a grueling series that nearly went to overtime on the third map, PRX emerged victorious, bringing its tally in the tournament to four wins and two losses.
Aaron "mindfreak" Leonhart has been hailed as one of the best Controllers to have played in VCT over the years. He is known for his ability to clutch rounds and create numerous opportunities for his team with well-timed lurks.
VCT 2023, unfortunately, has not been too fruitful for him, which is not to say he is performing poorly. However, it is clear to anyone who has watched him play that he is far from his top form.
Paper Rex's mindfreak speaks about match against Talon Esports in VCT Pacific League and more
In an exclusive interview with Abhipsito Das from Sportskeeda following Paper Rex's match against Talon Esports, mindfreak opened up about his mental health struggles leading up to the tournament, shared valuable insight for aspiring Controller-mains, and spoke about evolving team dynamics as the 2023 VCT season progresses.
Q. What are some of the factors that led to the outcome of today's series?
mindfreak: We just played our game and didn’t overthink too much when we played against Team Secret and another team I can’t remember the name of. We were just trying to show up. On the first map, we lost a lot of clutches.
Q. Are you happy with your individual performance in today's match?
mindfreak: I would say it was alright. Lately, I have been having problems with myself – both in-game and outside. It's a bit of mental peace, I guess, to be able to [somewhat] return to my top form.
Q. You've had a relatively quieter performance so far in VCT Pacific compared to previous international tournaments. What do you think is the reason behind that?
mindfreak: Moving to Korea has made me a bit homesick. At the same time, I have been having some confidence issues for the last few months. I am trying to fix everything at the same time.
I spoke to the coach about what I could do, and he gave me good input. I'm unsure if ’burnout' is the correct word, but I have been having some issues, a few months back. I think I still have it, but I am trying to fix it.
Q. As one of the best Controller players in the world, what advice will you give aspiring Controller-mains?
mindfreak: I wouldn’t say that I am one of the best right now, because I am really in a slump. But I would say just watch others play a lot. See how they play. You can try stealing some of the micro-plays that they do. Basically, you need to be very creative and watch a lot of VODs.
[Who is your favorite Controller to play and why?]
mindfreak: I hate Omen the most. Astra, Brimstone, and Viper are all good. It's not even that I don’t like Omen. It's just not my style.
Q. How has adding something in the middle of VCT Pacific impacted the overall team dynamics?
mindfreak: I think he adds a lot of calls. He mainly plays Jett, right? He calls which guy he wants to kill, and we try to adjust our plans accordingly.
For example, imagine he wants to kill the B-Main guy. We can recon and flash for him. It's basically like playing a puzzle.
Q. Since you brought up calling, how has the team been adjusting to Benkai’s absence, considering he was kind of the primary caller for the team for most of the team's VCT journey?
mindfreak: I think we are adjusting. We are doing fine. Even when Ben’s there, it is not like he calls every move like a primary IGL. We play our best when all five of us are calling. Everyone shares ideas, and we try to figure out who has the best ideas for each round. Benkai would have to call more when the other four of us were quieter.
Q. Pearl was a close map. What do you think resulted in Talon closing it out?
mindfreak: We actually played the game we wanted but lost a lot of clutches: 1v3s and 1v2s. I think we even got ‘Thrifty’-ed. If not for those, we would have closed out the game.
Q. If you had to point out some things that impressed you in Talon’s playstyle in today's VCT Pacific League match, what would they be?
mindfreak: I think Talon’s playstyle is really annoying. I mean, they will take map control, but that would be just to bait us. Personally, I don’t like playing against teams like Talon and DRX. They will play really slowly, which is pretty annoying.
Q. Paper Rex plays against ZETA DIVISION in the VCT Pacific League next week. What is your opinion on the team, and how do you plan on preparing for the match?
mindfreak: ZETA is looking really good right now. They have won four games at this point. As for preparation, we will just treat it like any other match, it doesn’t matter who the team is.
