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Paper Rex is one of the favorites going into the VCT Pacific League 2023, and given how talented its players are, this isn't a matter of surprise. The team began the second day of the tournament on March 26, 2023, facing Detonation FocusMe. As expected, the side came up with Agent compositions that no one expected, pulling off Phoenix on Pearl and Yoru on Lotus.
Paper Rex's 2-0 victory spoke volumes of the work and effort put behind the scenes.
Paper Rex (PRX) IGL Benkai talks about match against Detonation FocusMe in VCT Pacific League and more
Sportskeeda had the chance to speak to Benedict "Benkai" Tan in an exclusive post-match session after Paper Rex's opening match in the Asian split of the VCT International Leagues. Over the course of the conversation, he shared a lot of insight about the team's playstyle, the luck factor in VCT games, the notorious Yoru-pick, and the minuscule nature of food servings in Seoul.
Paper Rex has retained the squad from the previous VCT season. How much of an advantage do you think that gives you over other teams?
Benkai: I feel like it doesn’t really give us that big of an advantage. It is only the small habits that need to be built on top of having chemistry. I don’t think it's that big of an advantage as every team has had enough time to play together and build that chemistry.
What a spectacular showing from you as an individual as well as the team. What was your thought process going into your first VCT Pacific League match?
Benkai: We came up with a game plan and we stuck with it. We trusted our preparation and that carried us through the entire series, so that’s nice.
Paper Rex was notorious for its hyper-aggressive playstyle, but now it's a much more well-balanced mix of fast and slow styles. What's the thought process in deciding how you play a particular round?
Benkai: It’s really according to the playstyle of the opponents. We use the first few rounds to get a feel of how the opponents are playing, and then the next few rounds and the rounds after that, we are just thinking about how we can use what we practiced against their particular playstyle.
For example, against Detonation (DFM) on Lotus we couldn’t do any fast pushes because they had all these trap plays they came up with to retake areas of the map. So we tried to make adjustments and play with rotations a bit more. So that is how we have been practicing as a team lately.
PRX was trying out Harbor in the early days of the tournament, but we didn’t get to see you playing it at VCT LOCK//IN or on Pearl today. How did you feel about the Agent as an individual player and as a team?
Benkai: We think Harbor is okay, but we feel like some other Agents are better suited to our playstyle. Harbor takes a bit more pace to control. You have to play in a particular style to make use of his walls more effectively and that it does not fit us well at the time. Maybe we will play him in the future, who knows?
The team had six clutches during the Pearl game, and pretty much won Lotus on the back of some insane clutches by d4v41. What goes on in your mind when you are in a 1vX situation?
Benkai: There is no specific mode that we switch on during clutches. We just play the game and feel the situation and play accordingly.
For Lotus, yes we got a bit lucky with the situation and the clutches. The rounds were way too close and we had to win too many clutches to win the game. It was a bit unlucky on DFM’s side, but it was good for us.
How would you rate your overall performance on Lotus in VCT 2023 so far and what’s an area you think you might want to improve?
Benkai: I think Lotus is decent for us. If I had to give it a rating based on our skill on the map, I would give it three out of five. It is decent, and we have things prepared for it, but we have to figure out a few things such as rotations.
We saw two unusual picks in the form of Phoenix and Yoru. While the former got a lot of value on Pearl, how much value do you think the second Duelist adds to the composition instead of a more utility-heavy Agent?
Benkai: I wouldn’t say any particular role is better, we pick Agents based on what fits our playstyle best, which in our case is having a second Duelist. I mean, I'm not going to put a player like Jinggg or f0rsakeN in any other role. I wouldn’t do that to them. We have to play to our strengths and so we come up with Agent compositions that are best suited for us.
Were you able to play the Yoru as well as you wanted to today on Lotus as you did in your previous VCT matches?
Benkai: I think we were able to do it to a decent level, but I don’t think it will ever be as good as out Yoru on Bind. Maybe in the future, if we theory-craft it more. As of right now, it is okay-ish. It's not at a level where people don’t know what to do with it.
Your next game is against Team Secret. What are your expectations going into that game?
Benkai: We will try approaching it the way we approach this match. Play it like a scrim and have fun!
You signed something recently. Will we get to see him play with the squad anytime in the VCT Pacific League?
Benkai: We are not sure as of now when he will make his first appearance with the team.
How are you and the team enjoying your stay in Seoul for the VCT Pacific League?
Benkai: Seoul has been nice. It gets a bit chilly at night on some days. There is something about the food here, the proportions are so small that we never really feel full from eating a meal.
