OpTic Gaming and Paper Rex are set to face off, with their two opposing styles of play, in the upper bracket at Valorant Champions Tour Stage 2 Masters Copenhagen.
Paper Rex, known for their free-wheeling aggressive playstyle, will come up against an OpTic Gaming squad that is known for having some of the best defensive setups and resulting statistics in the world.
OpTic, the reigning champions, have many copycats in their own region of North America, but not many teams have been able to replicate the APAC oppostion’s aggressive set plays and ad-libbed attacks.
“I think you can’t really copy their comps and how they play because it’s very unique to their players,” OpTic head coach Chet “Chet” Singh said in a press conference.
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He went on to compare PRX’s rise to his own team’s success.
“It’s kind of like when people try to copy us,” Chet said. “It’s very hard unless your players are very similar to ours.”
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Other pros agree that Paper Rex’s strategy can’t be imitated
Fnatic’s IGL Jake “Boaster” Howlett shared a similar sentiment when asked in a press conference at Masters Copenhagen.
“What happens is they have that kind of set execute, but the great thing about Paper Rex is that when that gets cancelled or when something wrong happens they instantly, and kind of instinctively, react hunting for those kills,” Boaster said.“And I think they’re really good at kind of playing that very loose style once the kind of problems arise with their aggressive set plays.”
The Fnatic player went on to say that he thinks their playstyle may be more of a regional thing, specific to APAC and some Turkish teams.
“They’re able to kind of still utilize their agents to their full potential and make plays happen individually, or for someone else, more so individually,” Boaster explained. “I think that they know how to kill and I think that’s what makes teams really scary.”
Paper Rex themselves have been preaching their playstyle since they first debuted on the international stage. After their trip to top four at Stage 1 Masters their head coach, Alexandre “alecks” Salle, said that their results validate their style of play as more than just a “flash in the pan.”