"We prepared it to play against DRX" - Coach alecks on Paper Rex's Icebox Agent composition against Global Esports in VCT 2023: Pacific League
The first day of Week 5 of VCT 2023: Pacific League was held on April 22, 2023, featuring two exciting matchups. In the first game, Paper Rex emerged victorious over Global Esports with a score of 2-1, while DRX and Gen.G, two unbeaten South Korean teams, battled it out in the second match, with the former taking the win by a score of 2-1 as well, continuing their winning streak.
The VCT 2023: Pacific League comprises ten Valorant franchised teams from the Asia Pacific region. The event commenced on March 25, 2023, and will continue until May 16, 2023. Riot Games is organizing the event, which is being held in South Korea. The top three teams will earn a spot in the VCT 2023: Masters Tokyo and Valorant Champions 2023.
PRX alecks talks about the team's unique Agent composition on Icebox in VCT 2023: Pacific League
Sportskeeda Esports interviewed Paper Rex's coach alecks in the post-match scrum after the Week 5, Day 1 matches of the VCT 2023: Pacific League on April 22, 2023. The coach was asked about the team's loss against Global Esports on Icebox and whether the unique Agent composition with Gekko was the reason for the defeat or if there were other factors involved.
Regarding this question, the coach provided the following response:
"To be very honest, we have been preparing this Icebox composition with CigaretteS playing for maybe close to a month. It has been going well on scrims for the last two weeks. We prepared it to play against DRX but we chose Fracture instead, I mean it didn't go to Fracture. I think it is just like a match practice more than anything else. It works on scrims but it's harder to win in actual games."
Coach alecks revealed that Paper Rex's Icebox Agent composition, featuring CigaretteS, was developed over the course of a month and had been performing well in scrims for the past two weeks. The composition was originally designed for the team's matchup against DRX, but they opted for Fracture instead of Icebox.
Unfortunately, Fracture ended up being the third map in their match against DRX, where Paper Rex lost 0-2. The coach attributed the loss to a lack of match practice rather than the composition itself. Finally, he acknowledged that the composition had been successful in scrims but proved difficult to execute on stage.
Paper Rex secured a 2-1 victory against Global Esports, with their sole loss occurring on Icebox. During this map, Paper Rex implemented a unique Agent composition consisting of Jett (something), Sage (Jinggg), Sova (f0rsakeN), Gekko (CigaretteS), and Viper (mindfreak). Notably, this specific Agent composition featuring Gekko is not frequently utilized in the VCT 2023: Pacific League.
To date, Gekko has been utilized by only two teams in the Pacific League. The first was Talon Esports, who used the Agent on Haven and Ascent. Paper Rex was the second team to incorporate Gekko into their game and they did it on Icebox. Unfortunately, they were defeated on the map while using this composition in their match against Global Esports.
Paper Rex will face Talon Esports next in VCT 2023: Pacific League. The upcoming matchup is scheduled to take place on May 1, 2023.