Paper Rex signs ex-NAOS Esports player as sixth man

MANILA, Philippines — Top Asia-Pacific Valorant team Paper Rex has announced its signing of Filipino player Patrick “PatMen” Mendoza as part of its roster for the coming Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Pacific Stage 1.

Mendoza was previously with ZOL Esports until last year and was part of the roster than won the local Predator League. At the start of the year, he signed with NAOS Esports for the Valorant Challengers SEA Split1, where the team placed in joint fifth to sixth place, coincidentally with Mendoza's former team of Zol Esports.

“As Valorant reaches its fifth year, it’s no surprise that the VCT circuit is more competitive than ever, and we must energize and reinvigorate ourselves. An injection of new blood with young eyes brings fresh perspectives to our game. Adding PatMen to the PRX family allows us to widen our experiments with a greater breadth of play styles,” Paper Rex chief gaming officer Harley “dsn” Örwall said in a statement.

Mendoza joins the team as its sixth player and will be heading to Seoul once all necessary travel documents are acquired. He will also be the ninth Filipino in VCT Pacific, competing against fellow Filipinos Federico "Papi" Evangelista (formerly NAOS Esports), Kelly "kellyS" Sedillo (formerly Oasis Gaming), and substitute Mark "patrickWHO" Musni of Global Esports and the entirety of lone all-Filipino squad, Team Secret.

Paper Rex has been one of the top Pacific teams since Valorant adopted the franchise format back in 2023. The team has won VCT Pacific twice, back in its inaugural year of 2023 and during Stage 1 in the 2024 Season and had the longest continuous streak of international appearances by any team within the VCT, only broken the previous Kickoff season when they failed to qualify for Masters Bangkok.

Stage 1 of VCT Pacific will begin on March 22.