The Southeast Asia pride, Paper Rex, has been shocking the competition at the Valorant Champions 2023 tournament in Los Angeles thanks to the play of Aaron “Mindfreak” Leonheart, who helped them win group A and is now sitting in second place on the top 10 players during the group stage.
According to VLR GG data, Mindfreak was the second best player during the group stage with an average combat score of 186.3 points and an average damage per round of 121.7 points from a total of 91 rounds. His finest plays mostly came from playing with agents Astra and Brimstone.
At the moment, his stats has outperformed some of the fan favorites, like Leo “Leo” Janesson, Felipe “Less” Basso, Angelo “Keznit” Mori, and Furkan “MrFaliN” Yegen, and is only second to the current top Emir “Alfajer” Beder. His figure may increase, should Paper able to continue their winning streak in the playoffs.
Mindfreak’s game smoothly captured the attention of 2023 Champions viewers during his encounter against KRÜ and EDward Gaming last week. He became their key player on matchday one, frequently breaking his opponents’ strategies in game 2 on the Pearl map, both as defender and attacker.
The excellent performance continued the next day, when he and his squad had an unbelievable moment against EDG, nearly losing for the first time in the competition. Even though the Singaporean team was trailing, their mental fortitude demonstrated that they would never give up, even in the most dire of circumstances.
After winning the first game, the squad got stuck in the tough rounds and was dominated by the EDG in game two, which was contested on the Pearl. At 11-6, EDG appeared to have a chance to finish their game, but their tactical advantage was then destroyed by the Paper Rex players’ confidence, who intensified their aggression in a desperate situation. The game progressed to tie-breaker rounds, which were finally won by Paper Rex, who prevailed with a final score of 14-16.
Paper Rex’s tale will continue in the playoffs, which begin tomorrow at 06.00 SGT, when they will meet the Turkish heavyweight, FUT Esports, in the upper bracket quarter-finals.
