Paper Rex moves Jinggg to a substitute role

Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie has been an immovable part of the W Gaming Paper Rex roster. But with his mandatory military duty afoot, the organization has decided to shift Jinggg to a substitute role instead of terminating his contract. The announcement came yesterday on the official Paper Rex X/Twitter.

During Valorant Champions 2023, Paper Rex announced Jinggg’s absence from the VCT 2024 season. With his mandatory military service due, Jinggg had to take a hiatus from professional play to fulfill his duties as a citizen of Singapore.

While Paper Rex might have missed out on winning Valorant Champions 2023, they still had one of the most storied two years since Jinggg’s arrival. As our beloved Raze main takes a break from the active competition, we take the opportunity to commemorate his journey with the team.

Paper Rex Jinggg and the genesis of W Gaming:

Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie started his professional Valorant career with Reality Rift at the age of 17. He later joined Team SMG for most of 2021 and was picked up by Paper Rex to replace Zhang Teng “shiba” Toh shortly after turning 18.

Paper Rex was fresh off their VCT Masters III Berlin 2021 loss when they added Jinggg. With Jinggg in the roster, the roster now had two explosive stars, with  Jason "f0rsaken" Susanto. The duo quickly became great friends and were monsters on the server.

The first tournament for the new Paper Rex was the APAC Last Chance Qualifiers, where they fell short to Damwon KIA. With their eyes set on 2022, Paper Rex started developing their style, something much different from the ongoing meta.

During the inaugural 2022 MY/SG VCT challengers tournament, they dominated everybody with the double-duelist compositions. With Jinggg on Raze/Reyna and f0rsaken on Jett-the rest of the squad in Khalish "d4v41" Rusyaidee, Benedict "Benkai" Tan and Aaron "mindfreak" Leonhart supported the duo.

This iteration of Paper Rex was explosive. They took duels, ran it down and outpaced everyone, this was the genesis of W Gaming and Jinggg was the tip of that spear.

To date, it is tough to counter Paper Rex and their W Gaming. Teams have complimented their pace and ability to make such flawless fast plays.

Conquering APAC and a journey to the top:

After winning the VCT MY/SG challengers 1 2022,  the next stop for Paper Rex was VCT APAC Challengers 1 2022, where they dropped only three maps to secure a VCT Masters Reykjavik 2022 qualification and a win over XERXIA.

At Reykjavik, they came back from the lower bracket and eliminated The Guard and G2 Esports to eventually finish fourth after a loss to the ZETA Division Cinderella run.

With an amazing Reykjavik run, Paper Rex and Jinggg weren’t done. They dominated MY/SG and APAC once more to reach VCT Masters Copenhagen 2022.

Paper Rex and Jinggg at VCT Masters Copenhagen 2022 (credits: Lance Skundrich/Riot Games)

At Copenhagen, Paper Rex reached the finals after defeating Guild, Fnatic and Optic Gaming. They only dropped a single map during this run against Optic. In the finals, FPX got the better of them and they missed out on the win.

The loss took a toll on the team’s mentality as they exited the subsequent Valorant Champions 2022 group stage after losing to Team Liquid.

Dominating Pacific:

The roster decided to stay together despite the disappointing end to 2022. Their poor form escalated further as the roster lost to Cloud9 in the opening game of VCT LOCK//IN 2023.

It seemed Paper Rex’s glory days were behind them. But that wasn’t the case. They brought in Ilya “something” Petrov and experimented with a six-man roster before benching Benkai. With something as the main duelist and f0rsaken as a flex, Paper Rex only grew stronger.

For the first time in two years, Paper Rex defeated DRX at the VCT Pacific playoffs. They repeated this in the VCT Pacific Grand Finals while reverse sweeping the best Pacific team in the world.

The VCT Pacific 2023 Champions - Paper Rex (credits: Riot Games // VCT Pacific

Unfortunately, At VCT Masters Tokyo, Paper Rex failed to secure something’s VISA and had to face DRX once again. And in a surprising turn of events, Paper Rex defeated DRX once again.

With a substitute, Paper Rex made a run to the top. After losing to Fnatic in the next round, Paper Rex made a lower-bracket run to reach the Lower Finals against Evil Geniuses. On their way they defeated EDward Gaming and NRG.

Despite playing with a sub, Jinggg and f0rsaken’s carrying ability shone brighter. The duo dunked on Tier 1 Valorant and made it to the Lower Finals. In the lower finals against EG, Paper Rex could not match the map pool depth and lost 2-3.

The Valorant Champions 2023 run:

Paper Rex were the favorites to win the Valorant Champions 2023 alongside Fnatic. They were easily the top 2 teams at the event and were considered the only threat to Fnatic’s unwavering playstyle.

While Fnatic displayed some holes, Paper Rex only looked stronger. They dominated their group and made it to the playoffs. They easily smurfed their way to the Grand Finals.

The emotions got the better of them, and Paper Rex faltered in the finals. Despite having defeated EG once before, Paper Rex could not win. The emotions ran high, and Paper Rex lost 1-3 against EG to place second at Valorant Champions 2023.

With their journey coming to an end, Paper Rex was emotional to say the least. The team was devastated, especially Jinggg, alecks and f0rsaken. While EG definitely had a better story to the top, the community was sad for Jinggg.

During the post-match press conference, Alecks assured Jinggg and the community that this is a break, and not the end and he’d be back in no time.

Jinggg’s Impact:

On Paper Rex, Jinggg truly solidified himself as a star duelist. He perfected playing Raze and found a way to incorporate Raze’s flashy movement with the rigidity of professional Valorant.

While Jinggg wasn’t a vocal leader for the team, he mostly spoke with his game. He seldom clutched and led the team from the front despite the team struggling to grasp at straws.

He was one of the most skillful players and was marvelous at his job. His Phoenix and Raze plays solidify him as one of the best duelists in the world.

Jinggg and f0rsaken duo:

While Jinggg and f0rsaken were amazing players on server, what usually takes the cake is their out-of-game chemistry. The duo has been dubbed as Husband and wife by their acquaintances and spends a lot of time playing with each other.

Jinggg and f0rsaken's friendship and banter (credits: Twitter)

The duo’s chemistry has helped Paper Rex achieve immense success over the past two years, and it is sad to see the duo breaking up. The banter of the duo was one of the best entertainments for the community.

The duo still plays together on streams and likely continue playing together until Jinggg departs for his military service.

Paper Rex, Jinggg and the future:

Paper Rex has already announced Jinggg to be a substitute for VCT 2024, and he will be actively competing with the team in the offseason events. As for Jinggg’s replacement, Paper Rex has brought in  Cahya "Monyet" Nugraha. It’d be interesting to see how Monyet fits in the roster and how the new Paper Rex fares.

As for Jinggg, he’d be away from the professional Valorant scene for two years and will make a comeback once he is relieved from his military duties. Paper Rex has already decided to maintain him as a substitute for VCT 2024.

With how Paper Rex as an organization is, it won’t be a surprise if Jinggg stays as a substitute and returns for VCT 2026 as a duelist for Paper Rex.

For all Valorant updates and news, follow Strafe. 

Featured Image Source: Riot Games // VCT Pacific

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