PRX train arrives in Paris, wins opener vs XLG

by Judia Natalie Aniag

Photo Screenshot from Valorant Champions Tour on YouTube

Fresh off title wins in Masters Toronto and VCT Pacific Stage 2, Paper Rex raised the curtains of VCT Champions Paris 2025 with a sweeping 2–0 victory over VCT China’s Xi Lai Gaming (XLG).

Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie took charge for the first map in Bind as he secured 24/14/7 KDA statline along with average combat score (ACS) of 316 as he took the game MVP for the first map, thanks to an assist by Khalish “d4v41” Rusyaidee in securing a key elimination against XLG’s James “Noman” Man to take control of the first half of the map and eventually securing the game, with a 13–9 victory.

For the second map in Sunset, XLG had no answers for the relentless speed of the PRX train as the squad dominated the second map with a 13–5 dub, with Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto claiming the MVP honors in the second map that included a 23/12/4 KDA statline along with Ilia “something” Petrov’s 19/11/9 to seal the victory and the series in a commanding fashion.

Filipino initiator ace Patrick “PatMen” Mendoza was off to a slow start in his debut match in Champions after registering in a 18/26/7 KDA statline and an ACS of 128 across both maps.

In an exclusive interview with Mika “Mikafabs” Fabella, PatMen recognized how happy he is to be on the biggest stage of Valorant and not putting pressure on their backs despite being their team among the top of the power rankings before the start of the tournament.

“To be honest, we’re not pressuring ourselves. We’re happy to be here. Among — like, 40 plus teams in the world and we’re like about top 16 teams. So it’s just [a] really big achievement for us to be here and for us to keep it like consistent like [and] have fun still. We don’t pressure ourselves of course,” PatMen noted.

After the match, in a post-match interview with Mikafabs and PRX Head Coach Alexandre “alecks” Sallé, he acknowledged XLG’s strength as they won VCT CN Stage 1 earlier in the year, and recognized that both teams were a little bit nervous coming into the game.

“I mean, first of all, XLG is a very good team. They are champions of stage 1 China.They have MVP on their team. Aside from that, I think both teams are a little bit nervous. So, you can see the games are–I mean, everyone’s trying to think I’m relaxing a little bit, trying not to make mistakes. So I believe that not everyone wants that, and I think it’s going to be a banger,” Sallé added.

Their next match is set for September 17 at 9:00 PM, Manila time, as they go up against VCT EMEA Stage 2 runners-up, GiantX, in the winners’ match of the group stage to determine the first seed of Group A advancing to the Playoffs.