Jinggg Wins His First Match Back With Paper Rex

Last week, it was announced that explosive Duelist Wang “Jinggg” Jie would return to professional Valorant after being exempted from his military service. Fans saw his return in the Champions Tour 2024: Pacific Stage 1 against T1 Esports, which ended in success.

What Happened Last Week?

We all thought the road of Jinggg in his professional Valorant career would see a short end when he sat on the sidelines to complete his compulsory service to the Singaporean army. Thankfully, the 20-year-old wasn’t gone for long and would make a comeback to the scene.

Paper Rex’s first appearance back with its squad that finished second at the VCT Champions 2023 event featured a matchup against Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto’s older brother, Kevin “xccurate” Susanto, and his squad, T1 Esports. 

Jinggg fans were quite nervous to see how he would perform after his five-month hiatus, but the Singaporean’s Valorant tracker profile seemed like he was still in shape, dominating ranked matches in the past few weeks. The stage was finally set for Paper Rex’s resurgence to the top.

Map 1 – Lotus

The confrontation between Paper Rex and T1 began on Lotus, the map pick of the South Korean organization. 

The older brother between the Susanto siblings wanted to school the younger one, as xccurate was off to a flying start in the first half on defense. He posted 12 kills and only 6 deaths to pull T1 ahead 8-4 before the swap on such an offense-sided map. 

However, Paper Rex proved to be an iron wall on defense, as no single individual on the roster was found slouching. All five members woke up, contributing evenly on defense, sweeping the second half 9-2 to win the series 13-10.

Though all Paper Rex players turned up, Jinggg was the one leading the charge on the defense, posting an 11/4 KD in the second half alone. 

Map 2 – Bind

The second battleground was Bind, picked by the Paper Rex squad. 

Paper Rex won the pistol round, riding the momentum to quickly post a 4-1 lead on defense. However, the team started to lose their footing as T1 could post three straight to level the score. 

Things looked like it would slip away for Paper Rex, but d4v41 took matters into his own hands, getting a 4K round to pull his team back in the lead. However, the half ended 6-6, as close as it got. 

Paper Rex won the second pistol round and converted the anti-eco, but T1, with the help of Sayaplayer and Rossy, showed they were relatively comfortable on defense. The Korean-based roster won five straight to take an 11-8 lead, and they looked to tie the series. 

However, Paper Rex did not want Jinggg’s first game back to end in an unfavorable result, so the team started rallying rounds, eventually taking the map into overtime. 

In overtime, mindfreak, the lowest-performing player on the team, stepped up with a triple kill to win the first round. Paper Rex ended the series by winning the following round, resulting in a 14-12 victory on the second map. 

Overall, Jinggg ended the series as the highest-rated player in the match, with a 1.17 rating, and a 40/32/11 KDA. If he’s top fragging in his first game back after his extended break, what’s going to happen when he shaves all the rust off?

Paper Rex’s next match is scheduled for the 13th of April. They will face Gen.G, the team that dethroned them to become the best team in the Pacific region. But this time, Paper Rex’s trump card has returned. Will we see a different result?

Header: Jinggg Instagram