Paper Rex and Global Esports swap players amid VCT rostermania

Global Esports and Paper Rex have announced a player swap, the first of the VCT 2023-24 off-season, with one team getting an IGL and the other a Controller.

With the VCT rostermania in full swing, two Pacific organizations have announced a player trade, with Benedict ‘Benkai’ Tan heading over to Global Esports from Paper Rex and Cahya ‘Monyet’ Nugraha moving in the opposite direction.

Monyet joins the Valorant Champions 2023 runners-up as a replacement for Wang ‘Jinggg’ Jing Jie, who is set to start his mandatory military service in 2024.

Introducing PRX Monyet🦖🐒

Welcome to the #WGAMING squad, @cahyanug_! pic.twitter.com/mhNLS4mB9T

— Paper Rex (@pprxteam) September 16, 2023

The Indonesian played Controllers for Global Esports after mostly piloting Duelists in the first two years of his career. The change in role did not dampen his fragging power, however, as he was one of the VCT Pacific league’s top performers.

“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome [Monyet] to the Paper Rex family!” Paper Rex CGO Harley ‘dsn’ Örvall said in a press release.”

“He’s a young, hungry player who has impressively demonstrated his versatility, playing a wide range of Agents in the past. We believe that his outstanding debut season in VCT Pacific was just the beginning and that the best is yet to come.”

Global Esports secure IGL for 2024 VCT season

Benkai was benched by Paper Rex after Week 4 of the VCT Pacific league, when the team moved Russian duelist Ilya ‘something’ Petrov to the starting lineup. He watched from afar as the team won its regional league, placed in the top three at VCT Masters Tokyo, and reached the final at Valorant Champions 2023.

Though Benkai has been away from action for some time, he was considered a top-level IGL during his time with Paper Rex.

The Singaporean is the first piece of the puzzle as Global Esports overhaul their roster after a disappointing season. The team did not qualify for either VCT Masters Tokyo or Valorant Champions, placing eighth in the VCT Pacific league and fifth-sixth in the Pacific LCQ.

Global Esports still has three players under contract, Ganesh ‘SkRossi’ Gangadhar, Abhirup ‘Lightningfast’ Choudhury, and Park ‘Bazzi’ Jun-ki, but it’s unclear if any of them will be part of the 2024 roster. Rushindra Sinha, the CEO and co-founder of Global Esports, said on Friday that the team will continue to have Indian players on the roster.

Keep track of all the changes in the Valorant scene with our off-season rostermania tracker.