Valorant star ‘something’ was turned down by VCT team before joining Paper Rex

Valorant superstar Ilya ‘something’ Petrov has revealed that a VCT team passed up on the opportunity to sign him before he joined Paper Rex. According to him, the team didn’t even give him a trial.

The Russian duelist has emerged as one of Valorant’s brightest stars in his first year of VCT competition after joining Paper Rex in March. The team won the VCT Pacific League and remains in the race for the Valorant Champions 2023 trophy as the tournament enters its final stages.

something made a name for himself in the Japanese Challengers League, where he was frequently at the top of the scoreboard in the matches played by his team, Sengoku Gaming. In February, he even broke the record for most kills in a pro match.

For a player on the rise like him, a move to a VCT team was a natural progression, but not everyone seemed convinced of his talent. Rex Regum Qeon, another team competing in the VCT Pacific League, allegedly turned him down without so much as a trial.

“A lot of teams were thinking that since I was playing in Japan, it meant I could only kill Japanese players,” he said on a recent stream.

“I messaged RRQ before I joined Paper Rex. They said no without any trials.”

something added that he was handed a trial by BOOM Esports, a team competing in Challengers Indonesia. In the end, however, they decided against signing him.

“I know why they rejected me,” he said. “Maybe it was because of language. I’m not sure. Something like this.”

Contrasting fortunes

RRQ are certainly ruing their decision not to pursue the Russian player. The team crashed out of VCT LOCK//IN in the Round of 32 and placed seventh in the VCT Pacific League with a 4-5 record.

Their season came to an end on July 21 after losing to Gen.G in the lower bracket semi-final of the VCT Pacific LCQ.

Paper Rex will take on Evil Geniuses on Thursday in the Valorant Champions upper bracket final, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s title decider.

This will be Wang ‘Jinggg’ Jing Jie’s final tournament with Paper Rex. According to head coach Alexandre ‘alecks’ Sallé, the Singaporean player will leave the team at the end of the season to complete his military service.

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