Ilya “something” Petrov, a Russian VALORANT star, claimed during one of his most recent Twitch streams that Rex Regum Qeon—another squad in the VCT Pacific League—completely ignored him before he signed with Paper Rex in 2023.
Even though something was a standout player in Japanese Challengers 2022, he was overlooked by nearly all the teams that got into the VCT Pacific League. The star said during the livestream that the teams may have thought he was only able to perform well against Japanese players and therefore didn’t consider him good enough to sign.
Before something joined Paper Rex, he said he reached out to Rex Regum Queon but was surprisingly turned down without any trials. After this, he trialed for BOOM Esports, a team that plays in Indonesia Challengers, but wasn’t signed and remained on Sengoku Gaming until joining Paper Rex this year.
As we near the end of 2023, however, it’s pretty clear that Rex Regum Qeon missed the opportunity to add a star to its VALORANT squad. Rex Regum Qeon crashed out in the first round of VCT LOCK//IN São Paulo in February, finished seventh in the VCT Pacific League with four wins and five losses, and failed to secure a VALORANT Champions 2023 spot in the LCQ.
Something, on the other hand, was the highest-rated player in the VCT Pacific League with a 1.22 rating, according to VALORANT stats site VLR.gg, and played an important part in Paper Rex’s title. The Russian currently is Paper Rex’s second-highest-rated player at VALORANT Champions with a 1.13 rating, according to VLR.gg.
Paper Rex and something can reach the VALORANT Champions 2023 grand finals on Thursday, Aug. 24 if they beat Evil Geniuses in the upper bracket finals. Rex Regum Qeon, on the other hand, likely regrets not picking him up while he was playing for Sengoku.