Paper Rex are now on the verge of making history at the
2025 VALORANT Masters Toronto. After a
well-deserved win over Sentinels, the Pacific team is now gearing up to face Wolves Esports in the upper finals—a match which could bring them ever closer to their long-awaited international title.
Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto opens up about his switch from duelist to controller, beating Sentinels, and what it really means to be part of the Paper Rex family.
In Map 2 on Sunset, things got close, but you ended it with a ninja defuse. What were the comms like at that moment?
Jason "f0rsakeN" Susanto: "At that moment, PatMen (Patrick Mendoza) and I were in a 2v1 situation, so I just told him, "I trust you Pat, you're gonna kill him." But then he died, and I panicked. I saw the smoke was 0.2 seconds away from me so I smoked myself, and I knew I’d defuse and we’d win right there.
Split was a dominant win for you, but Sunset was more difficult—especially when Sentinels took the lead. Were you stressed at any point?
f0rsakeN: We knew what they’d do on defense on Sunset, but our comms were not it. I’d say it was both miscommunication and failing to trust each other. On attack, we read them and their plays much better.
You'll now be facing Wolves—a strong team with a lot of momentum and fan support. How do you feel about that matchup?
f0rsakeN: We've been scrimming against them a lot. Their playstyle is so annoying. Maybe we'll have to adjust a bit ahead of our match. Hopefully we'll be ready when the time comes.
Were you surprised to see Wolves make it this far? A lot of people expected Gen.G to win. Do you think their success comes from a strong playstyle, momentum, or maybe the crowd hype?
f0rsakeN: I really did not expect that Gen.G would lose, especially with how well they played against us. I’d say the cause was that their playstyle is similar to how Wolves play, so it made it hard on them. The Wolves have SiuFatBB (Pong Ka-hei), who always stands up and hypes his team, and also Lysoar (Liang Youhao). We need to look out for those two. It’s going to be really fun to face them.
A lot of fans consider Paper Rex one of the best teams to never win an international trophy. You've had strong regional success, but haven't quite reached the top on the global stage. What do you think has been missing? And do you believe this 2025 roster has what it takes to finally win it all?
f0rsakeN: Maybe the missing piece was actually PatMen, you know? After he arrived, our vibes improved—we all got motivated again. We're all on point now. Everyone acts like leaders. We’ve found ways to control ourselves and not get tilted as much as before—always remain positive. If we can beat our demons, which is honestly ourselves, I believe we can win the Masters Toronto.
Was it a difficult decision to bench Aaron "mindfreak" Leonhart and bring in PatMen, especially since mindfreak had been with the team as long as you?
f0rsakeN: Yeah, it was a hard decision. mindfreak was a really good smoker, but I think we had some role issues. We had to make the swap.
I once heard a League player say his passport felt like a book of regrets—full of stamps from events he couldn’t win. Do you ever reflect on that yourself?
f0rsakeN: We always have discussions about our losses, why we fell short in the Grand Finals two times, why we cannot close out maps. It's always on our minds.
I spoke to Cahya "monyet" Nugraha recently, and he said he sees Paper Rex as the favorites to win. Do you think this 2025 roster is the best version of Paper Rex so far?
f0rsakeN: I'm always confident. This roster might be the best Paper Rex roster yet. All of our players are awesome and they do not fear losing. We're always ready to make plays.
You've shifted from playing mostly duelists in the past to more of a controller role now. What was the reasoning behind the switch, and how do you feel about it?
f0rsakeN: We’ve tried putting Jinggg (Wang Jing Jie) on smoking duties a couple of times, but I think it’s just not his style. He likes to play aggressive, so I took the decision to take that role. I like to spam utility and stuff. I’d say this role suits me well. I’m happy with it—it’s a chill role.
Do you ever miss playing Jett?
f0rsakeN: I miss playing Yoru, actually.
Paper Rex has a reputation for innovation—like pioneering Yoru and creative plays on maps like Breeze. Is staying creative still a core part of your team’s DNA?
f0rsakeN: I always want to be creative. We already do it a lot, and we have a lot of strats saved up.
Paper Rex is one of the most stable rosters in Valorant, with many long-standing players like yourself. How are the relationships between the players?
f0rsakeN: We’ve been together for almost four years now. We’ve become close to one another by now. When people get upset or things like that, we know we just need to have a good talk about it. This team—it’s like a family.
Credit: Stefan Wisnoski/Riot Games
Is there anything you’d like to say to your fans?
f0rsakeN: Thank you for the support everyone. Just keep believing, the Paper Rex train, step by step, we're getting there. I hope that you guys enjoyed our match, thank you."
Header Photo Credit: Stefan Wisnoski/Riot Games
