Paper Rex is parting ways with captain d4v41 and Jinggg ahead of the 2027 VALORANT season. Both players were part of the roster that won VCT 2025 Masters Toronto, but their departures follow the team’s 7th–8th-place finish at Champions 2026 in Shanghai.

D4v41 had been with Paper Rex since the organisation was founded in 2020, initially playing on its CS:GO roster before moving to VALORANT. Jinggg joined the team on 28 September 2021. Neither player has announced a new destination. In Paper Rex’s farewell video, d4v41 said he was moving to another team, while Jinggg wrote on X that he was excited about what comes next.

The changes conclude a season that produced strong international results before Paper Rex’s Champions run ended early. The team finished as runner-up at both Masters Santiago and Masters London. At Champions, Paper Rex lost 2-0 to LOUD in the upper-bracket quarter-finals on 7 October, before a 2-1 defeat against T1 in the first lower-bracket round on 9 October. LOUD later won the tournament final against Team Vitality.

Jinggg and d4v41 leave with an extensive shared record at Paper Rex. Jinggg helped the team finish second at Masters Copenhagen 2022 and was part of the roster that reached the Champions 2023 final. Liquipedia also lists both players among the line-up that won Masters Toronto in 2025.

Paper Rex’s rebuild is not the result of losing its league position. Riot has reduced the number of partner teams in each region from ten to eight for 2027–28, but Paper Rex remains one of VCT Pacific’s eight partners. Those teams will receive seeded places at Kickoff in January 2027, while four additional teams will qualify through open qualifiers.

That secured place gives Paper Rex room to reconstruct its roster without first needing to qualify for the Pacific event. The availability of two Masters winners could also attract interest from teams outside the region as free agency opens globally.

Riot’s roster rules will influence potential moves. In most regions, open qualifiers require three of a team’s five players to come from that region, while teams must retain three of five players between events to carry progress forward. Open qualifiers begin later in November, with the first Masters event of the 2027 season scheduled for February.

Sources: Esports Insider.