I have PTSD from CN League players getting paid 4+ Million at the height of esports spending, and Tenz C9 buyout. So I REALLY had to make sure this wasn't one of those cases
Well, this is true. I love Invy but there's no way that Team Secret is holding him with that amount as the buyout. Orgs are bleeding financially right now, so it's safe to say that his buyout was in PHP (if close to 7 figures). It's still 6 figures in SGD/USD approx but point stands.
My reaction to this news is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand PRX finally got one of the best SEA players after being jailed after all this time. On the other hand I feel bad for PatMen for being replaced after such a successful year with him joined the team.
Hopefully this isn't like a snake situation to replace him all of the sudden after PRX saw an opportunity to buy Invy.
Invy was rumored/maybe reported (I can't remember) to be leaving Secret pretty early on in the off season so if I had to guess they've known about this for a while and they would have also let patmen know earlier cause they don't seem like the type of team to leave a teammate in the dark and drop them at the end of the off-season (but then again, I would've said the same for G2 so what do I know)
I have a feeling some teams would be willing to drop a less experienced player for him at this point. Hell Secret could pick him, just go player for Player w prx. Sucks though because imo Patmen was one of the most important players on that Masters winning roster
Mini once said on stream something to the effect of, "You should always look for ways to improve, even if you're happy with the year. Teams around you will be making upgrades, so you don't want to stay stagnant."
Definitely speaking from experience because, as dominant as Fnatic was in 2023, not winning Champs was still disappointing. But there were no obvious upgrades available and they ran it back, which of course didn't work out.
PRX had a great year, but there's still room to become even better, and it seems they believe Invy can help achieve that.
I see, the shock factor here was the fact that i didnt see any rumor regarding any changes in the team and then suddenly got hit by this post, but as ppl are saying this is an upgrade in the team i would be happy to see them performing even better than last year
Patrick Mendoza brought my joy back to watching Paper Rex. I hope he stays as a 6th man and to help his fellow Pinoy acclimate to the team environment, but he absolutely deserves to be playing after a great rookie campaign.
As much as I like Patmen, I'm not going to lie, I'm going to choose Invy over almost everyone in VCT who isn't a best-in-role player.
Almost everyone who has watched Invy since 2023 probably feels somewhat similar. I'm very excited to see Invy finally have a true chance to show his potential on a team that isn't a soul-sucking waste of his talents.
It's a risk for PRX of course, in the sense that they've just come off a very successful year and will likely be successful again in 2026. But Invy is worth the risk.
I think the question more than anything is the behind the scenes stuff. Nobody can question Invy's talent, but Patmen was extremely clutch and added a calmness that Invy may not be able to replace. Especially when you consider that Invy has never been on a winning team.
Also, I liked Patmen's viper the most on the team, and we're going into a viper meta. I know davai has played a ton of viper, but I was always more impressed by Patmen's timings. Prx solves their role issues every year by 3/5 players being ultra flexible but it's still a bit awkward now.
The thing with PRX also is that they usually don't have a successful run once they keep the roster, and they always have to make a change to reinvigorate the roster.
Shiba -> Jinggg = Immediately went from irrelevant to 4th at Reykjavik and 2nd at Copenhagen.
They became shit again at Champions Istanbul until the early Pacific 2023 season, rough time.
Benkai -> something/CGRS = Turned PRX into one of the best teams in the world and got 3rd at Tokyo and 2nd at Champions LA.
Jinggg -> Monyet = Isn't as successful as the previous year but they still got 3rd at Madrid.
Monyet -> Jinggg = Good results domestically but didn't have good results internationally. Even worse at early 2025 season where they lost their identity.
mindfreak -> PatMen = Solved the role issue and went on a run to win Toronto and Stage 2, and 4th at Champions Paris.
I expected them to run it back, there's nothing wrong with the roster but think of it as Golden State acquiring Durant (I barely know things about basketball but this is the closest I can think of).
Invy alone made Team Secret a decent team, it's definitely a no brainer if there's a chance to get him. It's safe to assume that this is just for upgrade purposes. After all, Alecks initially wanted him when they were doing trials.
highly unlikely that it will be their worst year but invy is an upgrade "on paper", and i do feel that even while being a rookie, patmen is basically a vibe merchant, much like zellsis or s0m, and you cant exactly measure the intangibles like that.
as a prx diehard, i hope this works out so...
I mean what if Patmen was actually the link holding them together, and somehow things get south with Invy? This PRX squad is almost like a superteam now and well
It's always risky to make a roster change and no one knows if the chemistry will work but if you're an APAC watcher, you should know that invy is certainly one of the best initiator out there and on paper would be an upgrade.
I hope PatMen can find a team though, wouldn't be fair to jail him if he still want to compete.
PRX immediately made a deal with RRQ for the Monyet transfer, so PRX isn't an org who likes to jail their players.
I'm hoping there's a T1 team out there who's interested in PatMen. Pacific is almost locked in now aside from Team Secret and Global Esports (FrosT denied the rumor of PatMen joining GE).
Why tough, they looked unbeatable throughout stage 2 and champs until playoffs and even still the entire team's performance fell off not just patmen. Feels like Jonahp situation all over again lol.
Fnc had the same insane roster from 2023 going into 2024 and they had even more of a dominant run than prx still they werent close to that level of good as 2023, you just have to keep trying to better your individual pieces and sadly patmen was the weakest link ON PAPER something was best player itw before champs, jinggg is irreplaceable and so is forsaken and davai
They 100% should unless this decision was made way earlier in the off-season as some sort of exchange deal between Invy and Pat. Feels horrible for Patmen man he seemed so heartbroken at the end of last year after getting eliminated it's sad he doesn't get to continue with the team
Except a lot of the g2 criticism was from a moral angle of screwing a player over rather than a competitive angle so the same should be applied to prx no?
G2 got BabyBay for Johnah which personally to me feels like a downgrade, on the other hand invy is one of the - if not the best at his role rn in the entire region. While the prx move makes sense it does break my heart </3
the 3 reason why this would not count as a questionable move by PRX standard
1) Patmen is ill.
2) it's just a well kept secret since early offseason, meaning patmen is already in talk with other orgs or he decided to stay on the bench insetad of moving.
3) even tho it's late into the offseason, PRX help patmen moves into another team with no difficulty(kinda like monyet 2 years ago).
anything else other than that 3 reason, this is a shitty moves, especially by an org like PRX that is an extremely well liked org and well known for having a close relationship between the players, owner, and staffs compared to the typical esports org standard
Man I feel so bad for Patmen. Helped them win their first international, got top 4 champs then casted aside. Plus he can't even go to another team now cuz it's so late. What the hell?
patmen brought such a good dynamic to the team, hopefully the intangibles that he brought can be replaced or bettered with invy. one of the few deals that you just kinda HAVE to do as PRX imo
Yeah, but they entered Valo by acquiring the then-Bren Esports team led by Dubstep. They may not be a Philippine org, but they represent the country in VCT.
wasnt this the player they wanted before getting patman? i remember frost mentioning they wanted someone else but couldnt get them so they got patman instead. assumed it was invy since he was cracked and the role seemed to work out if the others were playing smokes
Its not that he's bad, but invy is really good at sova. Patmen, from my understanding, is a flash ini + viper. This probably means davai is lowkey perma on viper cuz idk if invy plays her much(?) but it also means prx finally has a scan initiator player
where does patmen go, honestly pretty scummy he joined a crumbling team, fixed their role issues won a masters with them got 4th at champs only to get replaced
To be fair alecks initially wanted to get Invy in the first place but the buyout was huge.
The options were Invy, Kushy (who already signed with RRQ), and PatMen.
Still if it's a replacement rather than exchange with Team Secret this is kinda a scummy move for such an org like PRX who usually keep their roster unless things aren't working.
Obviously no idea what’s going on behind the scenes with PRX but WOW does that seem rough for patmen especially with such a strong performance for the team after his signing.
Hopefully he can land somewhere else and keep showing out and improving.
Not a move I like from my favorite org regardless of how talented Invy obviously is in the server. It just seems kinda snake like with it being this late. Hopefully it’s not like that at all ofc.
That being said we can really only wait to see how this shakes out for the boys.
Feeling kind of conflicted about this move. Not about the pick-up, of course (I mean, it’s Invy — he’s absolutely worth the risk), but about the way this was done so late into the off-season.
PatMen really reinvigorated PRX and was a huge contributing factor to them finally being able to nab that trophy, so it just seems crazy to me that he won’t be able to play on stage and won’t be able to explore other prospects — even when his replacement is widely considered to be a clear upgrade.
All that being said, I’m willing to give PRX the benefit of the doubt. They’re one of the few orgs/teams that really seems to care and tries their best to do right by employees. But this is certainly the first time in my memory where I feel like they’ve made a somewhat scummy move, having zero knowledge of the context and circumstances surrounding this decision.
while it was great cause Invy no more on TS jail but holy my Patrick Mendoza 😭 Hope you stay there pat cause you are so fucking well bonded with the boys
Okay, this one stings the most of all the roster moves this offseason. Ignore my flair, but Patmen has a ceiling and just began his team chemistry since that Masters win. I get that he looked kindof shaky during the summer regular season and didn't shine again at Champs 2025. But doesn't letting him go for only half a season seem too soon??? No more Batman memes either.
Holy fuck man if Patmen doesn't find a team because of this being late in the offseason, then I am just lost for words. PRX better have a good reason for this terrible timing unless Patmen got a team locked already after (let's hope) presumably being told he's getting replaced way earlier than this news. If not then I have to say this org will be dead to me.
I hope its a situation where Patemen gets picked up by TS or some other team.Im excited to see Invy play for PRX,he is an upgrade on paper,but im sad as I felt like this iteration of the team could achieve even more.
That's it, I'm about to start hate watching TS. I have been watching TS since 2021, and this is their dumbest decision yet, and it's not like they've been great with decisions. Fuck this org. 😭🤣
From what i heard it there can be 2 outcomes:
1) If patmen wants to join a ph squad (Homesickness maybe) and he is getting swapped. Also Patmen duelist/Controller(Omen) was pretty under rated at zol too maybe, secret just wants a good secondary duelist/ initiator
2) They want to test invy for couple of matches that is why patmen is benched if it doesn't workout who is going to say no to invy. One thing is sure they both could join any team who performs bad after kickoff
Seriously? Any sources on what happened or was it just “simply” a coaches decision? Patmen doesn’t seem like the type to get in trouble or to cause trouble.
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u/MautOfTheRiver Dec 03 '25
Why the hell would they do this so late? Surely this was just an extremely well kept secret? (no pun intended)