Whatever way you put them on it's going to mess up the airflow into the carbs.
That is correct. But, since you can't "see" the air, it doesn't matter in this case.
I will advise never to use a paper filter element exposed to water. Paper is made from pulp, almost always in a water mixture.
After it is dried into paper fibers and compressed into a porous filter form, the passageway sizes are about the same size. However, when you get finished paper wet it loses it's structural rigidity, sags, bends, or other wise deforms. In the case of a filter, pores sizes collapse and block many of the passageways through the filter, and raises the pressure differential created across the membrane with air flow/speed.
In short, a paper filter that's gotten wet is more restrictive than a new dry one, even after it dries out again.
Cheers,