Yoru returned to the dynamic agent meta of VCT in the highly anticipated Sentinels against 100 Thieves match on June 16. It had been a long since we had seen Yoru’s flare in professional VALORANT.
The Japanese “dimension drifter” was seen paired up with his partner-in-crime Raze, with the two combining to create an all-time favorite duelist combo on Bind that has been lost among the ever-changing trends. But in a crucial head-to-head, this composition may have given Sentinels exactly what they needed to pin down 100 Thieves, taking the fan-favorite team closer to winning a wild card to VALORANT Champions 2023.
With teams preferring a Jett-Raze combo or a solo duelist comp on Bind, the iconic Yoru-Raze pair had taken a hit in terms of popularity. But today’s match may change that for good, as Tyson “TenZ” Ngo and Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk reiterated how powerful Yoru’s kit can be on VALORANT’s desert map.
Both teams chose to go with the Japanese duelist in the series’ final match on Bind, shocking onlookers. It’s the Last Chance Qualifier, after all, and the decider match in the best-of-three single-elimination series. The losing team would be benched for the remaining VCT 2023 season, so the stakes couldn’t be higher.
To most fans’ delight, Sentinels emerged victorious over 100 Thieves, shattering the promising Stellar-led roster in a 2-1 series victory. Their win was fabulous, but TenZ’s clean performance with Yoru on Bind stole the show.
He and Zachary “zekken” Patrone on Raze ensured Sentinels didn’t have to scurry for space control on any of Bind’s attack rounds, ending the half with a dominating eight-round lead.
Yoru and Raze was a popular duelist comp on Bind before. Raze is great for flushing out Bind’s tightly-spaced features and for creating space, while Yoru is an excellent pseudo-duelist and an expert distractor.
TenZ was masterful with Yoru’s teleporting prowess, sneaking into sites behind Zekken’s Raze, single-handedly taking control of critical spaces like A site Bath, fleeing just in time to avoid death, and pinning down 100 Thieves’ players all across Bind. He made use of the trickster’s kit in the best way possible.
Be that as it may, Yoru’s potential as a solo duelist on the team is questionable. 100 Thieves’ struggle in today’s decider Bind match is a perfect example; the roster chose an entirely unconventional route by going with Yoru as the only duelist, supported by Skye, Harbor, Brimstone, and Chamber.
Duelists are gifted with abilities to create space and secure frags, and Bind’s defense-centric features make taking space control extremely important. Having to drive Yoru, Asuna had incredible responsibility to deal with and he had no fellow entry expert to support him.
Although they lost the series’ first map, Pearl, Sentinels’ strategies were foolproof on Split and Bind, giving 100 Thieves a run for their money. Regardless of the final result, it was incredibly entertaining, fun, and chaotic to watch the iconic Yoru-Raze pair return to VALORANT. We may yet see teams adopt the potent duo in future matches, hopefully bettering Yoru’s reputation among the casual player base as well.
With today’s loss, 100 Thieves are out of the very hyped VCT 2023 season. Sentinels have advanced to the Last Chance Qualifier’s upper-bracket semifinals, where they’ll face Cloud9—another difficult North American team to deal with—on July 17.