How Paper Rex and f0rsakeN Forced Yoru’s First LAN Win

History was made earlier today after Paper Rex swept EMEA’s G2 to become the first Southeast Asian team to reach a VALORANT Masters semifinal. At the same time, the recently-reworked Yoru recorded his first-ever competitive win on the international LAN stage at the hands of the one and only Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto.

For ages, Yoru has been considered a garbage pick in competitive VALORANT as he simply cannot win games due to his kit’s niche use-case. First off, he is a subpar duelist when used to fill in for the initiator role, lacks the self-sustaining or damaging abilities Reyna and Raze have respectively, and is nowhere near as efficient as Jett or Chamber when using an Operator.

Sure, a legitimate rank demon can abuse Yoru in-game but when it comes to competitive VALORANT he falters. In fact, he was considered so bad that even Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan forbid Tyson “TenZ” Ngo from ever using the agent again in a competitive match.

However, against all odds f0rsakeN made Yoru win. He made him work on Bind. How? Simple, he played for his team.

Before Yoru’s First LAN Win 

Via Riot Games

Yoru’s first iteration proved to be quite terrible despite the hype he had during his reveal. His original kit consisted of two decoy footsteps (Fakeout), two flashes (Blindside), one teleport (Gatecrash), and Dimensional Drift where he’s basically almost invisible and untouchable when activated.

The first two weeks after Yoru’s initial release matched his hype as every cracked VALORANT player spammed Yoru in pubs. However, things took a different turn for Yoru as pros eventually figured out how to counter the agent. As such, his competitive pick rate (and win rate) plummeted as he became far too predictable. Some teams have tried and heartbreakingly failed to use Yoru effectively at Masters. Team Vikings used the Japanese agent during Masters Reykjavik 2021 but got shot in the foot instead. After that, teams simply gave up on the agent as his competitive viability was nowhere in sight.

Riot then tried to fix Yoru with countless patches — they buffed his Blindside, tweaked his Dimensional Drift, and made Gatecrash a time-based, replenishing ability — but none of the adjustments made him competitively attractive. When all hope seemed lost for Yoru, Riot announced his rework. Today’s iteration of Yoru now possesses the ability to fake teleport and deceive enemies with a clone (which flashes an enemy when shot and killed).

The Brilliance of Paper Rex

REYKJAVIK, ICELAND – APRIL 18: Paper Rex poses onstage after a victory match against G2 Esports at the VALORANT Masters Bracket Stage on April 18, 2022 in Reykjavik, Iceland. (Photo by Lance Skundrich/Riot Games)

Paper Rex is one of Southeast Asia’s most dominant teams. Their first international LAN appearance happened last year at the Berlin Masters. They captivated the world with Benedict “Benkai” Tan’s entrance shenanigans, antics they kept up even until today which everyone looked forward to.

Today, they are most infamously known for their PUG strats (a term used to describe strategies commonly used in queued normal or ranked games) in competitive VALORANT matches. The Singapore-based Southeast Asian team is known for their reckless aggression in VALORANT. Their aggro style of gameplay is a double-edged sword as their high-risk high-reward mentality both rewarded and punished them in their matches.

This only works as their team have two duelist superstars in f0rsakeN and Wang Jing “Jinggg” Jie. Most of the time, their agent composition utilizes both of these superstars while the rest of the team picks complimentary agents around both duelists. Their game plan is basically to use either f0rsakeN or Jinggg as instigators while a buddy supports or trades them when they die. As such, it has always been a treat to see f0rsakeN snipe their opponents’ heads with absolute confidence while Jinggg blast packs his way behind enemy lines and gets a kill (or two) using his Judge or Showstopper.

Yoru & f0rsakeN: A Match Made in Bind

Screenshot from VALORANT’s Twitch livestream

Yoru and f0rsakeN on Bind is as synonymous as Jett and Chamber with an Operator. The Indonesian superstar has picked Yoru whenever they play Bind even back in VCT APAC Stage 1 Challengers.

f0rsakeN uses Yoru on this map as the agent’s deceptive capabilities shine brightly. With the teleport sound cues (both from Yoru’s Gatecrash and Bind’s teleporters), Yoru capitalizes on giving enemies fake information as well as providing the team with avenues for contact plays. Instead of acting like an entry fragger, f0rsakeN thrived in info gathering with his Dimensional Drift and Gatecrashing to safety.

In their post-match victory interview against G2, f0rsakeN revealed that he uses Yoru for his team rather than for himself. All throughout the match, Yoru’s kit was used in conjunction with his teammates’ abilities to create combos, specifically with Benkai’s Breach and Khalish “d4v41” Rusyaidee’s Skye.

With that said, f0rsakeN’s Yoru was an excellent combo maker. His combos include teleporting + flash, teleports alongside his clone (sometimes even accompanied by another flash), and using the Dimensional Drift + flashing when it’s time to get out. He can do these plays solo or with the help of d4v41’s Guiding Light or Benkai’s numerous initiating abilities.

With f0rsakeN’s confidence (which he attributes to his young age), the entire Paper Rex squad was able to pull off masterful conquests to both sides (and sites) of the map. Their agent composition against G2 was built around both of their duelists’ insane fragging capabilities. Their relentless buddy system also proved to be the key to making their aggressive playstyle work.

In the end, Yoru got his first win at Master as f0rsakeN and his squad demolished G2 in Bind 13-7. f0rsakeN himself ended with an impressive and mindboggling 371 ACS with a 29/13/4 KDA. As the reworked Yoru’s potential got showcased in VALORANT Masters, here’s to hoping that more teams will pick him. It’s fun to see the Japanese agent back on the map (and annoy the hell out of the enemy team).

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