NAVI are making one of VALORANT’s worst agents vital to their VCT success

Out of all the teams competing across the three franchised VALORANT leagues in 2023, NAVI stand out for experimenting with one of the boldest picks in VCT: Yoru. This agent is known for his ties to unique comps from Pacific teams, but NAVI is bringing it to EMEA. This is nothing new for fans of NAVI’s core, as the team was known for making off-kilter picks and compositions under the FunPlus Phoenix banner.

In their 2-0 series win against Team Liquid on May 5, NAVI’s superstar addition Mehmet “cNed” İpek played Yoru in both maps. Heading into the 2023 season, fans across the world were wondering how cNed would mesh with the former FPX core. Well, NAVI are 6-1, and cNed is thriving on the unlikeliest of agents. Yoru’s not just a one-off meme pick either, with the team consistently using him for Fracture and Bind. Surprising to say the least, considering that before cNed joined NAVI, he had never played Yoru in the VCT circuit.

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Some of the other notable Yoru players across the world include Paper Rex’s Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto and Talon Esports’ Itthirit “foxz” Ngamsaard, but cNed has emerged as a different style of Yoru player. Where a lot of players use Yoru’s kit to trick their opponents and cover a lot of distance, cNed is uses him to assist what he does best: get kills with the Operator.

This style is very different than using the Operator on Jett, since her dashes and smokes allow for easy retreats or engages. Yoru is more complex, with teleports, flashes, and a fake clone to surprise and trick enemies. But cNed is making it work, winning all four of the maps he’s played Yoru on so far.

Some of his key plays revolve around his teleports, usually using it aggressively to get onto site when he has a Vandal or Phantom. But, with the Operator, he uses fake clones to make noise and bait enemies to look away from his angle, leading to easy shots. Alongside that, he sets up teleport as his escape, usually placing it close to his spawn or wherever he can TP to safely and get a different Operator angle.

CNed hasn’t been the sole reason for the team’s success when he’s played Yoru, but winning with the agent is no easy feat. Out of all of NAVI’s opposition aside from Fnatic, Liquid have looked much better than their performance at LOCK//IN. Choosing to play Yoru twice against a strong opponent was a bold decision, and cNed still had some great moments in the series against Liquid, even if his Yoru performances against Team Vitality and BBL Esports were better statistically.

Now, the only question is to see if this is a regular season pick, or if we might see cNed on Yoru when playoffs comes around. With a 6-1 record, NAVI’s path to Masters Tokyo is essentially secured, and the time for experimentation is nigh for coach Erik “d00mbr0s” Sandgren and his roster.

NAVI plays against FUT Esports next on May 11.