After a three-month break from competitive VALORANT, one of the world’s most exciting duelists has returned with a bang.
In his second week back in pro play, Paper Rex’s Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie continued his long-awaited comeback tour on an unorthodox pick to help kickstart two straight wins vs. Gen.G. Far and away from his normal main duelist pick, Raze, the talented star was actually slotted into the Sentinel role for the first time in months.
For the first time since the 2023 VCT Masters in Tokyo, the 20-year-old was placed on Sage duty while down a game during their series and helped set the bar for the rest of his team on Icebox. He has only played Sage 25 times throughout his entire career compared to the 196 total matches he has on Raze, and even though he didn’t have the same fragging impact, he still managed to put up some good rounds from the backlines.
Sage doesn’t provide the same dueling potential as other agents, like Raze or Reyna, but an aggressive Sage that is willing to fight can be a huge boon for any well-coordinated squad. With her Barrier Wall and Slow Orb, the agent can force enemies into more predictable angles and allow the player to take better one-on-one fights with their supreme aim.
Paper Rex won Icebox by a narrow 13-11 scoreline, and eventually, the team’s supporters were relieved to see Jinggg eventually swapped off of Sage onto Raze again. He did end with a worse scoreline on Raze, but this is because he is usually forcing himself onto site for his team and putting himself right in harm’s way.
Sage, on the other hand, is forced to play at a much safer rate since she is primarily used to heal teammates, slow enemies, and block off their advance. She lives much longer than Raze and gets more chances to get kills as a result, while Raze is often dead near the start of the round after jumping into the fray off of the first push.
Ultimately, Jinggg finished with 51 kills, 48 deaths, and 13 assists, which was tied for the lowest amount of eliminations on his team—but higher than every player on Gen.G. He is still clearly shaking off the rust after taking three months off, but this win should give him enough momentum to get back into form over the next week.
