When it came to all the first matchups of the VALORANT Champions 2023 playoff stage, one of the biggest was between the best from the Americas and China. While both squads were quite equally matched, one unique choice from Evil Geniuses was enough to turn the tide.
For just the second time in Champions 2023, Yoru was chosen, with EG’s flex star Ethan using it to counter EDG’s style today.
In what has become classic EG fashion, they outsmarted their opponents in agent select, picking off-meta characters to surprise foes. It didn’t work too well with Chamber on Split earlier in the VALORANT series, but Yoru on Pearl made the map easy.
Now, what does Yoru provide that other VALORANT duelist picks don’t? Two things: teleportation from Gatecrash, and extensive scouting from Dimensional Drift. So, where other duelists are good at pushing into sites quickly and creating space, Yoru does it more by surprising enemies and getting ahead of them.
Related: VALORANT Champions 2023: Scores, schedule, and standings
It started quickly with the second round, just after EG lost the pistol. The team knew they had to get value to stop any early momentum from EDG, so they stacked three at A main, with one covering mid and one on B site. Ethan on Yoru was part of that push, with his Gatecrash all the way at B site in case the A main push leads to nothing.
That ended up being an escape instead of a rotate, with Ethan getting two kills with the Classic before getting stuck in a corner. Teleporting to his rotating team, it changed into a three-v-three retake, where Boostio and his Sherriff turned a gun advantage for EDG into a thrifty round win.
On a scale of one to 10, that play was a two on a creative Yoru scale. Now, let’s look at one of the more interesting plays. Up 4-2, after a timeout, EDG aimed to push onto A site through art.
EG was wary, having Ethan set up alongside two teammates, but Ethan was there for one purpose: bait. When EDG started to push down art, Ethan swung and immediately teleported away, both baiting shots but also making enemies think he was alone. That is when ZmjjKK dashed in as Jett to clear the corner, getting shot by jawgemo holding the close angle.
Where EDG thought they had an easy kill or a free site, they got neither and lost a player, leading to the round loss. This one, intentional or not, was a seven on that same creativity scale.
Lastly, we got what ended up being the final round. On attack, up 12-5, EG decided to push B main, with Jawgemo holding the flank from mid. He threw his Gatecrash to go just beside the pillar at B main, at first holding a flash. He wanted to throw it in the air, flash his enemies while he teleports and shoots them for free; a set Yoru play.
But, his teammate C0M used his Owl Drone to clear that space, confirming he didn’t need to flash, so Ethan just teleported in.
After clearing the space alongside a smoke from Jawgemo, they used Killjoy’s Lockdown to force enemies off. Two more ults were traded, but Demon1 died early trying to get to Halls. Alas, Ethan was already in Halls, thanks to the second Gatecrash he threw when the Lockdown was about to go off.
So, when EDG tried to enter site from B Link, they got mowed down. Yoru killed three before he’d traded thanks to nobody on EDG expecting him, leading to a 4v2 scenario that his team then used to secure the map and series win.
No matter what happens from now on at Champion 2023, the fact EG can run Yoru from their flex player to counter-strat powerful enemies like EDG has to send sweat down other players’ backs.
EG will face DRX next in the upper bracket on Aug. 19, while EDG fight for their lives in the lower bracket against regional rivals Bilibili on Aug. 18.
