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Hailing all the way from Brazil, Raze is an explosive Duelist in Valorant, existing in the game ever since its beta phase. Damage-inducing abilities like Paint Shells and the Showstopper, combined with the Blast Packs for movement, make her one of the most impactful Duelists in the game.
Ever since the Jett nerfs, Raze has been picked in a higher number of professional and casual matches. Her pick rate this year ranged from 48% in VCT Masters Tokyo to 55% in Valorant Champions 2023. There were many players throughout 2023 who shined bright while playing as Raze. Below is a list of five such Raze players who dominated VCT 2023.
Note: This list is subjective and reflects the writer's opinions.
jawgemo, Jinggg, and three more Raze Valorant pros that were incredible in VCT 2023
1) Jinggg
Wang "Jinggg" Jing Jie is a Singaporean esports player who plays for the Paper Rex team. Although he mainly fulfills the role of a Duelist for his team, he has also stepped in to play as the Sentinel, Sage, when needed.
Jinggg proved to be a menace to the enemy teams throughout last year, and 2023 was no different. Paper Rex's aggressive style, mixed with Jinggg's unpredictable Raze plays, almost always guaranteed his team an early advantage. On top of that, he is tremendously talented in his mechanics and could get his team out of tricky situations.
In VCT 2023, Jinggg secured an ACS (Average Combat Score) of 253 and 234.1 in VCT Masters Tokyo and Valorant Champions 2023, respectively.
2) jawgemo
Alexander "jawgemo" Mor is an esports player from Cambodia who played for Evil Geniuses. He mainly fulfilled the role of a Controller for his team and would only step into the role of Raze for certain maps like Fracture, Lotus, etc.
jawgemo has been on the roster for the Evil Geniuses team since January 2022. Initially, the team didn't see much success in their region and failed to qualify for the international events. However, VCT 2023 saw this team go from underdogs to winning the title of World Champion.
Although jawgemo had switched to the role of a Controller, his Raze plays would remain very impactful for his team. His incredible movement with Raze has thrown off his enemies countless times. In the Grand Finals of Valorant Champions 2023, jawgemo ended with a whopping 85 kills over four maps, three of which he played Raze on.
3) TENNN
Tenta "TENNN" Asai is a Japanese esports who played for ZETA DIVISION. He mainly filled in the role of the Sentinel, Killjoy, but would also play the Duelist, Raze, as and when needed.
ZETA DIVISION's iconic run in Masters Reykjavik in 2022 cemented its reputation as one of the best teams in the Pacific region. However, their performance in VCT 2023 didn't yield great results as they saw an early elimination in LOCK//IN and did not qualify for Masters Tokyo.
To turn things around, ZETA decided to go along with some non-meta compositions for their team. This is where TENNN's Raze would come into play. Alongside Laz's Chamber, his destructive Raze plays would completely halt the enemy teams. The switch in team compositions led to ZETA winning the LCQ (Last Chance Qualifiers) to make it to Valorant Champions 2023. TENNN ended the LCQ with an ACS of 226.3 by playing Raze throughout the event.
4) Derke
Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev is a Finnish esports player who plays for Fnatic. He mainly played the primary Duelists, Raze and Jett, for the team.
Derke started out with Fnatic in January 2021 and quickly rose to become one of the top players in the EMEA region. He dominated the international Valorant events and completely outaimed his opponents. While Derke is mainly known for his Jett plays, he changed gears considerably by picking Raze more often in 2023.
Derke picked Raze for 53.2% of the past year and continued his level of performance in 2022. Fnatic's smooth win in VCT Masters Tokyo saw him play Raze throughout the event, where he ended with an ACS of 210. He was also the top player in the VCT EMEA League, where he scored a total of 268.6 ACS.
5) whzy
Wang "whzy" Haozhe is a Chinese esports player who plays for the team Bilibili Gaming, where his role has mainly been to push forward as the primary Duelist. However, whzy has also switched to the Sentinels, Chamber, and Killjoy in the past.
Unfortunately, the Chinese Valorant scene took a while to catch up to the international teams. But two teams, namely EDward Gaming and Bilibili Gaming, finally made a breakthrough in 2023, with whzy being a big reason for the latter team's success.
whzy picked Raze for 31.3% in the past year and gave an incredible performance during his international debut in Valorant Champions 2023. His fearless and 'in the face' Raze shotgun plays cut through the veteran NRG Esports, earning him a total of 96 kills in both series.
