SamuraiD and Yoz join Nora-Rengo

While the eyes of everyone are mostly set on Europe, awaiting the next steps of the big organizations in the region, Japanese teams are still scouting the best players that want to pursue their careers in VALORANT.

Nora-Rengo was one of the first organizations to start establishing their VALORANT roster. At the beginning of May, we got to know the first two members of the squad: Minoru “yasu” Takeda and Yuta “UYP” Mima. Both of them had previous experience in FPS games: CS:GO and Call of Duty respectively. When we spoke with Yasuhiro “Kizoku” Nishi, the Founder of Nora-Rengo, at that time, he revealed that: “When it comes to the next members, players that were successful in Overwatch and have a proven track record may join Nora-Rengo.” Surprisingly, not that long after the announcement the organization presented the next two members that weren’t coming from the Overwatch scene, but CS:GO - Daichi “4qu1la” Sonobe and Souma “Temple” Murata.

The squad remained incomplete for a few weeks, but we could see the team competing in local tournaments with a few players, including Kazuki “SamuraiD” Nouno. Now, SamuraiD is confirmed to be a permanent player on Nora-Rengo’s roster. Nouno started his Overwatch career in 2016, and since that time represented a few big organizations from the region, including DeToNator, with whom he won the DeToNator Invitational in 2017, CYCLOPS athlete gaming, where he won Cosmic Knight Japan’s Overwatch Community-PRE SERIES #1 in 2018, and JUPITER, with which he claimed his last championship title, during the Season 1 of Pacific’s Overwatch Open Division 2019. He also represented Japan as a part of the national team during Overwatch World Cup in 2018 and 2019.

Nora-Rengo also acquired another Overwatch player that at the same time is the sixth member of the squad. Kenta “Yoz” Shimada, similar to SamuraiD, started his Overwatch career in 2016. He represented Japan during Overwatch World Cup 2017 and also played for CYCLOPS athlete gaming in the same year. Yoz retired from the scene in July 2018.

According to the official Twitter account of Nora-Rengo, as well as of Yuta “UYP” Mima, the second VALORANT division of the organization is in the works, and new members are still being recruited. Currently, there is no information regarding the amount of the players that will join Nora-Rengo, and if the first squad will remain as a six-man roster, or if one of the players will move to the second division.

The news about the complete roster of Nora-Rengo and the possibility of a second squad is another example of the growing interest for VALORANT in Japan. The region was one of the first to witness the Ignition Series around the globe, and soon in August the next one, with the prize pool ten times bigger, will be held, in addition to many smaller community tournaments being hosted in the recent weeks.

Nora-Rengo’s roster consists of:

Kenta “Yoz” Shimada Kazuki “SamuraiD” Nouno Daichi “4qu1la” Sonobe Souma “Temple” Murata Minoru “yasu” Takeda Yuta “UYP” Mima