Former CS:GO professional and T1 VALORANT player Braxton “Brax” Pierce has joined TSM, the organization revealed today.
Unlike other roster moves, however, the organization has kept all five members to add Brax as a sixth VALORANT player in rotation. Brax would replace one of the current starting members if they were moved to the bench.
This is where our comeback starts.
Please welcome the 6th member of #TSM Valorant, @brax1wnl. pic.twitter.com/5QuYm1P8ue
— TSM FTX (@TSM) March 31, 2021
He will join Stephen “reltuC” Cutler, James “hazed” Cobb, Matthew “Wardell” Yu, Yassine “Subroza” Taoufik and Taylor “drone” Johnson on the side.
The organization made the move following their sixth place finish in the VALORANT Champions Tour 2021: North America Stage 1 Challengers 3 tournament, which took place in March. TSM finished alongside NRG after a defeat to 100 Thieves in the upper bracket semifinals.
But TSM have performed to the highest level in VALORANT, so far. The organization is noted as one of the best teams in the region, alongside Sentinels, 100 Thieves and FaZe Clan. TSM is ranked as the sixth best team in North America on the VLR leaderboard, just below 100 Thieves.
Brax is one of the most popular VALORANT players alongside the likes of Sentinels player Tyson “TenZ” Ngo. He has competed in the esport since its inception. In March of 2020, he joined T1 as a content creator and player, before the title was officially released in June later that year.
The 24-year-old had retired from competitive CS:GO after being indefinitely banned by Valve for match-fixing in 2014. Since Brax was handed this ban, he could not compete in Majors, the most important tournaments in the CS:GO calendar.
TSM is set to compete in the NA VALIANT Stage 2: Challengers Open Qualifier 1 on April 1 with Brax. TSM face off against Akuma Esports in the first round.
