Former Dignitas player Rory “dephh” Jackson has joined XSET’s VALORANT team ahead of the VCT Stage 3 as their new in-game leader, the organization announced today.
The British player, most known for his time on Complexity’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team, has completed the North American roster just weeks before the beginning of the VALORANT Championship Tour Stage 3. VCT Stage 3 begins either later this month, or in July.
Dephh intends to retain current roles, but add depth to the Agent pool of each player. “Our first plan as a team is to expand our agent pool as deep as possible,” he told Upcomer in an interview.
“Seems to me from my trial and scrim period these guys have a bunch of agents they can play between all maps. Can’t wait to dive into some officials again, finally,” he said.
A top tier team
XSET is considered to be in the upper echelon of North American VALORANT. While they are yet to win an event, the side tend to finish within the top eight, but usually challenge the best in the region.
XSET finished in second place at the VCT NA Stage 2 Challengers 1, which concluded in April. The side took down Built by Gamers in the upper bracket, but were sent to the lower bracket by Team Envy. XSET got their revenge after they defeated Immortals and eventual Stage 2 Masters attendee, Version1.
“XSET was a team I’ve been keeping my eye on for a while now,” dephh said. ”I love how they play, especially in the older metas they played fearlessly.”
But XSET is yet to break through at the highest level in the region, with the likes of Version1 and Sentinels at the top of the food chain. XSET, alongside the likes of Envy and Cloud9 Blue, look to knock them off their pedestal.
“XSET has been in contention for almost every VCT event,” dephh said. “It seems like they are at the final hurdle and just need a little bit of experience to push them over the edge.”
“They value the leadership role and what it brings, maybe it was lacking slightly before. We have a bunch of different backgrounds and games in the current roster, so I’m being very careful in the way I show my system.”
XSET is set to compete in the VCT Stage 3, fielding the following roster:
- Zander “thwifo” Kim
- Jordan “AYRIN” He
- Bryce “PureR” Lovell
- Brendan “bcJ” Jensen
- Rory “dephh” Jackson.
