North American organization Andbox has practiced without three of its VALORANT members recently, multiple sources told Upcomer Aug. 3. Arguably one of the best duelist players in North America, Jaccob “Yay” Whiteaker, former Immortals player Noah “jcStani” Smith and Zander “thwifo” Kim did not play with Andbox, according to multiple sources.
Yay is likely set to join another top roster in North America. Although there are several teams looking to sign him, he is yet to pen his next deal.
Thwifo will return to the inactive XSET roster, which he announced today. His deal with Andbox was a loan with an option to buy at the end. Andbox and Thwifo failed to come to an agreement, hence its termination. Thwifo will not return to the active roster, however, so he will still look to find himself another team.
my loan with @andbox_official for VCT is over so just clearing up any misconceptions and announcing again that i am still a free agent :]
— thwifo (@thwifo) August 2, 2021
Andbox holding trials to replace Yay, jcStani and Thwifo
Trials to replace the trio are ongoing. Former Evil Geniuses player Aleksandar “ALEKSANDAR” Hinojosa was seen playing with the side, according to multiple sources, alongside EZ5 player Eric “kanpeki” Xu. Both players have not been signed to the roster.
Andbox were defeated by TSM in the VALORANT Championship Tour Stage 3 Challengers 2 Open Qualifier, which concluded last month. While TSM would go on to win the event, Andbox suffered an early defeat, which knocked them out from main event contention.
Andbox failed to qualify for the Last Chance qualifier, which would have earned the side one final shot to reach Champions later this year. Teams such as FaZe Clan, Version1, and Luminosity have secured enough points to qualify for the event. Sentinels have become the only North American side to earn automatic qualification to the event at the time of publication.
If Andbox remove Yay, jcStani and Thwifo from the roster, the organization will temporarily field the following team:
- Adam “mada” Pampuch
- Daniel “vice” Kim
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