North American and South Korean organization T1 are set to re-sign former player Braxton “brax” Pierce to its VALORANT roster, sources told Upcomer on June 24.
Brax will likely be joined by academy player Anthony “dawn” Hagopian on the T1 roster to replace Ha “Spyder” Jung-woo.
Brax will replace former in-game leader Sam “DaZeD” Marine. As previously reported by Upcomer on June 1, T1 had been practicing without the 31-year old. It’s not clear whether brax will don the in-game leadership role. It’s also unclear whether both these moves are permanent, according to one source.
Dawn would be the second player on T1’s academy team to leave the side in recent weeks following the departure of former Overwatch player Lee “ANS” Seon-chang. ANS left T1 academy on June 23 to rejoin the San Francisco Shock in the Overwatch League.
T1 removed Brax their roster just four days after former CS:GO player Timothy “autimatic” Ta joined the team in February. The 24-year old later joined TSM’s VALORANT roster in March as the sixth member of the roster. Brax only competed in one tournament with the North American side since joining, however. During the North American VALORANT Champions Tour Stage 2 Challengers 1 Open Qualifier in April, TSM defeated EZ5 but lost to Immortals in the round of 16.
T1 is yet to finish inside of the top four of the VCT main events this year. At the most recent Stage 2 Challengers 2 tournament, T1 finished in the top eight following a defeat to eventual victors Sentinels in the first round of the lower bracket.
Similarly T1 finished in the top eight at the Stage 1 Challengers 3 tournament in March. T1 lost to both FaZe Clan and 100 Thieves respectively.
If brax and dawn join T1, the organization will field the following roster:
- Brax
- Dawn
- Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham
- Timothy “autimatic” Ta
- Rahul “curry” Nemani
