T1 Has Arrived: T1 Announces New Valorant Roster Ahead of Pacific VCT 2023

Locked and Loaded

The South Korean organization, T1, has officially announced their starting Valorant roster for the 2023 VCT season.  Following their recent acquisition of Ha “Sayaplayer” Jung-woo from The Guard, T1 looked poised to create a Korean superteam.

Now with the addition of Kim “BeomJun” Beom-Jun as the fifth man to the roster, T1 have finally assembled all necessary pieces. After being announced late last month as one of the partnered teams for VCT 2023, it was also discovered that T1 would return to their roots as a South Korean organization, fielding players from the Pacific region.

Having previously competed within the NA region, the organization has found little success in the region. Even with star pieces such as Victor “Victor” Wong, Austin "crashies" Roberts, and Joshua “steel” Nissan filling their ranks at one point or another, success has eluded T1 like the plague.

Old and New Faces

On Oct 23rd, T1 officially announced their roster on the twitter account, the players being:

• Ha “Sayaplayer” Jung-woo
• Joseph Seungmin “ban” Oh
• Son "xeta" Seon-ho
• Byeon "Munchkin"Sang-beom
• Kim “BeomJun” Beom-Jun

[twitter url="https://twitter.com/T1/status/1583971463677231105"]

“ban,” “xeta”, and “Munchkin” were already standing members of the active roster. However, the addition of “Sayaplayer” and “BeomJun” is a relatively new development, especially for the latter.

“Sayaplayer,” previously known as “Spyder,” previously played for the historic organization as part of their NA bid in late 2020 and 2021. He was then benched mid 2021 following a series of disappointing losses for the roster. In December, he would join The Guard, becoming a key part of their success.

Little is known about the player “BeomJun” aside from his status as a ‘pugstar.’ Having been picked up by T1, this would mark both his first professional team signing, as well as his professional debut. Primarily playing duelists such as Jett and Reyna in ranked queue, it will be interesting to see what role he will fill on the team.

The Road to Becoming Tier 1

Joining an active roster alongside four players of such calibre can be a daunting task, nonetheless, T1 and “BeomJun” have time to prepare before their first roster debut in February at the inaugural VCT Kickoff Tournament in São Paulo, Brazil.

With established players such as the ones T1 has, it simply becomes a matter of realising roles on the squad. Currently, the only role more or less ascertained, would be “xeta” on the info-gathering initiators such as Sova and Fade. “Sayaplayer” similarly, was known for his time on The Guard as their primary duelist and entry, as well as their resident sniper. Finding immense success on the role, it would be difficult to imagine him not continuing along the same role on T1’s squad.

[youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cayiDtTPzWk"]

Head coach Yoon "Autumn" Eu-teum, who joined T1 with "xeta," has confirmed "Munchkin" as the In-Game Leader of the squad. This leaves "ban" and "BeomJun" in uncertain roles for the moment. Having both frequented duelists, it will be interesting to see how their roles shape up by the time the Kickoff Tournament begins. Finally, "Autumn" has also suggested "BeomJun" to be the sixth man of the roster, rather than a starter, meaning there is one more reveal yet to come for T1. The one hint that he gave, was the emoji of a goat, suggesting a high caliber accomplished player.

[twitter url="https://twitter.com/autumnkorea/status/1583995677926838272"]

Image credit: T1 Esports Valorant