T1 Sign Thwifo; Brax Takes a Step Back from Competing
T1 have just successfully signed Zander “thwifo” Kim, who is no longer a part of XSET. Thwifo has been sitting on XSET’s bench since July 1st and missing all the action in Valorant Champions Tour. Thankfully, T1 saw his potential and decided to give him a chance as a member of their core 5-man lineup.
T1 is a team that made several appearances in the earlier stages of VCT, but never really won any key events. Last we saw them was during VCT Stage 3 Challengers 2, where they were eliminated by FaZe in the lower bracket. They are preparing for round two, so expect to see them in some future Valorant events.
Thwifo Completes the Roster
Thwifo arrives in T1 as the 5th and final member of their roster. At the same time, the organisation is saying their goodbyes to Braxton “brax” Pierce, who has decided to step down from the professional Valorant scene and will be focusing more on streaming instead.
It’s the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. After many changes, T1 have finally completed their roster and the organisation can now begin to focus on other aspects in order to prepare for future Valorant events.
It’s the perfect time to reassess their priorities and figure out their plans and strategies. December is just around the corner, and that’s when the final Valorant Champions Tour event will be played. Valorant Champions 2021 will conclude the year-long tournament, but we still don’t know what happens after that.
Valorant Champions Tour was something Riot experimented with, and while successful, it also came with many challenges. Whether Riot will opt for another massive tournament or separate it into a series of smaller esports events makes no real difference for the teams competing – it could just make things easier for Riot.
In any case, with Thwifo on board and the roster assembled, T1 is ready for anything.
Brax Transitioning to Full-Time Streaming
Braxton “brax” Pierce is a veteran when it comes to first-person shooters. He began his career in CS:GO where he achieved great success. Once Valorant was announced, he quit his CS:GO career and decided to continue competing in Valorant instead. After all, both games shared many similarities and Brax was able to easily adapt.
He has been with T1 since March of 2020. As a matter of fact, he was the first player signed by the organisation. However, as time went on, T1 went through a lot of changes and Brax also ended up leaving for a short period and joined TSM. Brax joined TSM at the end of March in 2021, but he would end up returning to T1 just a few months later.
In the end, T1 was where he felt at home and that’s where he decided to stay. Although he won’t be actively competing anymore, he will be moving to a content creation role.
One day, Brax might decide to return to the competitive scene and give it one more shot. That door will always remain open. If that ever happens, we’re sure T1 would be happy to have him back full-time.
