With superteams forming all around them, the 100 Thieves VALORANT division will continue to build on the roster it formed in 2022 heading into the Americas league as part of the VCT 2023 season.
The organization officially confirmed its starting roster for the upcoming season today. Former XSET star duelist/Chamber player Matthew “Cryocells” Panganiban will be joined by the original core from this past year: Asuna, Derrek, stellar, and bang.
In the video announcement, general manager Daniel “ddk” Kapadia said that Cryocells was the best fit for the team, emulating what 100T founder Nadeshot said on stream back in September in the wake of the Cryocells signing. Like Nadeshot, ddk even retorted toward the “public perception” that the team only signed Cryocells because they didn’t sign Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker.
“We’re very excited regarding Cryo’s skillset,” ddk said. “He’s a player that can instantly react and has a very high mechanical skill ceiling. We’re looking for that increased pace in that position, and I think that will allow us to do a lot more with the team.” Michael “Mikes” Hockom added that one of the priorities now is to improve Cryo’s agent pool.
100T leadership didn’t only heap praise on its newest addition. Ddk said bang is “in the conversation” for best controller player in NA, a remarkable achievement considering he made the role switch this year. Both coach and GM said that they’re excited about bringing in more structure and analytical approaches from 100T’s successful League of Legends division as well.
100T wasted no time in promoting Mikes to the head coach role following Sean Gares’ sudden departure last week. The team still needs to fully finalize its roster by signing at least one substitute player to the roster.
