Lee “Carpe” Jae-hyeok is transitioning to a new esport, according to a report by blix.gg. He will reportedly play VALORANT with partnered team T1 in the Pacific league next year.
Carpe is one of the longest-standing Overwatch League players and is the only OWL player who has stayed with the same team for as long as he has. He was signed to the Philadelphia Fusion back when the league first started forming rosters in 2017 and has remained on the team ever since. His three-year contract with the team expired this year, making him free to explore other options, and he’s decided to switch gears for 2023.
The Fusion is owned by the same organizations that own T1, Comcast Spectacor and SK Telecom, so a switch to that team makes the most sense for Carpe. He will join two other OWL veterans, Ha “Sayaplayer” Jung-woo, who played for the Florida Mayhem until 2020, and Byeon “Munchkin” Sang-beom, who played for the Seoul Dynasty and Boston Uprising before switching to VALORANT in 2020.
Carpe’s move to VALORANT is particularly notable because the Overwatch community has known and cheered for him for so long. He participated in one of the most memorable plays in OWL history, where he clutched out a fight screaming “winnable” the entire time.
With the addition of Carpe to T1’s team, they now have a full roster of five players to start the 2023 season. If these five end up as the starting roster, T1 will be made up mostly of previous OWL players.
Fans will get to see T1 in action when the first event takes place in São Paulo, Brazil in February next year. All 30 teams will travel there and kick off the first year of the newly formatted VALORANT Champions Tour in a LAN setting.
