T1 reportedly bolstering post-franchise VALORANT roster with familiar NA superstar

A reunion back home.
Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games

The T1 VALORANT roster, following the organization’s move from North America to the Pacific league for VCT 2023, is beginning to take shape following reports of their soon-to-be acquisition.

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Per VALORANT reporter Alejandro Gomis from BLIX.gg, T1 is set to bring back Jett/duelist Ha “Sayaplayer” Jung-woo from The Guard, after the North American org did not make partnership as part of the Americas league for 2023. Sayaplayer previously played for T1 from late 2020 to mid-2021 under the in-game name Spyder.

Following this move, the starting T1 roster for 2023 is nearly complete.

Sayaplayer, who’s also a former hitscan DPS Overwatch pro who played for the Florida Mayhem, will join the core of Son “xeta” Seon-ho, Joseph “ban” Seungmin Oh, and Byeon “Munchkin” Sang-beom. Despite playing in NA over the past few years, Sayaplayer is still a Korean citizen, meaning he will not take up the designated import slot afforded to each team in the league.

While Sayaplayer’s first run with T1 while playing as Spyder left much to be desired, he had a breakout year this past season with The Guard, becoming one of the most feared duelists in North America and helping The Guard win NA Stage One and reach Masters Reykjavk. The Guard fell short of reaching Champions at the end of the year, and missed out on partnership.

Both Jacob “valyn” Batio and Michael “neT” Bernet have since been made available to partnered teams, while the org itself has yet to finalize its long-term VALORANT plans.

For T1, their move from NA to Korea in VALORANT represents a homecoming of sorts; T1 has built a dynasty in Korea when it comes to competitive League.


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Author
Scott Robertson
VALORANT lead staff writer, also covering CS:GO, FPS games, other titles, and the wider esports industry. Watching and writing esports since 2014. Previously wrote for Dexerto, Upcomer, Splyce, and somehow MySpace. Jack of all games, master of none.