T1 say goodbye to Brax and AZK

When T1 signed Braxton "Brax" Pierce to spearhead their Valorant team his signing was meant to signal a spiritual comeback for a player who was effectively forced out of CS:GO after the infamous iBuyPower match-fixing scandal and his subsequent VAC ban put a ceiling on his ambitions.

He wasn't the only one, Keven "AZK" Larivière, who was a teammate of Brax's on iBuyPower and also the subject of a ban, too found in T1 the potential for a comeback.

But eight months later those dreams are dashed as both have been dropped from the side as the Korean organisation look to fresh talent to take them through 2021.

T1 had initially achieved good results in Valorant, including qualifying for the Valorant First Strike main event, reaching the quarter-finals where they were defeated by 100 Thieves, the latter going on to win the tournament.

Today we say our goodbyes to @brax1wnl and @AZKcs_.

Thank you for being such an integral part of T1 VALORANT - best of luck in your future endeavours & we'll see you on the server! pic.twitter.com/maNryDGNxl

— T1 (@T1) February 8, 2021

But the team never looked truly convincing and after their failure to qualify of the main event of the opening Valorant Champions Tour event the writing was on the wall.

T1's Valorant head coach, David Denis thanked both players for their service while explaining that change was needed to take the team forward.

That change is already a reality, on the 4th February T1 announced the signing of Timothy "autimatic" Ta, one of North America's best CS:GO players and a player who has officially moved to Valorant.

He will be reunited with Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham, with whom he previously played with on Cloud9.

Let's get to work.

Welcome @autimaticTV to T1 VALORANT! pic.twitter.com/dOLZBLJbXB

— T1 (@T1) February 4, 2021

He will be reunited with Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham, with whom he previously played with on Cloud9.