After a rather unsatisfactory result in the Pop Flash, Ignition Series tournament— T1 Valorant’s latest announcement surprised many.
A promising duo in Austin ‘crashies’ Roberts and Victor ‘food’ Wong is dropped from their official Valorant starting roster, which only prompted shock and fan speculation on their future roster.
Unsatisfactory record
In the Pop Flash tournament, T1 finished tied for last place as they lost 0-2 to Immortals and 1-2 to Team Envy who landed a spot in the Grand Finals.
Shortly after, they have dropped both crashies and food from their Valorant roster, a move that has blindsided their fans and the rest of the competitive Valorant community.
The move also increased speculation that Tayler ‘Skadoodle’ Latham may possibly rejoin the starting roster, amid a larger iBUYPOWER CS:GO reunion.
T1’s Twitter account confirms the announcement in an official tweet:
“Today we say goodbye to @food_cs and @Crashies.
We’re thankful for all the work they put into the team and wish them the best for the future.”
Possible comeback?
Last month, Ska stepped down from the T1 starting lineup which also surprised many.
However, it was further explained by ESPN’s Tyler ‘FionnOnFire’ Erzberger that the player “[simply] wants to expand his agent pool before returning to the starting lineup.”
Erzberger says he ‘doesn’t think he’s out,’ which might suggest a possible Ska return to the starting lineup sooner or later.
“Ska is still on the team from last I know. From talking to a few people it seems as if he wants to expand his agent pool before returning to the starting lineup.
Don’t think he’s out.”
The decision to drop brashies and food, two players who have grown famous for their mechanical skills, has been speculated to be because of the team’s starter comeback.
But, the competitive Valorant community is still bewildered at the moment as they speculate who will fill in the second newly-vacated starting spot.
Active Roster
At the moment, T1 Valorant’s active roster consists of: Braxton ‘brax’ Pierce, Keven ‘AZK’ Lariviere, and Daniel ‘eeiu’ Vucenovic.
Eeiu is actually assigned to T1 Academy, but brax and AZK played with Ska before on a stacked iBP CS:GO roster. Their line-up was considered as one of the scene’s exciting teams to watch out for before most members were banned indefinitely for a match-fixing scandal back in 2015.
With Ska’s possible return to the starting line-up, his agent pool might now have widened out— meaning the team’s assumed three starters all come from the old iBP roster.
“T1 drop Food and Crashies
Hearing that Ska is moving back into the starting lineup
Brax
AZK
SKA
???
???
Lots of shuffling right now in NA”
Many are now also linking the potential addition of Joshua ‘steel’ Nissan to the roster, another former teammate who just recently decided to retire from CS:GO to pursue Valorant full-time.
“Just now stated by a Valorant Pro
Steel potential offers from both T1 and 100 Thieves
This week is gunna be fun lads”
The speculation would connect to an old rumor suggesting that steel already has an offer from T1 to reunite the dominant, although controversial former roster.
Some also speculated that Sam ‘DaZeD’ Marine may turn out to be T1’s fifth player to complete a full iBP reunion. However, fans need to keep in mind that there is no certainty for any of this speculation.
On a similar note, 100Thieves’ Valorant team have also dropped numerous starters in the past.
Now that crashies and food are free to look for new teams, their skills might warrant serious consideration as potential new recruits to complete captain Spencer ‘Hiko’ Martin’s lineup.
At present, all that’s known in the competitive Valorant community is that T1 dropped a duo of talented players into the NA player pool and that iBP’s comeback might be happening.
That’s guaranteed, though, is for fans to expect some serious roster shuffling in the current teams.
