T1 Esports completed their starting lineup for their first VALORANT team Wednesday by signing former Counter-Strike world champion Tyler "Ska" Latham.
Ska will join Braxton "Brax" Pierce, Keven "AZK" Larivière, Austin "crashies" Roberts and Victor "food" Wong on the North American team.
"Ska brings a championship pedigree to our VALORANT roster on top of an unquenchable competitive drive," T1 CEO Joe Marsh said. "What impressed me most about Ska during our conversations was his desire to be on a championship-caliber team and organization."
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Ska rejoins former Counter-Strike teammates Brax and AZK, the trio playing for Team iBUYPOWER from late 2013 to 2015 where they made a name for themselves as the fastest-rising team in the North American region. In 2015, journalist Richard Lewis broke a story on the team, citing that they had match-fixed and lost in a tournament match a year prior in August.
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Counter-Strike developer Valve indefinitely banned AZK and Brax from pro play for their involvement in the scandal, with Ska, then known as Skadoodle, as the only player from Team iBUYPOWER not punished because he declined to share in the profit from the incident. Ska would then go on to become part of the first North American team to win a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive major championship with Cloud9 at the ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018.
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Brax and AZK were the first two players signed to the T1 roster, both announcing their decision before the closed beta for VALORANT even began. During the beta, Brax, AZK and Ska competed in numerous online tournaments together, winning multiple titles.
T1 have also announced their intention to run an academy team under their starting lineup in North America as well as a second professional VALORANT team that will play in the South Korean region.