North American org TSM has made another alteration in their Valorant squad, benching Taylor “drone” Johnson after their defeat to Noble in the VCT Stage 3: Challengers 1 Open Qualifiers.
Long gone glory days
TSM’s Valorant journey looked very different at its start compared to where they currently are. When the organization joined the scene in May 2020, signing with mouseSpaz, a team formed by former CS:GO players Stephen “reltuC” Cutler, James “hazed” Cobb, Matthew “Wardell” Yu, Yassine “Subroza” Taufik and drone, they became one of the best teams in North America.
However, the glory days didn’t last long. First, they finished as runners-up at First Strike North America behind 100 Thieves, then failed to make it past VCT open qualifiers, meaning they couldn’t attend any Masters event in Valorant.
These consecutive failures led to a series of roster moves. First they benched Stephan “reltuC” Cutler last month, moved James “hazed” Cobb to the in-game leader role and signed with Braxton “brax” Pierce, only to part ways with him soon after and add Sean “bang” Bezerra as his replacement alongside with coach Chet “chet” Singh.
Out with the drone, in with the new
Even after these changes, TSM were upset in Stage 3 Challengers 1 Open Qualifier by Noble in a 2-1 series. Immediately after this, drone was benched. The organization emphasized that they’ll be trialing players to find their permanent fifth member ahead of Qualifiers 2. Stage 3 Challengers 2 is set to begin in late July.
TSM’s roster currently stands as:
- James “hazed” Cobb
- Matthew “Wardell” Yu
- Yassine “Subroza” Taoufik
- Sean “bang” Bezerra
- Chet “chet” Singh (coach)
