TSM have set their sights on fielding a Valorant academy roster.
TSM looking for fresh Valorant academy talent
TSM FTX revealed their intention to sign a Valorant academy roster on the last day of July. The news came just days before the organization’s main Valorant roster took the VCT Stage 3: Challengers 2 crown for North America, securing a seed into the regional Challengers Playoffs.
TSM have yet to sign a team or individual player to kick off their academy roster, but the plans to form one are said to already be in motion, according to Upcomer. Given the recent roster changes to TSM’s primary Valorant team, the academy roster is set to serve as a backup pool of talent they can develop internally.
North American Valorant academy rosters
Academy rosters are teams of young and promising individuals who can go professional in the near future. Organizations sign these young talents to develop them in the hopes of strengthening their main rosters later on.
League of Legends, Riot’s established MOBA, has a healthy professional ecosystem of organizations that field both main and academy rosters. However, in terms of Valorant, T1 is arguably the most prominent organization that currently has an academy team.
What other Valorant organizations are up to
T1’s academy roster was formed on June 11, 2020, with the signing of current NRG player Daniel “eeiu” Vucenovic. Most recently, T1 has signed Xavier “FLYUH” Carlson from the impressive Teal Seam roster and Victor “V1C” Truong, who recently made the transition from CS:GO to Valorant, into their academy teams.
Upcomer’s report also hinted at the possibility of Cloud9 fielding its academy roster as well. Currently, C9 has lined up several Valorant boot camps for both adults and youth players in the coming months.
What TSM are planning with their Valorant academy roster
TSM have the resources to quickly sign a Valorant academy roster, but there isn’t any news yet about which young players they’re looking to sign. TSM University, the organization’s collegiate program, does have an open tournament lined up for August 7th. It’s possible that given its recent announcement, TSM could be scouting talent there.
