The latest entry to the Challengers Japan circuit has been revealed by Riddle, with a lineup that is headlined by former DetonatioN FocusMe player Seoldam.
JAPAN – Riddle have introduced their VALORANT roster for the upcoming Challengers JP season, which includes Park “Seoldam” Sang-min, “Maufin”, and three former ZETA DIVISION Academy players. The news arrives half a year after Riddle’s initial plan to venture into VALORANT next year by hiring support staff for their team.
The most recognizable name on Riddle’s first-ever roster in VALORANT is Seoldam, who is best known for his time competing for NORTHEPTION and more recently DetonatioN FocusMe in the VCT Pacific League. He is set to assume the flex player role together with a longtime Riddle player in Maufin, who has been loyal to the organization since he was still playing for the organization’s Fortnite division.
In recent times, Maufin was loaned to NORTHEPTION for VCL Japan Split 1 early this year. While his performance, with an average VLR rating of 0.88 after 595 rounds, didn’t make him the standout player on the team, it’s important to consider that this experience was a trial by fire for him. It marked his first official appearance in VALORANT after transitioning from Fortnite, and since that time, he could have improved significantly, given that almost ten months have passed since his last match.
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The three final pieces of the puzzle hail from the ZETA DIVISION Academy roster. “Caedye” and “yatsuka” are fresh off of their significant LAN playing with the main ZETA DIVISION roster at the historic Ryogoku Kokugikan Arena for Red Bull Home Ground Tokyo, providing them with the necessary exposure and first-hand experience against tier-one opponents such as Cloud9 and FNATIC.
Meanwhile, “Aace” is a relatively unknown quantity, as he hasn’t made any official appearances in matches so far. “I am truly grateful for the various experiences I have gained during my one year with ZETA. I will use my past experiences and continue to excel at RIDDLE, so please continue to support me. Thank you for everything over the past year!”
Riddle is an organization backed by one of Japan’s most popular streamers Vodka. Vodka (ボドカ), with a substantial following of over 776 thousand fans on Youtube and 703 thousand followers on Twitter, is among Japan’s most popular gaming personalities known for his Call of Duty, Fortnite, and, more recently, VALORANT content.
Since his organization’s establishment in 2016 and its transition into a professional team through a partnership with OPENREC.tv in 2020, Riddle has been widely known for its divisions in Apex Legends and Fortnite. The organization’s success reached its peak when its former Korean roster emerged victorious in the 2022 ALGS Split 1 Playoffs – APAC North. Furthermore, Riddle performed well in the Fortnite Champion Series circuit especially throughout 2019-2020
Standing behind the team will be Kakeru “Vorz” Ikarashi and Takahiro “sitimentyo” Koshikawa, who both bring a wealth of coaching experience from their time with ZETA DIVISION. In the 2023 season, Vorz was at the helm of the Academy roster, while sitimentyo led the Game Changers roster.
Riddle VALORANT are:
- 🇰🇷 Park “Seoldam” Sang-min
- 🇯🇵 “Maufin“
- 🇯🇵 “Caedye“
- 🇯🇵 “yatsuka“
- 🇯🇵 “Aace“
- 🇯🇵 Kakeru “Vorz” Ikarashi (Coach)
- 🇯🇵 Takahiro “sitimentyo” Koshikawa (Coach)
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Cover photo courtesy of Riddle
