T1 CEO Joe Marsh shared his thoughts on the future of the organization’s VALORANT division, revealing plans to return to an all-Korean roster for the 2025 season.
SOUTH KOREA – T1 CEO Joe Marsh has revealed that the organization’s VALORANT division will feature a fully Korean roster for the upcoming 2025 VCT season. This confirmation was made during an interview with Portuguese esports outlet RTP Arena last week.
“I think for VALORANT, we should have switched from a mixed roster to all-Korean this year, and we kind of did not. So I just think that between the format and the way we played, it just did not live up to our expectations. And I think that in 2025, we are going to have a Korean roster, full Korean,” Marsh said in the interview.”
He also mentioned that the new T1 roster will be revealed this October. “We have built a really great roster for VALORANT that will be announced in October. We feel really good about our chances next year.”
The shift back to an all-Korean roster is further supported by the recent announcement of an academy team, expected to compete in VALORANT Challengers Korea next season following Riot Games’ decision to allow tier-one teams to field academy squads. “We have an academy team which we have just announced so we are going to have eleven players. The reason [why our] league [team] has always been so successful is we built a pipeline of youth talent.
“Yeah, we have our esports academy that has 250 students, and we have half of those students playing VALORANT. So I think the goal for VALORANT is like, the best VALORANT player is going to be someone who was not a CS or Overwatch castoff, and only played VALORANT, so we’re making the investment at the youth level, at that grassroots level to mine the best VALORANT talent in Korea, and we think that that will help us long term.”
Daniel “Rossy” Abedrabbo expressed his gratitude to T1 in July, saying that it was “the last day I got to stand on the Pacific stage.” The American player has been widely rumored to be joining Cloud9 in VCT Americas next season, according to Alejandro “Anonimotum” Gomis of Sheep Esports. Meanwhile, Kevin “xccurate” Susanto is the only non-Korean player still remaining on the T1 roster.
The announcement is anticipated before their participation in the upcoming Red Bull Home Ground APAC Play-In in Tokyo on October 19-20. Six teams, including DetonatioN FocusMe, ZETA DIVISION, and Talon Esports, will compete for a spot in the main event in Berlin, Germany.
T1 currently consist of:
- 🇰🇷 Ham “iZu” Woo-joo
- 🇰🇷 Kim “stax” Gu-taek
- 🇰🇷 Lee “Carpe” Jae-hyeok
- 🇮🇩 Kevin “xccurate” Susanto
- 🇰🇷 Ha “Sayaplayer” Jung-woo (Inactive)
- 🇺🇸 Daniel “Rossy” Abedrabbo (Inactive)
- 🇰🇷 Yoon “Autumn” Eu-teum (Head coach)
For more insights on the Asian VALORANT scene and upcoming content like this, be sure to like and follow VALO2ASIA on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.
Cover photo courtesy of VCT Pacific
