T1 Sports & Entertainment have officially signed the first Valorant pro player… months prior to the game’s release date. Former CS:GO pro Braxton “swag” Pearce confirmed the deal by which he will become a Valorant content creator and professional player once the game drops under the T1 brand.
From swag to Brax, from CS:GO to Valorant
Swag was the North American CS:GO messiah back in 2013-14 but the infamous iBUYPOWER match-fixing scandal that resolved in early 2015 robbed the then 18-year-old of his potential. He was among seven people to receive a permanent ban from all Valve-sanctioned events, which pretty much doomed his career.
A couple of weeks ago, swag announced his retirement from professional Counter-Strike at just 23 years old. In the same statement, he elaborated that he would instead switch focus to the new Riot Games first-person shooter, at the time still known as simply Project A.
Soon enough, his wishes turned to reality as T1 immediately snatched the talented player. The switch from one free-to-play FPS to another is not just about the immense commercial potential of Valorant for Swag. The player stated that his desire to be the best, which he could obviously no longer become in CS:GO due to his ban from Majors, is what motivated his decision.
To mark the occasion, Pierce has sort of rebranded himself. He dropped the “swag” moniker, which, in all fairness, lost its, ahem, swag, a few years back, and would rather be known as simply “Brax” from now on. That’s what not being 17 anymore would do for ya.
T1 have a lot of experience with Riot Games. Their League of Legends teams have won the LoL World Championship three times – more than any other franchise in the nine-year history of the tournament. With swag, pardon, Brax’ FPS experience, something potentially spicy could be brewing in the kitchen here.
