T1 announce former Overwatch professional Sayaplayer as final member

There has been a lot of speculation around who would fill out the T1 VALORANT roster. With a team composed entirely of veteran Counter-Strike: Global Offensive talent, one would expect the final member to trend in that direction. Instead, T1 have pulled one out of left field and signed former Florida Mayhem Overwatch star Ha "Sayaplayer" Jung-woo, formerly known as Sayaplayer.

Sayaplayer is one of the most interesting stories in Overwatch. He was never really that notable, playing lower-level and tier 2 tournaments in South Korea for a long time. But in 2018, the Florida Mayhem Overwatch League team were rebuilding, and looking for talent on the cheap. They plucked Sayaplayer out of Korean obscurity, and while the budget squad ultimately struggled, Sayaplayer became their star.

Known for his proficiency on the sniper Widowmaker, Sayaplayer saw his playtime decrease in 2019 as the hero fell out of the meta. This would again be the case in 2020, though the Mayhem put together their best season ever, including a 2nd place finish at the May Melee.

With the Overwatch League offseason in full swing, Sayaplayer was released by the Florida Mayhem earlier today.

He certainly would have had plenty of opportunities to continue in Overwatch, but he instead decided to switch games entirely, along with a name change to “Spyder”. VALORANT has been his focus recently, and rumours suggest he is very, very good.

Spyder brings much-needed firepower to round out the T1 roster. It’s surprising, for sure, and while his English has of course improved during his time in America with the Mayhem, he’s still not a native speaker. But if communication issues can be worked out, Spyder is a very promising and intriguing pickup.

T1’s finalized roster is:

Braxton “brax” Pierce Keven “AZK” Larivière Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham Sam “DaZeD” Marine Ha “Spyder” Jung-woo

Daniel "fRoD" Montaner (Coach)