Talon Esports, known for its presence in Southeast Asia in premier esports League of Legends and VALORANT, is expanding into Counter-Strike 2—and heading down under in the process. Talon has recruited Aussie Major semifinalist Aaron “AZR” Ward to lead the new squad, which combines talent from Australia, New Zealand, and Europe.
A combination of youth and experience will lead Talon in its first CS2 venture with the squad officially announced on Aug. 2—although rumors of the squad’s arrival on the scene had been hinted at for nearly a month. AZR, who last recorded a match on the server a year ago for the doomed Sprout project, will captain the team, consisting of Jared “HazR” O’Bree, Christian “ADDICT” Pendleton, Corey “nettik” Browne, and Miłosz “mhL” Knasiak.
Talon chief executive Sean Zhang spoke at length about the team’s plans following the announcement, confirming the squad will spend the bulk of its time in Europe despite its roots in Asia. “If we want to become the best we need to train with the best. No doubt right now EU CS2 is the best in the world, if we want our players to be at the same level they need to feel the level of competition day in and day out,” Zhang said.
However, given the team is majority-Oceanic, the squad falls under the wider Asia region and plans to return “home” to compete in key qualifiers for events. The project has taken time to build, Zhang explains, with Talon consulting several figures in Counter-Strike including ownership at Brazilian org FURIA and current commentator Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill to discuss an approach to developing the team.
AZR, who has competed at 12 Major or Major qualifiers, last attended Counter-Strike‘s pinnacle event as captain of Renegades in Berlin, seeing the squad through to the top four of the tournament. Since then he’s held captaincy stints with the squad at 100 Thieves and EXTREMUM before players went their separate ways in 2021. He returned to Australia for a short stint with Encore before heading back to Europe.
ADDICT, HaZR (Bad News Kangaroos), and nettik (Rooster) join with significant international experience as far as Aussie Counter-Strike is considered, while Polish AWPer mhL rounds out the roster. MhL was a member of Team Falcons before their revamp at the end of 2023, with the 22-year-old riding the pine for the team and playing briefly at 9INE on loan.
Talon will have their work cut out for them in Oceania let alone the wider Asian scene ahead of the Shanghai Major in November: The MongolZ have proven themselves kings of the region, while FlyQuest, BNK, and new Australian-Latvian project SemperFi will all be fighting for the few available slots in Oceania.
