In most esports, North American teams typically import older APAC players who are looking for a big paycheck and less competition as their careers wind down. In VALORANT, with multiple competitive regions, it looks like APAC are the ones doing the importing.
According to a report from Tanmay, Talon is looking to sign Lionel “lenne” Lim, Peter “Governor” No, and Joseph “ban” Seungmin Oh. The changes would make the roster truly international by adding two Americans and one Singaporean to their roster, which just cleared out three Thai players in September.
Talon woefully underperformed in the 2023 edition of VCT Pacific League. The roster placed second-to-last during Pacific League play, only beating out winless DetonatioN FocusMe in position. They bombed out of the Last Chance Qualifier in a 2-1 loss to Gen.G, only defeating DFM during the LCQ.
The results were all the more disappointing, considering the LOCK//IN tournament. Talon defeated MiBR and eventual world champions Evil Geniuses before a noble 2-1 loss to eventual Pacific second-place team DRX.
During the substantial VALORANT offseason, teams will have time to practice and effectively target the roster they want to build instead of making quick changes based on limited information. Yes, the offseason is incredibly long, and it’s definitely bad for organizations trying to capitalize on hype from matches, but the roster-building aspect of it is definitely interesting.
It seems like new Talon coach Aaron “b0i” Thao is looking to build a roster of underrated or overlooked players. Governor, ban, and lenne are all players who have the ability to punch above their weight, and the hope seems to be that they’ll be more than the sum of their parts in 2024. We’ll have to wait and see if Talon truly is cooking or if they’re going to fail trying to re-invent the wheel.
