In the aftermath of the VALORANT franchising fiasco, both of North America’s best teams were left out of the Americas League. Without teams to play for, the players on both OpTic Gaming and XSET were released into free agency for the franchised teams to pick apart. While superstar players like OpTic’s yay and Marved are still on the market, it appears 100 Thieves have their eyes set on someone different.
The Current State of Things
The current 100 Thieves lineup has come tremendously far over the past five months. Jokingly referred to as “Will Asuna Bang Derrek and Stellar?” the Thieves roster consists of IGL Brenden “Stellar” McGrath, Controller Sean “bang” Bazerra, Duelist William “Will” Cheng, Flex Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk, and Initiator Derrek “Derrek” Ha.
Hand selected by coaches Sean “sgares” Gares and Michael “Mikes” Hockom and General Manager Daniel “ddk” Kapadia, this young lineup has already built up quite the resume.
In their debut at NA Stage 2 Challengers, the Thieves managed to make it out of the group stage over established names like Sentinels, Cloud9, and The Guard. With only a few weeks of practice together, they managed to make it all the way to the Lower Bracket Quarterfinals before being eliminated by FaZe Clan.
Despite not qualifying for Masters Copenhagen, their domestic performance had shown 100T CEO Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag exactly what he had hoped for when he commissioned sgares, ddk, and Mikes to put together these five young players.
From there, 100T only continued to thrive. Just three short months later, this same lineup beat out all of the North American teams that had previously beaten them in NA Masters Stage 2 in the NA Last Chance Qualifier. With a 3-0 victory over The Guard in the Grand Final, 100T booked their ticket to the largest VALORANT tournament of the year: VALORANT Champions.
Although they were eliminated in the group stage, they did manage to secure a win over Fnatic in the opening match of their first ever international tournament. This showing, combined with 100 Thieves’s close relationship with Riot Games, earned them a spot in the newly franchised Americas League alongside Sentinels, Cloud9, NRG, and Evil Geniuses.
Looking to the Stars
While each member of the current 100 Thieves roster has proven themselves to be among the best players in their role, the allure of the stars in the free agency market seems to have gotten to their management.
Reports indicate that 100T will acquire former XSET player Matthew “Cryocells” Panganiban. Also known as Cryo, the former XSET player previously played in the flex and duelist roles, and was renowned for his incredible plays on Chamber. Because his signing is just a rumor, it has not yet been revealed which player he will replace on the 100T lineup. Community speculation indicates he will take Will’s spot as they share the same role; however, he could also just be a substitute.
Part of the new franchising rules require each franchised team to have a six-man roster. This means that each team must have a substitute player on their bench at all times. If Cryo is to join 100T, he would fulfill the six-man requirement, but not necessarily join the starting lineup. This is, however, very unlikely as Cryo is one of the best players in NA, and is touted as one of the best chamber players in NA behind yay.
