Update (14 May 2021):
After having dropped Junyoung "Revi" Shin and Kang "Vamos" Sang-eun yesterday, T1 today announced the signing of former Cloud9 player Lee "Neilyo" Inyup, former SCARZ player Minho "CrazyBoy" Choi, and former DWG KIA coach Lim "FanXy" Junhyeok.
APAC fans may be more familiar with the former name, with Neilyo having spent nearly three years with the roster that had played under the Cloud9, mantisFPS, Element Mystic, and Team Yetti banners.
He had joined that roster in 2017, after a merge between the Dynamo Gaming and uFF rosters, and had attended the Season 6 Pro League Finals, Six Major Paris, Six Invitational 2019, and DreamHack Valencia 2019.
With Cloud9, his best finish had been a joint-ninth at the Paris Major, but his journey with them and in Rainbow Six seemed to come to an end in January 2020 after poor results in 2019.
Now, however, he sees a return to top-flight Rainbow Six after an incredible hiatus of one year and four months, during which he had not even been active on domestic Korean teams.
Neilyo with Cloud9 at DreamHack Valencia 2019.
Also marking a return to the top-flight is CrazyBoy, who had previously played on the SCARZ roster from May 2019 to November 2020.
With them, his highest achievement had been a first place finish in Korea in Season 11 of the Pro League. However, he had also been a substitute on the SCARZ roster that had been relegated from the APAC North Division at the end of 2020, with the team then disbanding.
CrazyBoy had then transferred to Faust and has thus far played in the Korean Open 2020 Winter and 2021 Spring editions of the tournament, though he was rated 11th from the bottom in the latter tournament.
Now, he rejoins his former SCARZ teammate Cha "iLeven" Wonil after nearly half a year apart.
Also signed is former DWG KIA coach FanXy, who had been dropped alongside another DWG KIA coach and two players just over a month after having signed with the T1 rival organisation .
FanXy had initially debuted as a player with Team uR in the Korean Pro League in mid 2018, but had transitioned to a coach at the end of 2019.
He had then coach Team Axiomatic in Season 10 the Korean Challenger League and Season 11 of the Korean Pro League, before joining the GC Busan Spear that would achieve promotion to APAC North and sign with DWG KIA.
T1 will thus be hoping that his signing, alongside the replacements of Revi and Vamos with Neilyo and CrazyBoy, will resuscitate its 2021 APAC North campaign, with the team in danger of relegation at the end of the season.
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Original:
T1 today announced the departures of Junyoung "Revi" Shin and Kang "Vamos" Sang-eun after the team had failed to secure even a single point in Stage 1 of the APAC North division.
The move leaves T1 needing two sign two new players, the maximum that can be picked up in a mid-season transfer window for a team to keep its top-flight license.
Revi had initially not been contracted to T1 when the OhHamMa (ex-SCARZ) roster had been signed and had been referred to as a "non-official coach".
However, T1 had then terminated the contract of Kim "Demic" Daeyeong just one day after the signing. As such, Revi was officially signed as a player five days later, similar to how he had to in Stage 1 of the 2020 season for SCARZ.
Now, after the Korean squad failed to secure a single point from seven games in the APAC North Division, T1 has moved to try and save its season, dropping Revi and Vamos.
Four T1 players were rated as the bottom four in Stage 1 of the 2021 APAC North season.
Vamos, who had initially joined the roster as a Korean Open stand-in for SCARZ, had been the third-worst player on his team and in the league with a 0.72 rating, just behind Revi with a 0.75.
While currently unconfirmed, it is rumoured that former Cloud9 player Lee "Neilyo" Inyup and former SCARZ player Minho "CrazyBoy" Choi will be replacing the outgoing duo.
At the same time, the T1 "non-official coach" of Varun "VBM" Bir Mohindra has also left the team, having joined Six Invitational 2021 attendees Parabellum Esports as analyst.
T1's move also comes alongside struggles in the domestic Korean Open, after T1 finished fifth in the regular season of the Spring 2021 edition, behind the other three APAC North teams and even eventual playoff winners SGA eSports.
Although the transfer window is not yet open, T1's announcement of any possible signings could come before the incoming players are officially added to the team roster.
Check back here at SiegeGG for further updates as they come.