TALON TALON Asia-Pacific Rank #17 Crws Thanamethk Mahatthananuyut JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam primmie Papaphat Sriprapha ban Joseph Seungmin Oh Governor Peter No have signed former XERXIA Esports XERXIA Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #27 duelist Thanachart "Surf" Rungapajaratkul to their roster, bringing their active player count to six ahead of the Pacific Kickoff.
Entering the competitive scene in 2022, Surf signed with XERXIA ahead of the TH Challengers: Stage 1 group stage and helped take them all the way to the APAC Challengers: Stage 1 playoffs, where they qualified to Masters: Reykjavik alongside Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #3 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov .
Leading with an upset against eventual-victors OpTic Gaming OpTic Gaming Inactive , XERXIA were one win off of advancing to the playoffs, but fell to Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #22 paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski kamyk Maks Rychlewski nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak and OpTic in their rematch. Eager to make an appearance on the international stage once again, Surf and his teammates qualified to Masters: Copenhagen, but were sent home quickly by NORTHEPTION NORTHEPTION Japan Rank #20 and future champions FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix Inactive SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin Zyppan Pontus Eek ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky ardiis Ardis Svarenieks .
Having qualified for that year's Champions, XERXIA stumbled again in Group C, exiting winless following losses to XSET XSET Inactive and KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Rank #3 keznit Angelo Mori Mazino Roberto Rivas adverso Benjamín Poblete mta Nicolás González Shyy Fabian Usnayo Melser Marco Eliot Machuca Amaro . Surf continued competing briefly for XERXIA in 2023, but was released from the organization last March.
XERXIA qualified to all three international events in 2022. (Photo: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)
Talon were unable to keep up with the competition last year. Despite finishing among the top eight at LOCK//IN, the organization was unable to reach higher heights within the Pacific League as a winless DetonatioN FocusMe DetonatioN FocusMe Japan Rank #3 Meiy Ibuki Seki Art Jinboong Kim Jin-won (김진원) Akame Yu Gwang-hui (유광희) gyen was all that separated Talon and a last-place finish by the time League Play had concluded.
Forced to fight for survival in the Pacific LCQ, Talon eliminated DFM in two brief maps, but fell to Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #1 Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) yoman Chae Young-moon (채영문) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) shortly after in a heartbreaking reverse-sweep that put a stop to their 2023 season.
Hungry for a trophy, Talon began making roster changes and bid farewell to three players and a coach. North American import Governor joined T1 T1 Korea Rank #2 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Meteor Kim Tae-oh (김태오) Sylvan Go Young-sup (고영섭) BuZz Yu Byeong-cheol (유병철) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) 's ban and Team Secret Team Secret Asia-Pacific Rank #7 invy Adrian Jiggs Reyes JessieVash Jessie Cuyco Wild0reoo Brheyanne Christ Reyes 2ge James Goopio Jremy Jeremy Cabrera 's lenne on the active roster, with FrosT filling in the Head Coach slot.
Surf's signing follows the transition of Patiphan "Patiphan" Chaiwong to the reserve roster as the talent stepped back from competitive play last month. With six active players, Talon have yet to announce their starting five ahead of their appearance in the Pacific Kickoff, set to commence in February as teams fight for tickets to Masters: Madrid.
TALON TALON Asia-Pacific Rank #17 Crws Thanamethk Mahatthananuyut JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam primmie Papaphat Sriprapha ban Joseph Seungmin Oh Governor Peter No is now: