Son "xeta" Seon-ho (손선호) has announced his retirement from the Valorant competitive scene as he bids farewell to his teammates on T1 T1 Korea Rank #3 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Meteor Kim Tae-O (김태오) Sylvan Ko Young-sub (고영섭) BuZz Yu Byung-chul (유병철) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) .
Among the first batch of pros to try their hand at the title in 2020, xeta found some success within the Korean scene under Cloud9 Korea Cloud9 Korea Inactive Bazzi Park Jun-ki (박준기) Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) BuZz Yu Byung-chul (유병철) Hate Lee Ye-hun (이예훈) xeta Son Seon-ho (손선호) before the roster was dropped.
A region change was in xeta's sights as he once again signed with Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Rank #10 Xeppaa Erick Bach Rossy Daniel Abedrabbo v1c Victor Truong moose Kaleb Jayne OXY Francis Hoang in 2021, this time for their North American division. His time with the organization procured many highs, the most notable being a top-eight finish at Champions that year.
After missing out on all international events of 2022, xeta departed C9 and signed with T1 ahead of the 2023 season. Despite an early exit from LOCK//IN, T1 bounced back in the Pacific League and qualified for both Masters: Tokyo and Champions.
T1, one match away from Champions' playoffs. (Photo: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)
However, their appearances on the world stage were often cut short as the team was never able to advance past the group stage at either event, despite avoiding last-place finishes. In October, T1 competed in one OFF//SEASON event – the TEN Global Invitational – where xeta would play his last official matches with the team.
A slew of roster changes would restructure the team ahead of 2024, leaving xeta on the bench as new talent was onboarded prior to his retirement.
xeta took to Twitter and stated that after eight years of giving his all towards two separate game titles, the stress had stacked up and began affecting his mental health. He also cited his mandatory Korean National Service as one of the reasons for his departure, but expressed intentions to return to the competitive scene further down the line.
The retirement of xeta still leaves T1 with their now-finalized roster ahead of the 2024 season. The team will debut in the Pacific Kickoff, which is set to begin on February 17.
T1 T1 Korea Rank #3 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Meteor Kim Tae-O (김태오) Sylvan Ko Young-sub (고영섭) BuZz Yu Byung-chul (유병철) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) is now: