Soar with Talon: Talon Esports unveil new Thai roster, headlined by SEA legend Patiphan
Pacific Arena has a New Powerhouse
Thai organization, Talon Esports, have just unveiled their new Valorant roster for VCT 2023, and it is spicy. Making the announcement on Twitter on the 25th of Oct, the humorous video outlined in talk-show style the six stars of the show.
[embed]https://twitter.com/Talon_esports/status/1584922897885249537[/embed]
As reported by BoDork and Seulgi of VLR, the former core of XERXIA, Thanamethk “Crws” Mahatthananuyut, Panyawat “sushiboys” Subsiriroj, and Itthirit “foxz” Ngamsa-ard will now reunite with Thailand’s prodigal son Patiphan “Patiphan” Chaiwong. The reformation of the explosive super core of former X10 will be joined by former X10 alumni Apiwat “garnetS” Apiraksukumal and Jittana "JitboyS" Nokngam, formerly of FW Esports.
[embed]https://twitter.com/Bo_Hoogland/status/1583453621861355525[/embed]
Representing Thailand
Talon announced their entry into Valorant just this year, fielding an all-Thai roster that fell just shy of the Philippines Stage 2 Challengers. Ending in 5th-6th place, Talon would then play mid-tier events to train up their talent.
In September, Talon would announce their entry into Riot’s partnership program. No stranger to the esports scene, Talon has fielded teams in Overwatch, League of Legends, Arena of Valor as well as Valorant naturally. A multiple title winner in League as well as Arena, Talon looks to do the same in Valorant.
[embed]https://twitter.com/Talon_esports/status/1572587541832015874[/embed]
Talon would release their entire roster in the wake of their partnership news. Whilst results had been decent with their former players, upgrades were certainly in order as a new representative of the Pacific region.
For “Patiphan,” this is a homecoming in some ways, for both SEA as well as Talon. Having returned to Overwatch in 2021 after a stint in Valorant, he retired once more from Overwatch last month. Having previously played for Talon in their Overwatch Contenders team in 2019-2020, “Patiphan” will now grace their halls once more.
[embed]https://twitter.com/itsPatiphan/status/1573022316405043200[/embed]
Talents Abound
Formerly of X10, the XERXIA core shared a roster with “Patiphan” during their run of the SEA Stage 2 Challengers and Masters Reykjavik. The team would be eliminated at Masters by Fnatic (runners-up for the event), only to return for Champions 2021 and fall to Gambit (runners up for the event).
The roster showed great promise and a high caliber of talent. Aside from “Patiphan” who returned to Overwatch, the core four became XERXIA. In 2022, they would place second in both APAC Stage 1 and Stage 2 Challengers, falling both times to PaperRex.
They qualified for both Masters Reykjavik and Masters Copenhagen before making it to Champions at the end of the year.
Having now left Xerxia, late in October, the core reunites with “Patiphan” for another ride to glory. The impressive resume of the four alone combined is thanks in great part to the shotcalling of “foxz” as well as the supportive elements of both “sushiboys” and “Crws.”
This core will be expected to gel well to facilitate the explosive entries “Patiphan” will be capable of delivering. “JitboyS” and “garnetS” are expected on flex and secondary entry at this moment, however it is speculation.
“Patiphan” himself will see his second entry into Valorant as a triumphant return. Having won more accolades in Overwatch, including his long-awaited title in the OWL, the decorated 19-year-old will head this new Valorant roster.
With that said, the new roster for Talon Esports will be:
- Thanamethk “Crws” Mahatthananuyut
- Panyawat “sushiboys” Subsiriroj
- Itthirit “foxz” Ngamsa-ard
- Patiphan “Patiphan” Chaiwong
- Apiwat “garnetS” Apiraksukumal
- Jittana "JitboyS" Nokngam
Image credit: Talon Esports