Team SoloMid, as known as TSM, one of the most influential esports organizations in North America, has signed brax for the Valorant team. brax will now serve as the team’s sixth player.
There were many rumors about Braxton “brax” Pierce, who has made a name for himself recently. It was not surprising that the player, who managed to draw attention with his performance, joined an organization. However, TSM fans were delighted to see him join a team that was struggling to perform as they wanted. TSM, which already has five players, was expected to sign brax as a substitute. Still, the team announced that they had signed a “sixth player” instead of a replacement or stand-in player.
Of course, allegations are supporting these rumors. Rumor has it that TSM plans to part ways with James “hazed” Cobb. There are even allegations that Hazed did not participate in scrimmages because of this reason. Some fans claim TSM signed brax to replace Hazed.
TSM has made an impressive debut on the Valorant stage in North America, however, the team has been disappointing its fans lately. Fans are expecting to start a new era with brax and are generally pleased with this transfer. The current squad of the TSM Valorant team is as follows:
- Braxton “brax” Pierce
- James “hazed” Cobb
- Taylor “Drone” Johnson
- Matthew “WARDELL” Yu
- Yassine “Subroza” Taoufik
- Stephen “reltuC” Cutler
- Taylor “tailored” Broomall (Coach)
The six-player Valorant squad is not something we see much of yet. Before TSM, Team Heretics, Cloud 9, and NRG announced the formation of a six-player team. It seems like more organizations will form teams with six players in the near future.
Who is TSM Valorant’s Sixth Player, Braxton “brax” Pierce?
If you’re familiar with the professional scene of CS:GO, you’ll remember brax by a different name. Born in 1996, the American player used the name swag in his CS:GO career, which began in 2012. Pierce, who got famous while playing for compLexity Gaming and iBUYPOWER, has been banned from Valve tournaments due to a match-fixing scandal. He also won the HLTV MVP Award after the ESEA Invite Season 16 Finals under the name swag. He then became the first player under 18 years old (17 years and 286 days) to win this award.
In his CS:GO career, swag has made more than $80,000 in total. In 2020, he retired from CS:GO and entered the Valorant scene. The player, who now uses the name brax, joined the T1 team on March 9. After the ineffective performances, he left T1 with AZK, his former teammate from iBP, on February 8. TSM announced on March 31 that they transferred brax as the sixth player.
The Match-Fixing Scandal
Known as one of North America’s biggest scandals, it occurred on August 20, 2014. iBUYPOWER and NetcodeGuides.com faced off in CEVO Professional League Season 5. iBP, everyone’s favorite, lost the match by 16-4. Also, during the competition, some iBP players were unnecessarily trying to kill their opponents with knives. A few months later, investigations revealed that iBP players made bets against themselves. Valve has imposed a lifetime ban on four of iBP‘s players following the examinations. The only player not suspended was Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham, who was recently known as a streamer and joined T1 Valorant on June 3.
