TSM Finalize 2023 Valorant Roster With Hazed And NaturE

On Tuesday, December 13, TSM unveiled the signing of James “hazed” Cobb and Nicholas “NaturE” Garrison. The duo joined TSM as the final missing pieces of the 2023 Valorant lineup, which will see the return of Corey “corey” Nigra and Anthony “gMd” Guimond.

TSM announced its 2023 Valorant roster on Tuesday, unveiling a five-man lineup consisting of Johann “seven” Hernandez, Corey “corey” Nigra, Anthony “gMd” Guimond, James “hazed” Cobb, and Nicholas “NaturE” Garrison. Of the five players, hazed and NaturE were added to the lineup on Tuesday, while seven, corey, and gMd are all carryovers from the 2022 season.

Even though hazed was signed to the roster this week, this won’t mark his first stint with TSM. The 33-year-old had already played for the North American esports organization from May 2020 to November 2021 but left the team to play for NRG.

The recent signings in hazed and NaturE will take over for Yassine “Subroza” Taoufik and Daniel “Rossy” Abedrabbo, who were let go form the team in October and December, respectively. Rossy has spent the last two months on the sidelines, while Subroza stepped down from the active lineup on October 3 to look for new offers.

Subroza was the final member of the inaugural TSM roster, which came together in May 2020 when TSM signed MouseSpaz roster. That roster also featured hazed, who has now returned back home after spending the last year away.

Hazed is a former Counter-Strike player, who transitioned to Valorant in April 2020, when he teamed up with Matthew “Wardell” Yu, Subroza, Taylor “drone” Johnson, and Stephen “reltuC” Cutler to form MouseSpaz. The newly formed team achieved plenty of success in lesser events, eventually earning them a contract with TSM.

After joining TSM, hazed and his crew continued with their strong performances, helping the NA organization win various lesser events, as well as T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Showdown and FaZe Clan Invitational.

TSM ended the year with a runner-up finish at First Strike North America.

TSM went through many roster changes throughout 2020 and 2021 but kept hazed who helped the team place top-six at VCT 2021: North America Stage 1 Challengers 3 and Stage 2 Challengers 2. In the latter half of the year, the team found a bit more traction and won VCT 2021: North America Stage 3 Challengers 2, but suffered an early exit from the Stage 3 Challengers Playoffs, where they placed seventh-eighth.

Following a bumpy performance in Stage 3 Challengers Playoffs, hazed left TSM to play with NRG, with who he failed to qualify for VALORANT Champions 2022 after placing fifth-sixth at VCT 2022: North America Last Chance Qualifier. Shortly after, NRG initiated a roster rebuild, which started with hazed’s departure on November 2.

Despite being cut from NRG, hazed didn’t need long to find a new home, as he got picked up by his former team as a part of TSM’s 2023 plan.

With the signing of hazed and NaturE, TSM now fields a complete roster for the 2023 season, but we’ll have to wait a bit longer before we see the new-look lineup in action. TSM wasn’t invited to the VCT regional league, meaning they won’t compete in the VCT Kickoff tournament.

It’s also unclear whether TSM will receive a direct invite to NA Challengers or they’ll need to compete through open qualifiers. But regardless of where TSM will have to start their 2023 run, the road to Ascension won’t be easy.

The battle for the spot in the top league will be fierce, as it will feature many of the top teams who didn’t get invited into the partnered league, including The Guard, M80, and G2 Esports. Nevertheless, TSM now fields a competitive roster and should be in a good spot to make some noise as they battle it out for a VCT Americas promotion spot.