ESC completes VALORANT roster, ready for VCT 2022
The Esports Connected, or ESC, finally completed its roster for the 2022 VALORANT Champions Tour with the new addition of Park “Bazzi” Jun-ki.
Bazzi was formerly known to play in the Overwatch League for the Hangzhou Spark between 2018 and 2020, before moving on to be a part of the Japan-based team, Crazy Raccoon organization for six months.
All of the members of Crazy Raccoon’s former roster departed from the organization, thus bringing Bazzi to ESC. This is mainly because the team couldn’t make it beyond the group stage, and only picked up one victory against Havan Liberty of Brazil in the VCT Berlin Tournament.
On its Twitter account, the Korean-based team welcomes Bazzi.
“Finally, our roster is C.O.M.P.L.E.T.E ! We are happy to announce our final player, @Bazzivlrt!” said the tweet mentioning Bazzi’s Twitter handle. “Welcome to ESC! The ESC Valorant team, which at last completed with Bazzi Park Jun-ki, will be with you in 2022!” continued the tweet in Korean.
A roster for victory
Esports Connected has finally completed its roster for the 2022 VCT. The organization is quite new, as it was formed earlier this month. They previously competed in the LCK for League of Legends as ESC Ever and bbq Olivers. However, it has emerged as a force to be reckoned with in South Korea.
Apart from Bazzi, it was announced on Christmas day that the roster will consist of ex-Cloud 9 Korea and F4Q Yoo “Moothie” Seung-woo, and Kim “GodDead” Sung-sin. Two days later, Lee “k1Ng” Seung-won is joining on loan from Vision Strikers, Kim “zunba” Joon-hyuk from F4Q. The team is led by two veteran coaches Jeong “Jaemin” Jae-min and Jung “peri” Bum-gi from NUTURN Gaming.
This new roster is currently considered one of the top squads in the country. All of the players have pro VALORANT experience, with pro backgrounds in either Overwatch or CS:GO. Most of them and both coaches also possess international Valorant LAN experience.
Observing from the players’ previous experiences, Dot Esports predicted that k1ng will take on the sentinel role, with either Killjoy or Cypher. Meanwhile, zunba is likely to take on the role of the controller with Astra. The other three players will figure out a strategy accordingly, as they all have experience with different agents and different categories.
As their first VCT performance, fans can expect to see them play when the Korea Stage One Challengers open qualifier in late January or early February 2022.
VCT 2022 Schedule
VALORANT Champions Tour 2022 is the second annual VALORANT tournament organized by Riot Games, after the first one held this year in Berlin, Germany. Acend emerged as a champion after beating Russian-based ambit Esports with a score of 3-2.
VCT is divided into three levels of competition: VALORANT Challengers (regional competitions as qualifiers for Masters), VALORANT Masters (international competitions mid-season), and VALORANT Champions (the world championship of the year).
As revealed by Riot Games earlier this month, the Challengers stage 1 will commence in February, with Stage 2 in May. Then, the international masters’ events are scheduled for April and July, with the Last Chance Qualifiers in August. Finally, the most-awaited event, the next VALORANT Champions 2022 global event is set for September.
