Patiphan rejoins Talon Esports for VALORANT Champions Tour 2023
Talon Esports’ VALORANT Champions Tour 2023 roster announcement revealed that Patiphan “Patiphan” Chaiwong had returned to the VALORANT scene and rejoined the team after retiring from Overwatch.
Patiphan reunited with former X10 teammates Thanamethk “Crws” Mahatthananuyut, Itthirit “foxz” Ngamsaard and Panyawat “sushiboys” Subsiriroj. The three left X10 Crit in early 2022 to join XERXIA Esports, where they fulfilled the requirements for all three international VALORANT competitions this year.
Jittana “JitboyS” Nokngam and Apiwat “garnetS” Apiraksukumal have also joined the roster. JitboyS represented FW Esports in 2021 and 2022, while garnetS played for X10 and 47 Gaming in 2022. In “Creative” Moo-keun will coach the Thai roster.
Previously, a Twitter post by a user named Seulgi hinted at the Thai player’s return to Talon Esports. It said, “Sources: An account owned by Patiphan was recently spotted in scrims with Talon Esports.”
In an interview, Talon Esports CEO Sean Zheng said, “We’re currently in discussions around exploring options around certain teams throughout SEA that can obviously represent our home country, which makes a lot of sense.”
Zheng also said Talon Esports was looking to sign some of the best Thai talents, saying, “We’re also looking to bring back some stars from the international space who might have left Valorant for some other games and might be coming back as well.”
Patiphan’s record
Patiphan’s name quickly rose to prominence as a VALORANT player when he won the Southeast Asia VCT in 2021 with X10 Crit before going on to compete in the Icelandic VCT Masters and 2021 VALORANT Champions. The Thai team advanced to the Berlin event’s playoffs before losing to Gambit Esports.
Patiphan began his esports career in Overwatch at the age of 15 and represented his country in the Overwatch World Cup in 2018. Patiphan, who was too young to compete in the Overwatch League at the time, decided to satisfy his competitive urges in VALORANT.
Before competing in VALORANT in 2020, he spent time with Talon Esports and Eternal Academy. He decided to leave VALORANT in December 2021 to rejoin Overwatch as a member of the Overwatch League team. The youngster dropped out of the competition in most of the Summer Showdown qualifiers due to the recurrence of his wrist injury.
His reason for leaving Overwatch was not indicated in his retirement announcement. However, when he first left for Overwatch, he told the media that Overwatch offered him more possibilities outside of Southeast Asia.
“In Overwatch, there are more opportunities for me outside of Southeast Asia,” Patiphan explained. “Getting to live and play in America is something I cannot find anywhere else.”
The Thai player helped the Los Angeles Gladiators win the Kickoff Clash and Midseason tournaments during his one year in the OWL.
Talon Esports will compete against 29 partnered teams at the VCT Kickoff Tournament in Sao Paulo, Brazil, beginning in February and ending in early March. The winner will earn an additional slot for their region at the VCT Masters later this year.
At the beginning of the APAC international league split, Talon Esports will stand toe to toe against other paired-up teams such as T1, Gen.G, DRX, DetonatioN Gaming, Paper Rex, Team Secret and others.
