Skadoodle explains why he hasn’t been playing for T1

Fans of Valorant esports may have noticed that Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham has been absent from the T1 roster in recent tournaments. The ex CS:GO pro has now posted a Tweet clarifying the situation for his supporters.

Skadoodle revealed that he has been practicing with other teams in order to feel comfortable with a wider range of agents and to increase his “overall impact with the OP”.

The 27-year old also confirmed that he will not be representing T1 at the upcoming Pop Flash Ignition Series event this weekend.

I have been grinding to expand my agent pool and overall impact with the OP and will be back with T1 when the time is right, but in the meantime am going to be practicing with other teams to stay sharp. I'll be back soon and better than ever

— Tyler Latham (@Ska) August 24, 2020

This news comes after a run of disappointing performances from T1, who were pegged early on to be a dominant force in Valorant.

A leaked DM conversation between teammates Victor “food” Wong and Austin “crashies” Roberts allegedly saw the pair blaming Skadoodle for their squad’s struggles.

Starting with the first ever professional Valorant signing of Braxton “brax” Pierce, T1 were one of multiple orgs who were seemingly in a real rush to build out a competitive roster. They picked up Skadoodle as their fifth and final member just one day after the game’s launch.

Perhaps this predicament is evidence that racing to complete the “best team on paper” is not a sensible strategy in a brand-new esport. Other organisations like 100 Thieves have had similar issues, recently releasing everyone bar captain Spencer “Hiko” Martin.

Skadoodle did mention in his explanation that he “will be back with T1 when the time is right”. He is undoubtedly an incredibly talented player and will hopefully be ready for action soon. It will certainly be interesting to see how many more teams face problems like this over the coming months.