T1 has signed American VALORANT player Austin 'crashies' Roberts for its 2027 roster, bringing him back to the organisation six years after it released him.
T1 announced the signing on X (formerly Twitter) on November 10th at 7 PM PT, alongside a welcome video titled 'SAY MY NAME'. "Back and stronger than before, 'crashies' has joined T1," the team wrote, asking fans to give him "a warm welcome and loud cheers" as he starts "a new chapter" with the organisation.
crashies quoted the announcement minutes later. "Back where it all started.." he wrote. "Excited for this new challenge. Please support us and we will do our best to make you proud!" T1 has not yet named the rest of its 2027 roster.
From T1 to FNATIC and back
crashies played for T1 in VALORANT's first year as an esport, and the organisation released him in September 2020. His return comes a week after he left FNATIC, which announced his exit on November 4th after two years with the European team. In his farewell post, he called FNATIC "a second home" where he had grown "not only as a player, but as a person."
His time at FNATIC included two of the team's biggest runs. FNATIC reached the Grand Final of VALORANT Masters Toronto in 2025, where it lost 3-1 to Paper Rex, and later made the VALORANT Champions 2025 Grand Final in Paris, where NRG beat it 3-2. The team then went through what it described as a "turbulent and unpredictable" 2026 and has since rebuilt much of its roster and coaching staff.
T1 is a South Korean esports organisation best known for its League of Legends team, and competes in the Pacific league of the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT), Riot Games' top-level VALORANT circuit. crashies will play for the team in the 2027 VCT season.
