North American esports giant 100 Thieves have let two of their new Valorant players go in a surprise move.
100 Thieves today announced they have released UK player Adam ‘ec1s’ Eccles and North American player Hunter ‘BabyJ’ Schline from their Valorant roster.
The organisation originally announced they had signed the pair on January 17th 2022, making today’s news seem sudden and out-of-the-blue. 100 Thieves had made ec1s their in-game leader (IGL) when signing him.
UK player ec1s – who played competitive CSGO before making the switch to Valorant in 2020 – said the development was “disappointing but needed” and that the team had lacked chemistry.
100 Thieves have now added US players jcStani to the team on loan, from Pioneers and TSM respectively.
100 Thieves CEO Nadeshot said in a video tweet explaining the move: “I never ever want there to be a situation where their involvement with the organisation is as short-lived as this one. They’re incredibly talented players and clearly have a future in professional Valorant.
“This wasn’t a results-based decision. We felt the roster and players and the way they meshed didn’t fit well together.”
It was a shock announcement – and one that many in the community didn’t see coming.
British Valorant journalist George Geddes said on Twitter that the decision was “insanity” and “had to have been made within hours because I haven’t heard a peep”.
ec1s saw also reacted with a couple of humorous tweets, making light of the situation.
On leaving the North American (NA) team, he said “NA really does stand for Nearest Airport LOL” and “Speed ran NA AMA (ask me anything)”.
ec1s’s Valorant experience includes stints with Team Liquid and Ninjas in Pyjamas, while BabyJ has played with Prospects and Faze Clan.
Recent UK Valorant news: Tundra yoinks Yonk roster to enter Valorant with former Guild, Vitality and Alliance players, plus UK coaching staff including a two-time LCS winner
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
