Keven "AZK" Larivière is signing with T1 Esports to join its VALORANT pro team, rejoining with former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teammate Braxton "Brax" Paulson.
"We're thrilled to add AZK to T1's VALORANT team, alongside Brax and Kurt," Joe Marsh, CEO of T1, told ESPN. "When we signed Brax as the first VALORANT pro, we knew he would be instrumental in building a top-tier roster and AZK was one of the first players that he identified. As we've seen in the beta footage released this past week, we're confident that AZK's CS:GO skills will transfer to the new title nicely. We're excited to see the team's synergy continue to excel and build what we hope will be one of the best VALORANT teams in the world."
AZK was permanently banned from Valve events along with Brax on Jan. 25, 2015, following a match-fixing scandal with their team iBUYPOWER. While playing for amateur and semi-pro teams in Counter-Strike since his ban, neither he or Brax have seen their bans lifted since receiving their punishment at the beginning of 2015. Along with Brax, AZK joins Kurtis "Kurt" Gallo on T1's VALORANT team.
A five-on-five tactical shooter by League of Legends developer Riot Games, VALORANT achieved significant attention on Tuesday when the first day of its closed beta attracted a peak viewership of over 1.7 million on Twitch.