100Thieves announced this Saturday, July 19, the arrival of Drew “
Kess” Lee, replacing Kelden “
Boostio” Pupello, who has been moved to the bench. The 2023 World Champion with Evil Geniuses will therefore not be taking part in the race to Champions Paris during Stage 2 of the
VCT Americas, as he is replaced by the Korean Initiator, coming from QoR Gaming in the North America Challengers.
After a decent 2024 season,
Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag’s organization is struggling much more this year, having failed to qualify for either Masters Bangkok or Toronto. These missed qualifications are due to a 9th-12th place finish in the Kickoff and a 5th-6th place finish in Stage 1 of the American league. The only glimmer of hope came from their qualification to the Esports World Cup via the Americas Qualifier, where they secured second place.
Placed in a tough group, 100Thieves ended up finishing last, after a close Bo1 loss to Fnatic (13-11), who went on to become finalists, and a tight Bo3 against EDward Gaming, the reigning VALORANT Champions Tour champions. These results clearly pushed the North American organization to make a roster change.
Thus, the 2023 World Champion has been removed from the project following underwhelming performances this year. The Sentinel is replaced by Kess, who has recently been more accustomed to the Initiator role. A staple of the NA Challengers scene since early 2025 with Nightblood Gaming, he also spent a considerable amount of time in Collegiate play, representing the University of Austin. Just before his promotion to VCT, he signed briefly with QoR, with whom he played a single VCL NA match — shining on Sova and Fade to help secure a 2-1 victory for his team.
He will make his debut at the top level of
VALORANT this Sunday, July 20, in the opening match of VCT Americas Stage 2 against NRG. For Kess and his new teammates, they’ll need to deliver their best performances if they hope to make it to Paris — especially considering that G2 has already secured a Champions slot for their region, leaving only three spots up for grabs.
