Carpe Steps Away From T1. Nine Years, No Fixed Return Date.
T1 confirmed carpe is stepping away from competitive Valorant after nine years as a pro, and in his own words, it's military service pulling him out.
carpe's done, at least for now. T1 confirmed this week that Lee "carpe" Jae-hyeok is stepping away from competitive play after nine years as a pro, the last four of them with T1. In the farewell video the org put out, he says it himself: the hard part isn't the military service waiting for him, it's not getting to do what he loves for a while. That's about as clear a confirmation as you get.
No trade rumor here, no benching drama. Just a guy who ran out the clock on his own terms.
The Overwatch Career People Forget
He didn't start in Valorant. Five years at Philadelphia Fusion, an Overwatch World Cup win with Korea in 2018, before the switch in 2022. In the video he admits he used to put himself before the team back then. Valorant flipped that. By his own account, the shift from "what can I win" to "what can we win" is the whole arc of his career.
What He Leaves Behind
He benched himself mid-2025, sat the team down, and told them straight that nothing would matter, playing time or not, unless they fixed their habits. T1 won the trophy on the other side of that conversation. One line from teammate Norman in the video stuck with me: carpe built the stepping stone that let rookies like iZu and DH actually grow. That's a legacy that never shows up in a stat sheet.
Nine years is a full career by any measure. Debuting nervous at 20, closing it out as the guy who talked a superteam through its own turmoil. If military service really is what's pulling him out, this isn't goodbye. Just a pause with no fixed return date.