Kai retires as 1234 bring in Zorrow and alvicate

Garbis "Vanskus" Vizoian••2 min read

The former 1234 core will stay together for OWCS EMEA Stage 3, with Harry "GoldenPants" Cawthra, Christian "Khenail" Ríos, and Lewis "crispy" Beer all continuing under coach Jamie "Backbone" O'Neill. Retaining that core allows the roster to keep the OWCS slot it earned, and OWTV can reveal that Leo-Kristian "Zorrow" Sundin and alvicate will complete the lineup.

The two arrive to replace Kai “Kai” Collins, who has retired from competition, and William "WMaimone" Maimone, who has departed the team. Ahmed "amdp" Balateef has also departed, and 1234 will proceed with GoldenPants as their lone tank.

Zorrow last competed in OWCS with Team Peps, helping the French side qualify for the 2025 Grand Finals before they lost their OWCS place after Stage 1 of 2026. He went through FACEIT League with Vanir Quick and finished second place, just below his former team. He was set to play for Vanir Quick in FACEIT League this coming season as well, before this move returned him to OWCS.

He also represented Sweden at the Overwatch World Cup, where the nation finished fourth. Their run ended against France, a side featuring his former Team Peps teammates.

1234’s second signing, Lithuanian flex DPS player alvicate, now makes his OWCS debut. He competed in this year's open qualifiers with BOMBA alongside GoldenPants, where the pair came close before 1234 eliminated them, then playing under the Anyone's Legend banner.

Kai has had a long and storied career at the top of Overwatch esports, dating back to 2018, when he represented Great Britain at the Overwatch World Cup and finished fourth. He also played in the Overwatch League until its dissolution, representing LA Valiant, Atlanta Reign, and LA Gladiators. In the OWCS era, his best result came with ENCE, when he won OWCS EMEA 2024 Stage 3.

Kai's retirement follows his recent World Cup campaign with Great Britain, where he lined up alongside teammates GoldenPants, crispy, and WMaimone. He performed well for the national side, though their tournament ended in the Group Stage, just short of BlizzCon.

The team's Stage 2 was defined by GoldenPants' Wrecking Ball. The roster built almost everything around his Wrecking Ball, Winston, and Orisa, and came within a hair's breadth of a playoff spot.

Away from the server, the roster have struggled to find an organisation willing to back them, despite this being their third consecutive appearance at the top level of Overwatch esports.

Backbone, for his part, framed the rebuild as a matter of fit rather than results. He told OWTV:

We got alvi as he's played with people on the team before, and think he's good vibes. Zorrow was a good next choice as a hitscan replacement, as he plays heroes that should mesh well with GoldenPants’s hero pool. There's a lot less pressure for real results at this point, and it's much more vibe-based, so that factored into the decision-making when it came to picking people up.

OWCS EMEA Stage 3 begins on October 10.

The current 1234 roster:

  • Harry "GoldenPants" Cawthra - Tank
  • Leo-Kristian "Zorrow" Sundin - Damage
  • alvicate - Damage
  • Christian "Khenail" Ríos - Support
  • Lewis "crispy" Beer - Support
  • Jamie "Backbone" O'Neill - Coach