TSM (esports)

American esports organization with seven LCS titles.

TSM, short for Team SoloMid, is a U.S.-based esports organization started in September 2009 by brothers Andy and Dan Dinh. The group now competes in games like Apex Legends, Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, Fortnite, PUBG: Battlegrounds, Rocket League, Guilty Gear Strive, Super Smash Bros., Halo Infinite, and The Finals. Its League of Legends squad claimed seven of the sixteen LCS North American titles.

Quick Facts

City

Los Angeles, California

Location

United States

Founded

2009

Partners

Jersey Mike's Subs
Twitch
Zenni Optical

Divisions

Apex Legends
Rocket League
Super Smash Bros.
Valorant
Halo Infinite

Facts from the source article.

History

Team SoloMid, commonly known as TSM, began in September 2009 when brothers Andy "Reginald" Dinh and Dan Dinh launched a blog called SoloMid.net during college, offering written guides for League of Legends. The brothers had previously been members of the League of Legends clan All or Nothing during the game's beta, which later changed its name to SoloMid. The first TSM team formed from a small group within the SoloMid.net community, consisting of SaintVicious, Chaox, TheOddOne, Locodoco, and Reginald. TSM was officially founded in January 2011. Later that year, Riot Games started the first season of what became the League Championship Series. By then, SaintVicious and Locodoco had departed, and TheRainMan and Xpecial joined to complete the roster for that season. Jack Etienne also became the team's general manager in 2011. In 2013, Reginald stepped away from playing to manage TSM's business operations full time. The organization moved into Hearthstone in 2014, signing MaSsan, Trump, and Kripparrian. The following year, TSM expanded into Counter-Strike: Global Offensive by acquiring Team Dignitas's roster and signed its first Super Smash Bros. player, Leffen. TSM saw success across multiple titles in 2015: its League of Legends team claimed the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship, and its CS:GO division won several international tournaments, though the CS:GO team was disbanded by the end of the year. In March 2016, TSM established a Vainglory division by acquiring the team Alliance. Later that July, TSM signed an Overwatch team but dropped it two weeks later after cheating allegations involving some players in CS:GO. In September 2016, TSM joined six other North American esports organizations to create the Professional Esports Association, a CS:GO league. In May 2017, TSM launched a division in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. On June 16, 2019, TSM acquired the former roster of the Rainbow Six: Siege Pro League team Excelerate Gaming, along with popular streamer Jason "Beaulo" Doty, and began competing in the Pro League in Season 10 that same day.

Current divisions

In April 2015, TSM signed Super Smash Bros. Melee player Leffen as its first fighting game player. On August 1, 2015, TSM announced the signing of ZeRo, who achieved 56 straight tournament wins in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, a Guinness World Record. ZeRo retired from competitive play on January 12, 2018, and departed TSM on November 8, 2018. Leffen won Evo 2018 in August, defeating Armada 3–0 in grand finals. Gavin "Tweek" Dempsey joined TSM in 2019, winning multiple majors and supermajors including Smash Ultimate Summit 3 and Let's Make Big Moves 2023. Tweek left TSM on February 28, 2023, and rejoined on November 7, 2025. TSM returned to Rocket League on January 24, 2024, by acquiring the Hey Bro team, consisting of Gwil "creamz" Muir, Stephen "hockE" Hoelbinger, and Dylan "Wahvey" Thanus, competing in the NA region of RLCS. On January 31, 2025, TSM signed a Halo Infinite roster: Roman "Druk" Nasirudin, Hunter "Taulek" Davis, Michael "SoulSnipe" Girgis, and Youssef "Cherished" Shaaban with coach "Trey", partnering with the Halo Championship Series for Year 4. After a disappointing finish at HCS Arlington 2025, TSM dropped Cherished on May 2, 2025, and replaced him with Emmanuel "Manny" Lombert.

Former divisions

On May 9, 2024, TSM announced its return to PUBG: Battlegrounds by signing the Shoot To Kill roster, who qualified for the PUBG Global Series for seasons 3 and 4. TSM had been involved in PUBG: Battlegrounds esports from 2017 to 2022, including rosters in Europe and North America; its NA core later formed Shoot To Kill. TSM parted ways with its PUBG roster on January 15, 2025. TSM acquired an Overwatch team on July 22, 2016, consisting of Jake "torkTJO" Lepoff, Nicolas "NicolasTJO" Aubin, Joey "jkw" Wavering, Joe "Joemeister" Gramano, Jackson "Shake" Kaplan, and Anthony "harbleu" Ballo. On August 8, 2016, the entire squad transferred to compLexity Gaming. TSM lost the Overwatch Open Tournament and BTS Overwatch Cup in 2016, and dropped its Overwatch roster on May 5, 2017. In May 2024, TSM returned to Overwatch esports for the North American FACEIT League, signing seven players, three coaches, and two analysts who had been part of Timeless. In October 2024, TSM announced it was parting ways with that Overwatch roster. In February 2016, TSM acquired a team for the 2016 CoD: World League, consisting of Cole "ColeChan" Chancey, Jonathan "Pacman" Tucker, Jordan "ProoFy" Cannon, and Jamal "Whea7s" Lee. On July 7, 2016, TSM withdrew from Call of Duty, citing the team's performance in World League Stage 2, where it finished near the bottom of its rankings.