Professional Valorant player Natchaphon “sScary” Matarat has ended his retirement to join the Chinese Valorant scene. However, his return to the game did not last long. After playing only three matches with his new team, he was taken out of the active lineup.

The player from Thailand first made a name for himself playing with teams like X10 Esports and XERXIA. He helped his teams qualify for several big international tournaments, putting Thailand on the map in the world of Valorant.

Later, sScary joined BLEED Esports. He was a key leader for the team when they won the VCT Ascension Pacific event in 2023. This victory helped the Singapore-based organization get a permanent spot in the top league. During his time there, he played alongside Jacob “yay” Whiteaker, a player many consider one of the best in the game’s history, though their time together ended with some disagreements.

A Career Full of Bad Luck

In late 2024, sScary faced a major setback. He learned that BLEED Esports was losing its spot in the VCT Pacific league. The organization was punished for breaking rules and not meeting the standards set by the game developers, Riot Games. This meant sScary could no longer compete at the highest level with that team.

After the entire BLEED roster was let go, sScary decided to step away from playing professionally. He announced his retirement in January of 2025.

A New Opportunity to Compete

About ten months after he stopped playing, sScary received a new offer. The team FunPlus Phoenix asked him to join them to play in the VCT China league. Even though he was retired and did not speak the language well, the 26-year-old player decided to give it another try.

The new team played in their first international event, the Valorant Radiant International Invitational, in December 2025. sScary took on the role of leading the team inside the game. They started strong, winning matches against strong opponents like Paper Rex and G2 Esports. They finished the tournament in third place.

These early results gave fans in China a lot of hope. The team looked like they had great potential to succeed.

A Disastrous Tournament Run

The team returned home to compete in the VCT China Kickoff tournament. They wanted to prove they belonged among the best, but things went very poorly for sScary.

FunPlus Phoenix lost their very first match against TYLOO. They struggled to win rounds, losing the series 0-2. Next, they faced Bilibili Gaming. Although they fought hard, they lost that series 0-2 as well.

Finally, the team played a do-or-die match against JD Gaming. They managed to win one map, but ultimately lost the series 1-2. These poor results meant FunPlus Phoenix was eliminated from the tournament very early. Throughout the entire event, the team only managed to win a single map.

According to reports from Sheep Esports,

, sScary was benched from the active roster shortly after these disappointing losses. It was a very unfortunate end to his comeback attempt.