Tom Taylor, known by the

gamertag The Xbox network, formerly known and commonly referred to as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Gaming for the Xbox brand. It was first made available to the original ...

Tsquared, is a former professional gamer and captain of the team

Str8 Rippin Str8 Rippin is a professional ''Halo (series), Halo'' team in the United States that competes in the Halo Championship Series. Str8 Rippin was first formed in 2005 for ''Halo 2'' on the Major League Gaming (MLG) Pro Circuit. Their most successful ...

, which has had notable success in

Major League Gaming Major League Gaming Corp. (MLG) was a professional esports organization based in New York City. Founded in 2002 by Sundance DiGiovanni and Mike Sepso, MLG held official video game tournaments throughout the United States and Canada. The ''Boos ...

(MLG), and was also the coach of Status Quo during the 2010 National Championships in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

where he helped them place 2nd behind Final Boss. Making him one of the only players to also coach an event. He signed a contract with MLG valued at approximately US$250,000 and earned between $120,000 and $150,000 annually in prize money and endorsement deals.Gameset Inverview
/ref> He founded a company called Gaming Lessons that provides tutoring for aspiring professional gamers, particularly in the ''Halo'' series. Several other professional gamers from MLG have also worked as instructors at Gaming Lessons. He operates a

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel with over 10,000 subscribers featuring approximately 24 hours worth of content. Tsquared has appeared in

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used i ...

True Life ''True Life'' is an American Television documentary, documentary television series that aired on MTV from March 31, 1998 to June 21, 2017. Each episode follows a particular topic, such as heroin addiction as in the first episode – "Fatal Dose". ...

: I'm a Professional Gamer'' and on ''

Icons An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic, and Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, saints, and angels. Although especially ...

'', and has been mentioned in various publications including ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

''. He also appeared as part of ''

Stuff Stuff, stuffed, and stuffing may refer to: *Physical matter *General, unspecific things, or entities Arts, media, and entertainment Books *''Stuff'' (1997), a novel by Joseph Connolly *''Stuff'' (2005), a book by Jeremy Strong Fictional c ...

'' magazine's list of 20 most influential people under the age of 30 in August 2006. He appears occasionally on

X-Play ''Xplay'' (previously ''GameSpot TV'', ''Extended Play'', and ''X-Play'') was a television program about video games. The program, known for its reviews and comedy skits, aired on G4 in the United States and has aired on '' G4 Canada'' in Canada ...

to provide tips for various online games. During 20082009, Tsquared was featured on over 175 million

Dr Pepper Dr Pepper is a carbonated soft drink. Dr Pepper was created in the 1880s by the American pharmacist Charles Alderton in Waco, Texas, and was first nationally marketed in the United States in 1904. It is manufactured by Keurig Dr Pepper in t ...

bottles issued across the United States as part of a promotional sponsorship for MLG. He currently serves as a

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

ambassador. In November 2015, Tsquared returned to competitive Halo as the leader of the revived Str8 Rippin team during Season 1 of the

Halo Championship Series ''Halo'' is a military science fiction video game series and media franchise, originally developed by Bungie and currently managed and developed by Halo Studios (previously 343 Industries), part of Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios. The series lau ...

. On April 3rd, 2015, Tsquared announced his retirement from competitive Halo during a livestream on

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle c ...

Tournament placements

* MLG New York Championships 2004 – 4th * MLG New York Championships 2005 – 5 – 6th * MLG Las Vegas Championships 2006 – 3rd * MLG Las Vegas Championships 2007 – 3rd * MLG Las Vegas Championships 2008 – 1st * MLG Orlando Championships 2009 – 6th * MLG Providence Championships 2011 – 20th * MLG Winter Championship 2012 – 13-16th * ESL MCC Launch Invitational 2nd * 2015

Season 1 – 5th

Personal life

Taylor was born and raised in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

then moved to

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

in 2001 to attend high school. In 2009 he and Str8 Rippin moved to a gaming house in

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

, Florida. In 2011 Tsquared appeared on the

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

series ''The Controller: Battlefield 3''.

References

External links

*
tsquared on Twitch
1987 births American esports players Living people Sportspeople from Baldwinsville, New York Sportspeople from Syracuse, New York People from Orlando, Florida People from Jupiter, Florida Halo (franchise) players Str8 Rippin players Apex Legends players Esports commentators Apex Legends commentators {{US-sport-bio-stub