In many games, there is a debate about whether Europe or North America is the stronger region. In the case of Counter-Strike, shroud has a clear answer.
Who is it about? The Twitch streamer Michael “shroud” Grzesiek is a former CS:GO and Valorant pro, known for being very skilled in various shooters.
- On Twitch, shroud has 11.1 million followers and averaged 11,300 concurrent viewers over the past 6 months (via Sullygnome).
- In Counter-Strike, shroud celebrated several regional successes in North America with his team Cloud9.
- In 2024, shroud introduced the shooter Spectre Divide, in which he was involved in development. However, just 7 months after the release, the developers announced shutdown.
Shroud’s greatest triumph is winning the ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals in CS:GO. The success earned Cloud9 a prize money of $200,000. Now the streamer reflects on Cloud9’s achievements and concludes that Europe is much better in Counter-Strike than North America.
From Top Team in America to Mediocre in Europe
What exactly does shroud say? The streamer explained on Twitch that while Cloud9 was one of the top teams in North America, it only performed decently in Europe: “We were kind of the best NA team, so we won all the NA stuff. And then we went to Europe and were okay.”
He then added that being decent in Europe is quite an achievement because the region is so strong: “Being okay in Europe was respectable because Europe is insane [good] in Counter-Strike.”
What lies behind shroud’s statements? Shroud played CS:GO professionally for Cloud9 until 2017 and was indeed relatively successful – at least in North America.
- Cloud9 was considered one of the best teams in the region and won various smaller tournaments and qualifiers for international competitions.
- Cloud9 also often finished in one of the top positions in the regional Pro League seasons.
- However, internationally, European teams like Astralis, NaVi, or Fnatic mostly held the upper hand.
Over the years, the team of Cloud9 changed more and more. Shroud took a spot on the bench and shortly thereafter ended his career as an active player. In 2020, Cloud9 then signed European players and participated in Pro League Season 13 for the first time in Europe. However, the new lineup did not get beyond the 17th place.
However, shroud is probably not too frustrated about consistently losing to the stronger Europeans – after all, he still managed to build a successful career as a streamer. And his bank account also helps him to calm down when he gets angry while playing: The shooter expert shroud has found a way to deal with rage on Twitch – but not everyone can afford it
