Michael “shroud” Grzesiek left esports in 2018 and became a full-time streamer on Twitch. When asked why the 28-year-old no longer wants to play professionally, he replied that it was a lot of work and he was too lazy for it. Now it seems shroud has changed his mind and announced that he will participate in the E-sports team Sentinels at the LCQ in Valorant.
What did shroud’s career look like before? Before Grzesiek became one of the biggest streamers on Twitch and even someone paid 43,000 euros to play with him for an hour, he was a professional player in the shooter Counter Strike: Global Offensive. At some point, he was referred to as a “human aimbot” and “shooter god”.
From 2013 to 2018, shroud pursued his esports career in various teams. His peak began in 2015 at Cloud9, where he won 2 tournaments and placed 2nd in another. Grzesiek’s team never fell below 8th place and mostly stood on the podium.
In August 2017, shroud decided to become only a substitute player for Cloud9 and focus more on streaming. In 2018, he completely left his position and has since dedicated himself solely to his Twitch channel.
According to his own statements, he actually did not want to return to esports, but that seems to have changed during a cozy dinner.
Most fans found that really “PogChamp”. What that means, you can see in our video about it:
Shroud’s far-reaching decision during dinner
How did the turnaround come? The “shooter god” shared in a stream that he was asked during dinner at 11 p.m. if he wanted to be the 5th team member of Sentinels at the NA LCQ (via Twitch).
In response, the streamer simply said “Yes” and was ready to endure boot camps, analyze games, and get into the grind. “Everyone thought I was trolling them, but I wasn’t trolling,” said the 28-year-old.
shroud also shared in the video on Twitter that he wanted to try something new and he saw the opportunity for it in Valorant. He also joined Sentinels because the play style reminded him of his old team in CS:GO.
You can watch the full video here:
How is Sentinels doing currently? The team is currently not doing well after they won several tournaments in 2020/2021. In the VCT Challengers, they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs and managed a group record of 3-2 in Phase 1. Phase 2 went even worse with 0-5. However, Sentinels also faced issues:
- 1 member, Tyson “TenZ” Ngo, missed a game.
- Hunter “SicK” Mims could not participate in several matches due to family circumstances and will not return for the VALORANT Champions Tour 2022: North America Last Chance Qualifier (NA LCQ).
- Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty was brought back as coach.
- Roles in the team were switched after they benched Jared “zombs” Gitlin and let Eric “Kanpeki” Xu play.
Shroud is now set to replace Hunter “SicK” Mims. Whether the “shooter god” can turn things around for the team remains to be seen after being inactive for 4 years.
Fans show mostly excitement
What does the community say about it? On July 8, shroud went to get a “coffee” during a Twitch stream and was not seen for a few minutes. When he returned, the streamer was wearing a Sentinels jersey and the chat could barely contain the hype and disbelief.
At the same time, the Sentinels Twitter account released a short clip and referred to shroud as a legend (via Twitter). The post has already been retweeted over 60,000 times and liked over 235,000 times. Here’s what Twitter users are saying in the comment section of the post:
- 100T Asuna is sure: “Everyone else is now fighting for 2nd place.”
- kyedae says: “I am so looking forward to these games, lol.”
- ZipTie is ready: “I’ve never seen professional Valorant, I think now is the beginning.”
Many other comments express disbelief, spam question marks or are happy about the return. Only a few voices claim that shroud cannot change the situation for Sentinels and that he has been out of the professional scene for too long. However, these voices are heavily drowned out by fans, and for the most part, they are excited about the announcement.
In the past, shroud and his team were, however, taken down by a 15-year-old: Valorant: 15-year-old takes down star streamer shroud and his team single-handedly
