Micheal “shroud” Grzesiek (27) is one of the biggest streamers on Twitch. He is known as a “human aim-bot” or “shooter god”; however, his professional days in CS:GO are 4 years behind him. Now the 27-year-old wants to prove himself again. He is forming an eSport team in Valorant out of streamers and will also play himself. But is that enough against young, ambitious professionals?
What’s with shroud and pro-gaming? The Twitch streamer “shroud” is often introduced as a former pro-gamer from CS:GO. That is true; however, he was only active as a professional player for a relatively short time and quickly made a name for himself as a streamer.
Shroud played professionally in CS:GO from 2013 to 2017. His most significant time was when Cloud9 acquired his then organization and continued in CS:GO. As part of Cloud9, shroud won two titles in the ESL in 2015.
However, by 2017, at the age of 23, shroud’s professional career was over. He only wanted to be a substitute player for Cloud9 and soon became a full-time streamer.
How shroud benefited from his professional time: However, shroud has been living off his reputation as a “legitimate, really good shooter player” since his time in CS:GO. Unlike entertainers like DrDisrespect (Claims to be the greatest) or TimTheTatman (Claims to be a 30-year-old dad going bald), shroud is known as an absolute expert.
Even though he himself doesn’t make much fuss about his shooter skills, fans rave even more about the “human aim-bot” and “shooter god”.
shroud forms a team for Valorant out of television chefs Twitch streamers
This was the plan: Since his return to Twitch in 2020, after the end of Mixer, shroud hinted that he was planning something “big.”
Now it has become known: shroud is assembling his own team for the shooter Valorant, which many compare to CS:GO.
And he will play in Valorant himself.
His team includes several Twitch streamers who are known for Apex Legends and CS:GO and who were previously professionals:
- Timmty “iiTzTimmy” An (21) – known from Apex Legends
- Leonardo “Laski” Arroyo (24) – was a pro in CS:GO
- Shawn “ShawnBM” Myers – is a content creator for Valorant
- Skyler “Relyks” Weaver (26) – ex-pro in CS:GO
- and he himself: Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek (27) – shooter god on Twitch
shroud’s fun team wins round 1 – and that’s it
Can shroud still do it? With Twitch streamers, it’s similar to television chefs. Essentially, they are professionals who no longer practice their original job as they used to.
Therefore, there were some doubts whether a team of Twitch streamers who used to be professionals can still compete against active, young professionals. It could very well have been that shroud would have been overwhelmed.
However, shroud’s team won their first match at the Open Qualifiers in Valorant decisively. They defeated their opponents in the NA VCT Stage Three Challenger Two Open Qualifier with 13-6 and 13-4 on the maps Haven and Bind.
Papa Shroud secured 11 kills on Haven, with strong 12 assists, while dying 10 times. On Bind, he played 16 to 11 with six assists, he used the new Valorant hero Kayo.
However, in both matches, one of his new streaming buddies stepped up and put up killer numbers. That was the first round of the qualifiers, with 128 teams participating.
However, in the next round, the team’s success came to an end. They were eliminated 2-0 against team EZ5.
In the second match, shroud did not look as strong. His stats were at 13/15/5 and 9/15/4.
It becomes clear that such a fun team trying to compete with the pros quickly encounters its limits. Even if shroud can walk away from the situation with his head held high.
Even if things are not going well in pro-gaming anymore, shroud does not have to worry about his future. If he ever needs money, he can simply auction himself off:
Someone pays €43,000 to play for an hour with a Twitch streamer
