Michael “shroud” Grzesiek made a name for himself as a “human aimbot” in Counter Strike. However, in 2018 he ended his e-sports career and became a full-time streamer. Now, however, he joined a team in Valorant. Although he is already older and has never played Valorant competitively, a teammate is sure that he will deliver a strong performance.
What does shroud want to achieve?
- The Twitch streamer officially joined the e-sports team Sentinels in early July and wants to qualify with them for the Valorant Champions 2022. The big international tournament takes place in September.
- However, things are not looking good for his team at the moment. They have already missed the direct qualification for the Champions 2022. Here, OpTic Gaming and XSET managed to secure their spots. Instead, they now have to play in the so-called Last Chance in August.
- In the Last Chance, 8 teams are fighting for the first place – and only one qualifies for the World Championship. Teams like FaZe, Cloud9, or 100 Thieves, all of whom performed better in the regular season than Sentinels, are waiting.
In addition, there are some doubts about shroud’s abilities. While he was an active e-sports player in CS:GO from 2013 to 2018 and also showcased his skills as a human aimbot in CoD Modern Warfare, the streamer is not getting any younger and will not improve without the pressure of tournaments.
The most successful e-sports players are usually between 16 and 25 years old. At 28, shroud is already considered “old iron”, also because reaction times decline over time. Moreover, he has never really played Valorant competitively – except in a tournament with a team consisting of streamers.
“Really damn good, trust me”
How is shroud’s return to e-sports being received? He has a strong supporter in his 21-year-old teammate Tyson “TenZ” Ngo. He stated in a stream:
CS:GO players have it quite easy to transition to Valorant. If they already know Valorant and are aware of the abilities, they have to learn much less. He [shroud] is already very good at the game, without constantly playing and participating in competitions. No one can take that away from him. He is really damn good, trust me.
The streamer also benefits from the fact that he has already broadcast over 1,000 hours of Valorant on Twitch, giving him a strong foundational knowledge of maps and classes.
If he still has difficulties, the upcoming bootcamp of the team will help, TenZ believes and is sure: “He will perform strongly.”
The streamer Tarik, also active in Valorant, explained in a video why he himself does not want to play for Sentinels. In it, he also says: “I think shroud will play really well” (via YouTube).
Even in the comments on the Sentinels video, there are many fans who believe in a comeback for shroud. One user writes: “Surely he doesn’t have the sharpest reflexes anymore, but he has a damn big brain. Anyone who has followed shroud for years knows that. In a good team, he can change things in no time.”
Are there critical voices? Yes. Some users in the comments on YouTube see shroud’s signing as a PR move. Sentinels is one of the most well-known teams in Valorant but had no significant success to report this year and is unlikely to qualify for the Champions 2022. At least the team got a lot of attention.
Valorant caster RyanCentral sees it the same way. He wrote (via Twitter):
Signing shroud brings Sentinels more than a victory in the Last Chance or even winning the Champions. I both love and hate that.
He justifies this by stating that a new American league is being founded in 2023, in which only certain franchises can participate, like in the LCS or LEC in League of Legends. With shroud, Sentinels increases their value for that.
However, the gameplay aspect is also criticized:
- Some label him as “overrated”
- Others say he was once good, but is no longer.
So far, there have been few evaluations from other Valorant professionals, but a few ironic remarks. Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker from Team OpTic Gaming said in an interview: “After we got the news [about shroud’s return], we as a team decided to give up. Because now all teams are only playing for second place” (via YouTube).
Shroud kills 3 players in livestream without seeing them
How is shroud performing in Valorant right now? Pretty well. Just on July 11th, he made headlines by achieving three “wall bangs” in a row. This involves killing opponents through walls without having visibility on them.
The corresponding clip has already been viewed over 270,000 times, showing many that shroud is still a strong shooter player.
On the YouTube channel Nothing but Valorant, a first highlight video featuring positive actions from shroud after his joining Sentinels has already been shared:
What do you think about shroud’s comeback? Can he use his experience to help the team move forward? Or is he too old for competitive e-sports and should he rather settle down?
In LoL, a pro also returned after a break and is playing again in the highest American league:
LoL pro returned in 2020 after a disaster at the Worlds – Dominates the American League
