Nadeshot slams 100 Thieves fans who claim he “doesn’t care” about teams
Twitter: Nadeshot / ESL100 Thieves owner Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag has slammed fans of the organization who claim he “doesn’t care” about their CS:GO, Valorant, and League of Legends sides, saying they are “taking steps to improve and hopefully win one day.”
100 Thieves has been in a performance slump when it comes to esports. Across CS:GO, Valorant, and League of Legends, they haven’t been hitting the highs they set out to.
In CS:GO, the core of the org’s Australian roster has slipped out of the HLTV Top 10 in the last couple of months. The Valorant team, led by Hiko, has been struggling to even place in Ignition Series events. Their League team capitulated mid-season, with major roster shuffles marring a good start to the year.
Riot GamesThe team’s loyal followers have started to get frustrated. Angered fans have taken to the subreddit to ask why 100 Thieves isn’t living up to their high expectations. They say that Nadeshot seemingly “doesn’t care” about the squads.
However, the former Call of Duty champion has slammed those critics. Nadeshot has stated pundits don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors, and anyone who says he “doesn’t care” doesn’t know who he is as a person.
“I don’t think people really understand the position 100 Thieves is in in esports. It’s one thing to say that our teams aren’t playing well — I agree with that. We haven’t found a ton of success in esports aside from our Call of Duty team,” he told fans on a August 10 Twitch stream.
“What hurts me the most is that people on the subreddit [/r/100Thieves] think that I don’t care. I spent a decade competing myself. I hate losing. You think I enjoy spending all this money on esports and losing? You think that I don’t wake up angry every weekend, every tournament, where we fall short and lose?
“I’m not happy with the results, but the problem I have is when people say that we’re not trying to get better. I promise that you are not alone in the frustrations you have with 100 Thieves in esports. You can say that you are frustrated with us not winning, but you can’t say that…we don’t care.”
He says the organization is currently doing all they can behind the scenes to help build their teams into champions. Time, money, resources — all of this is being poured into their squads in the hopes of reaping the rewards down the line. Everyone in 100 Thieves is putting in the effort.
“I’m not happy that we’re losing. I’m not, and I’m going to do something about it. We are taking steps to improve and hopefully win one day. I just think it’s unfair that people say we don’t care because the employees that work for 100 Thieves every single day, they live and breathe this brand,” he added.
“You guys just don’t see from the outside looking in how much this organization cares about our teams and our results. Just wait and see, that’s all I’m asking.”
Nadeshot asked fans to temper their expectations slightly. While they’ve seen success outside of the server with their apparel and content creation arms, they’re still trying to replicate it in-game. Once they do though, he wishes his opponents good luck.
“We’ve only been around for three years — and three years is a really long time when you think about it, but at the same time it isn’t. We’ve been competing against teams who have been around for over a decade. We’re going to crack into [the top] eventually, we’re not going to lose forever.
“Organizations should be worried. There’s a lot of things we do well — content and apparel we do really well. Once we start winning, good luck.”