100 Thieves announce CS:GO vet Steel as new addition to Valorant roster
Twitter, @100Thieves[jwplayer 91I9RIGm]After completely dismantling their Valorant roster and deciding to rebuild around Hiko and nitr0, 100 Thieves have officially signed highly touted free agent and former CS:GO champion, steel, to their team.
Joshua ‘steel’ Nissan has struck championship glory time and time again in CS:GO since 2010 and, following his retirement from Counter-Strike to pursue Valorant on August 31, many have wondered who would be the first to enlist his professional abilities. Despite speculation that T1, who dropped two players on September 3, would be the ones to do it – 100 Thieves have apparently beaten them to the punch.
Announcing the newest addition to our VALORANT roster: Steel.@JoshNissan is an incredibly skilled & talented player from the Counter-Strike scene. We’re so excited to start a new chapter of his competitive career with him in VALORANT. Welcome to 100 Thieves! #100T pic.twitter.com/qZyGKhnZG4
— 100 Thieves (@100Thieves) September 4, 2020
Captained by Spencer ‘Hiko’ Martin, steel now forms a reputable trio alongside Nicholas ‘nitr0’ Cannella for 100T. After a series of disappointing performances, the team dropped Alfred ‘Pride’ Choi, Diondre ‘YaBoiDre’ Bond, Zachary ‘Venerated’ Roach, and Keane ‘Valliate’ Alonso on August 14 and brought in nitr0.
Many wondered when the new roster would continue to take shape and, less than a month later, steel’s acquisition has answered that question.
The team now looks to be one of Valorant’s most star-powered, as Hiko and nitr0 have both grained notoriety in the new game following successful, multi-championship CS:GO careers.
Just now stated by a Valorant Pro
Steel potential offers from both T1 and 100 Thieves
This week is gunna be fun lads
— Jake Lucky (@JakeSucky) September 1, 2020
On September 1, rumors circulated that steel was receiving offers from both 100 Thieves and T1. The 100 Thieves speculation picked up steam, given their roster space, but T1’s September 3 releases of both Austin ‘crashies’ Roberts and Victor ‘food’ Wong drove speculation toward their end.
That fit felt reasonable, as steel had played with T1’s Braxton ‘brax’ Pierce, Keven ‘AZK’ Lariviere, and Tyler ‘Skadoodle’ Latham on iBUYPOWER’s CS:GO roster before it was banned from competition for match-fixing. While fans are likely to be disappointed that steel won’t be joining their roster for an iBP reunion, 100 Thieves supporters seem excited by their acquisition.
In responses to the team’s announcement on Twitter, fans have ranged from applauding Hiko and nitr0’s involvement in the decision to calling it a massive W and just generally expressing a lot of excitement with the corroborating caps lock and exclamation points. The only concern some has is that this leaves one less roster spot available for fan-favorite potential addition, Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins.