nitr0 targets Valorant return: “I’d like to compete in this game again”

Former Team Liquid CS:GO player Nicholas ‘nitr0’ Cannella said in a recent stream that he is open to returning to competitive Valorant following his retirement from the Valve shooter.

nitr0 retired from CS:GO competition on May 27 and expressed interest in competing in other games. The 27-year-old started his Counter-Strike career in 2014 and is known for his time on Team Liquid, with whom he won the IEM Grand Slam in 2019.

In 2020, nitr0 retired from CS:GO for the first time to pursue a career in Valorant with 100 Thieves. With that squad, nitr0 won the North American First Strike tournament and placed top four at VCT Masters Berlin in 2021.

A few months after his first international tournament appearance in the Riot Games title, nitr0 left Valorant and returned to CS:GO with Team Liquid. The switch back to his first professional title only lasted about one year, however, as he retired from Counter-Strike for the second time in 2023.

nitr0 confirms his interest in returning to professional Valorant

In announcing his CS:GO retirement, nitr0 left the door open to staying active, just in a different title.

And in a recent live stream, he made it clear that he will entertaining Valorant offers.

“I wanted to word [my retirement] in a way where… I didn’t want to include the word Valorant in it because I know it makes a lot of people salty,” nitr0 said. “But I’m interested. I would like to compete in this game again.”

Since his retirement from Valorant, the landscape of the esport has changed drastically. The open circuit of the Valorant Champions Tour has switched to a partner league model. The former Counter-Strike pro will also probably have to wait a while before he can get picked up by a team as the offseason for Valorant does not start until after Valorant Champions, which ends on August 26.

Even then, there is no guarantee nitr0 will find a team in the partnered leagues. His former Team Liquid teammate Jacky ‘Stewie2K’ Yip tried out for Challengers team Disguised before Split 2 but ultimately did not make the cut.