One of North America\u2019s most beloved esports personalities is moving on from the world of Counter-Strike<\/em>.<\/p>
Michael \u201cshroud\u201d Grzesiek announced his retirement from competitive CS:GO<\/em> on Twitter<\/a> earlier today. Not only is shroud saying goodbye to competing, but he is also leaving the Cloud9 organization. Shroud will continue streaming on his Twitch channel, he just won’t be representing Cloud9 from now on.<\/p>
Related: <\/strong>Cloud9 signs Tarik and RUSH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>
\u201cThere isn\u2019t a rule book for how to become a professional video game player,\u201d shroud said on Twitter<\/a>. \u201cYou don\u2019t grow up planning for it, or even knowing it\u2019s an option. Honestly, it\u2019s the kind of ride that you pinch yourself during to make sure you\u2019re not dreaming it up. When you\u2019re young, just playing because you love it, you don\u2019t plan on \u2018going pro,\u2019 you just want to beat your friends or the boss character. And then you wake up one day, and you\u2019re trying to figure out how to write a retirement statement.\u201d<\/p>
As a Cloud9 support player, shroud was known as one of the best site anchors in the world. Although he sometimes got flak for shining the least out of all of the Cloud9 stars, his charisma both on and off of the server kept fans yearning for more shroud highlights. Shroud is also known as the \u201cKing of Reddit\u201d on the \/r\/GlobalOffensive<\/a> subreddit, mainly because even the slightest of entertaining stream clips could garner attention and reach the front page.<\/p>
With C9, shroud was a part of several momentous rosters that brought NA to the world spotlight from 2015 to 2017. He played with legendary NA names such as Jordan \u201cn0thing\u201d Gilbert, Sean \u201csgares\u201d Gares, and Ryan \u201cfREAKAZOID\u201d Abadir, as well as three fifths of the C9 lineup\u2014Jake \u201cStewie2k\u201d Yip, Tim \u201cautimatic\u201d Ta, and Tyler \u201cskadoodle\u201d Latham\u2014that won the ELEAGUE Boston Major<\/a> in January. He and n0thing were replaced<\/a> on C9\u2019s lineup in favor of Tarik Celik and Will \u201cRUSH\u201d Wierzba after the PGL Krakow Major last August, essentially ending an era of NA Counter-Strike<\/em>.<\/p>
\u201cYesterday\u2019s stream was my last as a part of the C9 organization,\u201d he continued<\/a>. \u201cAs of today, I am officially retiring from competitive Counter-Strike<\/em>\u2026 Over the past four months alone, you [the fans] have spent over 1.3 billion minutes watching me do what I love doing. You are the reason I can take this leap, and why I can\u2019t wait to take it to the next level.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
