nitr0 would jump to VALORANT again

In the last few hours, unexpected news has been released regarding one of the legends of North American Counter-Strike. We are talking about Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella, the former IGL of Team Liquid (CS:GO), who would be very close to making a new jump to VALORANT. Moreover, this information comes firsthand, as it was shared by his former teammate at Liquid, Mareks “YEKINDAR” Galinskis.

This is surprising, considering we all thought that nitr0 would retire completely from the competitive esports scene. Moreover, when there is a big hype regarding the imminent arrival of Counter-Strike 2, players want to return to Valve’s shooter, not leave. That is why this news is so interesting and, above all, strange.

YEKINDAR says nitr0 is returning to VALORANT

Team Liquid’s current CS:GO player, YEKINDAR, stated in an interview that his former teammate, nitr0, would return to play VALORANT competitively. This news is somewhat unexpected because we all thought nitr0 would focus on creating content at this point in his professional career.

YEKINDAR mentioned that nitr0 had a lot of time issues when it came to getting organized with Team Liquid and his CS:GO practices, with his responsibilities as a father after the birth of his second child.

YEKINDAR said:

“It’s hard with nitr0 leaving. It’s all mixed up. He’s had his second child and wants to play VALORANT or something that requires less travel. I hope everything works out well for him; he’s a great guy.”

Recall that nitr0 exited Team Liquid’s lineup after the culmination of IEM Dallas 2023, as of a scant two and a half weeks ago. However, he seems to be currently exploring options to compete professionally in VALORANT.

nitr0 targets VALORANT return:

“I would like to compete in this game again” pic.twitter. com/EQpmm6PAup

— Valorant News (@ValorINTEL) June 23, 2023

nitr0 would jump to VALORANT for the second time

As we mentioned, this wouldn’t be the first time nitr0 decides to jump from CS:GO to VALORANT in his career as a professional. Recall that in 2020, the American legend, like many CS:GO pros, transitioned to VALORANT and signed for 100 Thieves. However, after a season and a half of actively playing in the VCT scene, nitr0 returned to competitive CS:GO by signing for Team Liquid.

Moreover, nitr0, in his farewell announcement from Team Liquid, expressed his desire to move away from the competitive CS:GO scene, and, to many, this meant he would be moving away from esports in general.

My next chapter! pic.twitter.com/ab54BByWtE

— Nick Cannella (@nitr0) May 26, 2023

However, in this statement, we can see that nitr0 mentions that he does not close the doors to “other games and opportunities.”. This makes us think that the experienced American player retired from CS:GO with his sights set on VALORANT. Similarly, the statement details that nitr0 wants to dedicate himself to making streams for now. In addition, he is not interested in continuing in the Counter-Strike scene.

In addition to nitr0, another of the legends of the North American organization, Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski, also left the team’s lineup to sign with Complexity Gaming. Similarly, this move made Team Liquid’s move to the European region official with the signing of Alex “Rainwaker” Petrov and Robert “Patsi” Isyanov.

Header: ESL