Players who moved from CS:GO to VALORANT — the best and worst examples
perepelovskyThe appearance of VALORANT at the beginning of 2020 was probably the reason for the mass outflow of professional players from CS:GO. At the same time, the coronavirus pandemic started and it froze the American region.
Having combined, these two factors determined a solid part of the VALORANT scene. And now, it is worth talking about the best and worst examples of player migration from CS:GO to VALORANT after two successfully-played seasons.
The best of the defectors
Let’s start with good examples that will motivate other esportsmen to change the discipline in the future. The remarkable thing is that a row of players, who we will talk about further, have shown nothing in CS:GO but become stars in VALORANT. Besides, there are the ones who kept their consistency, regardless of the discipline.
Derke
There is a player who tried himself in CS:GO when he was young and even played for a pretty famous Finnish club called HAVU. Nikita was playing under the nickname “Derkeps” back then but he is known as Derke now.
The 19-year-old esportsman was not famous in CS:GO. It was partly due to his age because he was not even 18 then. However, he managed to win a couple of championships on the local level, including Assembly Summer 2019 and Telia Esports Series Season 3.
But the transition to VALORANT helped Nikita to thrive. In 2020, he tried to play both disciplines but he finally determined his future a year later.
As a result, Derke joined the Fnatic roster to become one of the strongest snipers in Europe. In half a year, he won a few important trophies and also played in the final of VCT 2021: Stage 2 Masters - Reykjavík. Now, being part of the partnership program, it will be easier for him to move forward and develop his skills.
nAts
The main star of the former roster of Gambit Esports has also tried to play CS:GO. But almost no one knew about it and nAts was playing in the far year of 2019. Of course, Ayaz did not achieve significant success but took part in CIS Minor Open Qualifier 4 - StarLadder Major 2019, at least.
But with moving to VALORANT, his career shined bright because he joined Gambit Esports later.
As it is said, it is history already. Together with the team, nAts achieved victory at many championships, also winning VCT 2021: Stage 3 Masters - Berlin. Moreover, he reached the final of VALORANT Champions 2021.
But the main thing is that Ayaz was one of the best players not just in Europe but the whole scene. Yes, the previous season can hardly be related to the player’s achievements but he stood out among his teammates even here.
And now, nAts will be conquering the European league where he will try to win the first tournament with Team Liquid in February.
ScreaM
This guy does not need an introduction. He is the HS machine and probably the main star of Benelux of the early 10s. Adil Benrlitom won a bunch of tournaments in CS:GO and played for such big teams as VeryGames, G2 Esports, and Team Envy.
However, his career declined after 2017 and ScreaM decided to remember his youth in VALORANT after long wanderings.
The Belgian was lucky here because he joined Team Liquid quickly. Yes, he did not achieve significant results but ScreaM has become a star and fan favorite immediately.
In general, he managed to prevail at VCT 2021: EMEA Stage 2 Challengers Finals and Red Bull Home Ground #2, and also make it to the semi-final of VALORANT Champions 2021 in two years of being on the Liquid roster. Now, Adil with his brother Nivera who, by the way, is also a native of CS:GO (he previously played for Vitality and stole AWP from ZywOo on the map Inferno), will be leading the team Karmine Corp.
ANGE1
This is another example of a talented person who is talented everywhere, in other words — he was cool in CS:GO and is cool in VALORANT. The 33-year-old Ukrainian has been a permanent captain of HellRaisers for many years.
In his previous discipline, Kyrylo achieved victories at many championships, including Europe Minor Championship - Columbus 2016, Bets.net Masters: Season 1, and CIS Minor Championship - London 2018.
In 2020, ANGE1 was not afraid to try himself in VALORANT to join the roster of FunPlus Phoenix pretty soon. The Ukrainian captain was struggling for a long but then finally made it.
The previous season was the best one for ANGE1 in his entire career. In 2022, he prevailed at VCT 2022: EMEA Stage 1 Challengers and VCT 2022: Stage 2 Masters - Copenhagen, and also placed second at VALORANT Champions 2022. And at the end of the season, Kyrylo has realized his old dream and finally become a part of Natus Vincere.
yay
Let’s move to North America where there are lots of defectors and even more successful examples. But it is worth talking about yay who stood out in the discipline CS:GO.
When we look at history, the 24-year-old American has only played for compLexity Gaming and also changed lots of mediocre teams.
But yay decided to move to VALORANT to become the main star of the scene. The first year was not the best one on the roster of Andbox but when he moved to Team Envy, his career started gaining momentum.
As a result, the American became the main driving force of OpTic Gaming, having prevailed at VCT 2022: Stage 1 Masters - Reykjavík, and also made it to the top 3 at VCT 2021: Stage 3 Masters - Berlin, VCT 2022: Stage 2 Masters - Copenhagen, and VALORANT Champions 2022. Now, he will be demonstrating his skills on the roster of Cloud9, having joined the partnership ecosystem.
mixwell
Let’s talk about mixwell. The Spaniard was a pretty remarkable person five years ago when he was shining bright on the roster of OpTic Gaming. He managed to win a few tournaments, succeeding at the Americas Minor Championship - Cologne 2016 and ELEAGUE Season 2.
But the Spaniard began to lose his shape over time and he got the idea of moving to VALORANT. It can’t be said that mixwell has become a star. But the fact that he has been the leader and captain of G2 Esports for two and half years allows us to consider him a successful example.
Together with the team, the 27-year-old player became the winner of the Vitality European Open, WePlay! Invitational, and BLAST Twitch Invitational, and made it to the semi-final of VCT 2021: Stage 3 Masters - Berlin.
Mixwell has recently left the home team to become a new member of Team Heretics.
There are dozens of such players — the North American scene is also worth your attention, half of it consists of former professional CS:GO players. So we can only mention the players who deserve attention and we could miss them: Ethan (Evil Geniuses), FNS (NRG), nukkye (Giants Gaming), f0rsakeN (Paper Rex), xms (Karmine Corp), Boaster (Fnatic), Jamppi (Team Liquid), vanity (Cloud9), dephh (Sentinels), d4v41 (Paper Rex), Nivera (Karmine Corp), and ardiis (NRG).
Unfortunate examples — who had a bad career in VALORANT
Now, let’s talk about bad examples. There are enough of them but we will stop only at those who are famous. Logically, the majority of them are natives of North America. But we have tried to find a spot in Europe.
draken
Do you still remember the CIS killer? At some moment, the former sniper of Ninjas in Pyjamas disappeared from CS:GO to find himself in VALORANT. The 27-year-old Sweden sniper found himself on the roster of Guild Esports and he did not succeed with it.
As a result, draken spent a bit more than a year in the Riot Games disciplines, making it to the top 3 of VCT 2021: Europe Stage 1 Masters, VCT 2021: Europe Stage 2 Challengers 1, and VCT 2021: Europe Stage 3 Challengers 1.
In 2022, the Swede suddenly returned to CS:GO but now, he had to conquer Minors. From now on, draken has stuck in the TIER-2 scene, playing for the team Into The Breach. But his career is not over yet and he still has time to come back.
steel
Let’s move from good to the worst. In 2014, there was an interesting team called iBUYPOWER. Steel was a captain and the main 322 companion in America.
But the reward found its hero, on the outcome of which the Canadian received a permanent ban from Valve. Of course, steel’s career was not over and he continued playing in the TIER-2 scene and even achieved good results with the team Chaos Esports Club.
However, he was not afraid of transiting to VALORANT in 2020 where no one threatened him with restrictions. Steel almost immediately joined 100 Thieves, a pretty good organization.
The Canadian did now show any results and could not boast of achievements. The advancement to the semi-final of VCT 2021: Stage 3 Masters - Berlin was his main success, however, steel has not distinguished himself since then.
To sum up, the 32-year-old Canadian is one step away from parting ways with T1. And there is no hope that he will stay in the club that participates in the Asian league.
swag (brax)
Swag, also known as brax, is another loser of the 322 scandal around the team iBUYPOWER. Unfortunately, his “success” was too early, soo his CS:GO career ended pretty quickly.
As a result, swag was playing for TIER-2 and TIER-3 teams for a long time, enjoying insignificant victories. But his fate turned right, so the American could try himself in VALORANT.
The interesting thing is that swag even changed his nickname to “brax”. But the problem is that this decision has not brought him results. As a result, the 27-year-old American tried himself on the rosters of T1 and TSM where he did not gain much fame. Now, he has been streaming for more than a year and does not even think about returning to the stage.
autimatic
It is not the worst example but the way the player used his chance deserves attention. Autimatic was very promising in CS:GO where he was playing for such teams as TSM, Cloud9, and Gen.G Esports.
Yes, this is the guy who achieved victory at ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018.
And there were no signs of trouble until the organization Gen.G Esports left its hopes and disbanded its CS:GO roster. Autimatic followed the club in VALORANT to find himself in T1.
The 26-year-old American spent a full season here but won nothing. It seemed that there were lots of clubs who were ready to hire him. However, autimatic decided differently.
As a result, the player returned to CS:GO to become a new player of Evil Geniuses and repeat his success in Boston. But as we can understand considering the name of the new team, autimatic achieved nothing. On the other hand, he has managed to return to his shape but the results of Evil Geniuses leave much more to be desired.
floppy
This is another unfortunate example of double migration and the return to the origins. Let’s start with the interesting project “Colossus” by Cloud9, which floppy joined as a young star.
Of course, the organization failed, and the American decided to find himself in VALORANT four months later. The young man did not go too far and stayed in the structure of Cloud9.
However, floppy failed here too because he asked to go back after three championships. The organization refused the fastidious guy’s services. And he tried to come back on the roster of Extra Salt first but now, he tries to prevail in the ESEA Cash Cup together with Complexity Gaming.
Some other players can be related to these, some of whom have also returned to CS:GO. NBK-, Davidp, pyth, Happy, Dima, RUBINO, mertz, and JUGi deserve attention among them.
It is worth highlighting nitro0 who left VALORANT in top shape to join 100 Thieves. “Captain America” was demonstrating a good play here but decided to return in CS:GO after all.
There are concerns that we will see fewer such examples in the future. First of all, the hype around VALORANT has subsided, and now, young players can learn from the existing examples. Secondly, CS:GO is still alive, overcoming all the crises. Thirdly, today’s VALORANT scene is becoming more and more closed and it will be a bit more difficult to get in there.