Steel Retires from Counter-Strike and Goes to Valorant

Just recently, Joshua “steel” Nissan, known as one of the CS: GO veterans, decided to leave. Back in 2015, steel got banned along with three other teammates, and ever since, his career with CS: GO ended. He used to be one of the best players in the game and people loved him, but sometimes, good things come to an end. Valve banned him and his teammates for fixing a match from August 2014.

In the meantime, he moved to VALORANT.

Moving to Valorant

Steel is not the only one who is doing something like this. Many others have left CS: GO behind and looked towards VALORANT instead. Steel is just the most recent one to do this. He signed with an agency that also represented other amazing players who made this move, respectively Prodigy. Out of the iBUYPOWER players, he is the last to go to Valorant.

“I’m currently still under contract with Chaos [Esports Club],” steel declared. “I’ve transitioned, I guess, onto the CS bench for now. I’m going to be streaming VALORANT in the meantime but weighing the options for future transitions as we speak, so a different team in VALORANT might be on the table soon.”

Dealing with Judgemental People

It’s not a surprise that steel has left an impression in the Counter-Strike community, and he is very much one of the players getting praised for what he’s done. He is always said to have been one of the minds behind the North American CS: GO’s success. But due to match-fixing, his image has been tarnished, and he tried, over the years, to rebuild his image and erase the impression this matter has left on people.

However, people don’t forget that easily, especially when it’s one of the first things you find out after looking up his name on the biggest search engine, Google. Even people who want to collaborate with him are bringing it up. Like that wasn’t enough, whenever he gets into arguments with people online, they don’t hesitate to laugh at him for this.

“To kind of completely judge me off of that, I felt like it has kind of [em]bittered me or made me more bitter towards the world or see things in a more pessimistic view,” the player declared. “Eventually, I got to a good place where I want to be as a person, and I don’t know if the circumstances that occurred to me were a catalyst for what was gonna happen eventually, or if I was going to become this person anyways or if it just developed naturally or what. I don’t know.”

But when he announced his retirement from CS: GO, the player also got a warm response from the top industry figures for Counter-Strike. Analyst Duncan “Thorin” Shields was one of the people talking about this by posting something on his Twitter page.

“Steel did way more good for NA CS: GO than the bad he did with the fixed match, and it’s not even close,” Thorin said. “If there were any justice Valve would be listening, but we know how that one goes …”

Steel’s Accomplishments

In the past, steel was part of top teams in CS: GO, one of them being Team Dynamic. On top of that, not long after the release of the game, he also helped pioneer professional CS:  GO observing, at the RaidCall EMS One Fall Season.

“I was able to bring like two different groups of relatively unknown talent into the top 20, and that would probably be like one of the bigger accomplishments,” the CS: GO veteran said. “Winning a huge event like an ESL One Cologne on LAN in Germany in a stadium would’ve been nice, but obviously with certain limitations, you kind of have to take what you can get.”

In 2016, Steel moved to Overwatch when the game was released, and his former teammate AZK did the same thing. However, they both went back to CS: GO after a while.

But that’s not all Steel did. Actually, he helped many CS: GO teams build their status towards the top of the North American charts, even though he cannot participate in Valve events himself. The team Chaos Esports Club is the one that is being left behind after steel retired.

Now that he wants to join VALORANT, he has new opportunities ahead of him. He’ll be able to compete without being restricted, unlike with CS: GO.

The Future of steel

After moving to VALORANT, a whole new life lies ahead of steel, and people are eager to see what he’s going to do. VALORANT is looked at by multiple organizations, and since steel is joining, it is even better for them and they are even more willing to get into the game.

Three of steel’s former teammates are all part of T1. It started as one of the best VALORANT teams in the North American roster. However, it wasn’t too successful at maintaining that spot, because the scene kept developing and they were left behind. Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham was also benched, which affected the matter even more.

What steel wants and hopes for is to find a good organization that will help build success. He wants to find an organization just like Chaos: one that is always listening to others’ opinions and making decisions such as housing, relocation, and workspace infrastructure as necessary for their success in the future.

“Being able to put together a team of players that with a long-term outlook in mind, obviously where we need to have like some sort of long-term success, would be the most ideal, and doing it for an organization that kind of notices their players, treats them well and has open communication [is important],” the CS: GO veteran said.

Steel moving to VALORANT is exciting news for everyone who loved him in CS: GO, and people are looking forward to what he has to offer. Keep an eye on him and you may be pleasantly surprised to see him possibly being as good as he was in Counter-Strike.