Cloud9 continues building Valorant roster by signing mitch

Cloud9 is gradually completing its Valorant roster, now signing the third member of its roster. 

Former Counter Strike: Global Offensive pro Mitch “mitch” Semago is the latest addition to the team, joining Tyson “TenZ” Ngo and Skyler “Relyks” Weaver in the active lineup.

Although his time with the organization just became official, Mitch has competed with Cloud9 since May as a stand-in. Together with the team he has achieved a couple of excellent results, including second-place finishes at the Immortals First Light tournament and Pulse Invitational.

Despite only having three players signed to contracts, Cloud9 has had a consistent lineup for the last four tournaments, with Daniel “vice” Kim and Josh “shinobi” Abastado filling in the blanks. If their strong results continue, Cloud9 will likely sign that duo to complete its roster.

Other stories of CSGO players leaving for Valorant:

• Mixwell returns to G2 Esports, this time for Valorant
• Former Cloud9 players players Freakazoid, Zellsis leave CSGO
• NiP signs ex-OWL star and four CSGO players for Valorant team

Exodus from CSGO to Valorant continues

Mitch didn’t announce his retirement from CSGO until today, but has been playing in Valorant tournaments since April. 

“I’ve been playing Counter-Strike for the past 15 years and I played professionally for the past four to five years. I’m switching to Valorant because I’ve grown a little tired of CS. It’s become too stale for me. I’m looking for a new start in Valorant, and I’ve already found my home at Cloud9.” Mitch said. 

Mitch came into the CSGO limelight while competing with Selfless Gaming, winning the WESG 2016 Americas Finals. Later on he played for the likes of Dignitas, Splyce, and eUnited with varying degrees of success. 

His last noteworthy professional CSGO appearance was with Bad News Bears. The team competed in Flashpoint Season 1 as FunPlus Phoenix, finishing seventh.

Former Bad News Bears teammates Austin “crashies” Roberts and Michael “dapr” Gulino have already made the jump to Valorant, joining T1 and Sentinels respectively.

Mitch is the latest on an ever-growing list of middling and retired professional CSGO players looking for greener pastures in Riot’s new first-person shooter. Though many of these players are past their prime or have hit a ceiling in CSGO, there’s no telling how much young talent will leave the game and how much more shallow the scene will become as a result.