CSGO pro player ALEX might be switching to Valorant soon

Fariha Bhatti Published 31/03/2021

It seems that Cloud9’s former in-game leader Alex “ALEX” McMeekin is finally making the big switch from one popular first-person shooter to the other, as he is registered to play in the Valorant Champions tour with a French team.

Unlike other Counter-Strike: Global Offensive professional players switching to Riot’s tactical shooter, ALEX didn’t make a formal announcement. Instead, the news came out when his name was spotted on the registration page of the Valorant Champions tour under French team Bref.

Team Bref stars ALEX as the captain who’ll lead the squad against Bleiz in the open qualifier for the first Challengers event to take place in the second phase of Europe’s VCT. ALEX’s username is ALEXCSGO on Twitter and Twitch, which confirmed the suspicions of fans who had anticipated that most former Cloud9 players would move to Valorant after the roster was broken up. While none of those players, including ALEX himself, has commented on the matter, it’s evident that ALEX is exploring his options behind the scenes.

Cloud9 terminates its CSGO team, considers a later return

Will ALEX leave CSGO for Valorant?

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s North American region recently took a significant blow when Cloud9 announced its CSGO exit. Previously, various esports organizations have fled the CSGO sphere, but Cloud9’s departure was the last straw for agitated followers of the NA CSGO scene. Cloud9 was the only team that had brought a major trophy to the North American region after winning it over FaZe Clan at the ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018. The team dipped after that win, but Henry “HenryG” Greer colossus project was a fresh breath of air that had recharged idle fans.

C9’s exit left some of CSGO’s best players as free agents in the market. In a scene where skilled IGL’s are scarce, ALEX was among CSGO’s most valuable assets. The 25-year-old has guided many teams to success, including Team Vitality. He was picked up by HenryG in a whopping $1.6 billion deal to lead a team of stars signed for an equally princely cheque. ALEX’s leadership skills came up short in HenryG’s star-studded project, and an inability to perform well over six months resulted in a disband.

While ALEX has clearly registered himself with a French team for VCT, nothing can be said for sure. It’s likely that the player is just testing the waters to decide what’s next for him. ALEX has spent tons of time playing for varioius European teams, a region where Valorant hasn’t made quite the mark yet that it has elsewhere.

Fariha Bhatti

About Fariha Bhatti

Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.

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