Justice’s Corey is latest OWL player to leave for Valorant esports

Corey “Corey” Nigra is the latest Overwatch League pro to exit the scene in order to pursue a career in Riot Games’ Valorant.

“This may come as a surprise to many of you and maybe not so much to a few, but my time with Overwatch has come to an end. I’ve officially retired from Overwatch,” Corey said on Twitter. He went on to thank various individuals he worked with during his Overwatch career and discussed why Valorant resonates with him as a game.

In 2018, Corey was pulled up from the Contenders team Gladiators Legion, and hired as a DPS player for the Washington Justice. While there, he and his co-DPS Ethan “Stratus” Yankel were some of the most entertaining players to watch on the stage. Corey is a hitscan player specializing in heroes such as Widowmaker and McCree, while Stratus has been playing Mei and Sombra. Stratus has also recently announced a step back from OWL in order to focus more on content creation.

The Justice weren’t the best team going into the 2020 season, but Corey and Stratus were a big part of what success they did have. The duo were two of the most in-sync DPS players in the league.

Alongside Corey, numerous other OWL stars have also made the decision to leave Blizzard’s shooter behind in hopes of finding greener pastures in Valorant. There was a mass exodus of former OWL pros right before the game released and since then, big names have been dropping out of the game. The most prominent so far has been Jay “sinatraa” Won, 2019’s OWL MVP. 

Justice’s OWL roster rocked by loss of star McCree player

With Stratus and Corey’s departures, it leaves some holes in the DPS lineup for the Justice. Lee “TTuba” Ho-Sung is now the only DPS player on the roster. The Justice started the season with a smaller lineup, something that Strategic Coach Hae-joon “Wiz” Lee had mentioned was part of their strategy at the beginning of the season. 

Not only is there now a gap in the DPS position, but the team is operating on a bare-minimum roster. If a tank or support were to fall sick, there are no replacements for them. Tank Lukas “LullSiSH” Wiklund is inactive due to visa issues, and there’s no word on when he will return. 

The Justice are scheduled to play a match this weekend against the Florida Mayhem, so an announcement of at least one new DPS player is expected before their game on Saturday, May 16.