shroud confirms he will play in the Valorant Champions Tour

William Davis Published 18/07/2021

Michael “shroud” Grzesiek dropped a bomb on his stream when he confirmed his participation in the Valorant Champions Tour.

The streamer and former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro player is one of the most popular personalities on Twitch. His last professional CSGO match was at CSGO’s PGL Major Kraków in 2017. He is most likely competing in the open qualifiers for Valorant Champions Tour: North America Stage 3 Challengers 2. That event will be on July 22. shroud’s teammates for the event are not confirmed.

The full-time streamer and former CSGO professional casually made the announcement during a restream of IEM Cologne. He was discussing the pressure he faced during his time as a CSGO pro and mysteriously related it to his current feelings. That mystery was instantly solved when shroud revealed that he would play in the Valorant Champions Tour.

shroud confirms VCT participation

“I mean I am playing in the VCT. That’ll be kinda fun. We’re gonna get owned, but hey. Whatever,” shroud said.

The streaming star has hinted at returning to competition before, but has never confirmed anything until now. shroud has competed across several shooter games since retiring from CSGO, including PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Rainbow Six Siege, and Call of Duty: Blackout.

This won’t be shroud’s first competitive foray in Valorant. shroud placed second at GlitchCon 2020 Super Team Showdown near to the game’s original release date. Valorant is also a regular pick for his streams, and is popular with shroud’s fans.

Why did shroud retire from CSGO?

shroud played professional CSGO from 2014 to 2017. Esports wasn’t quite as big in the mid-2010s. Tournaments didn’t have as many viewers, which made it more difficult to court sponsors and provide big prize pools. 

shroud earned $114,250 in prize money in 2016, his most lucrative year by far. While that’s certainly a lot of money, famous gamers like shroud can earn a lot more with much less pressure by streaming. Even back then, streamers made just as much, if not way more, than professional esports players. shroud first began streaming on Twitch in 2016 before straeming full-time in late 2017. Considering shroud’s net worth is estimated at over $20 million today, the transition definitely paid off.

Read Also

Dota 2

Dota 2’s TI patch, 7.41e, has arrived alongside a plethora of new features and fixes Michael Hassall We’re just under two weeks away from the kick off of Dota 2’s premier tournament, The International, and the patch that will see us through the 15th edition of the event has landed. Valve released the Dota 2 7.41e late on Thursday evening, or in the small hours of the morning if you’re EU based. With it came a big variety of updates and changes, from the gameplay update proper, ...

News

BC.Game Launches in Ghana To Expand Its Regulated Reach in Africa Hannan Mundia Having received official approval from the Gaming Commission of Ghana, popular crypto casino BC.Game is now to launch in the country, becoming the operator’s third regulated market. Crypto-focused operators often work in a legal grey area, being accepted in multiple countries without having explicit approval from official bodies. This move from BC.Game, though, is the ideal way for the operator to be able to accept players from the African country. ...

Fortnite

Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 4: Confirmed Collabs, Date, and More Details Zachary Roberts Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 4 is on the way! Season 3 is climaxing soon, and it will give way to a fresh season with new characters, items, storyline, and plenty more. Because the new season is so close, leaks are coming thick and fast. Some are even being confirmed outright before the season arrives. Here is exactly what you need to know. It has long been known that Fortnite Chapter ...

Slots

This Is How To Play Betsoft’s The Governor Slot, Where Every Spin Holds Power Ben Boland Betsoft’s “THE” series has been a revelation for the provider, bringing a range of popular new casino games to players in 2026. The latest addition to that collection is The Governor slot, which was released on July 30. It's a game all about power, with the ultimate aim to rise to top in the form of the governor’s seat. From wielding influence, privileged intelligence, and lobbying engagements, this is a ...

News

Revolut Launches ChatGPT Go Benefit Through New OpenAI Partnership Zachary Roberts As of today, 30 July, 2026, mobile money-managing app Revolut has partnered with ChatGPT. The banking company has officially introduced ChatGPT Go, the tier of subscription meant to bridge the gap between the free version and the Plus version, as a benefit. The AI chatbot has become a go-to for many people, and now it's part of the subscription to Revolut. Subscribers will get three months of Go free on ...

Fortnite

Fortnite Adds Proximity Chat Back in a Very Limited Way Zachary Roberts In September 2025, Fortnite added proximity chat for the first time. It was something fans had wanted for a long time, so Epic Games added a dedicated game mode, Delulu Mode, to allow it. In that mode, players could talk to nearby players via proximity chat, recruiting them to team up or to troll them. You could even join and leave teams as much as you wanted. That mode, and ...

Counter-Strike

Is the CS2 Esports Nations Cup Going To Be a Huge Disappointment? Owen Harsono The Esports World Cup recently rolled out a new tournament series called the Esports Nations Cup, where participants can only compete under their country’s flag — just like the FIFA World Cup. 2026 is going to be the first time the Esports Nations Cup plays out, and though there was a lot of hype surrounding it, there are concerns it might fall short of expectations. The qualifiers for the CS2 ...