![]() Whenever his skill would come into question, he would quickly remind his bosses, his peers and Counter-Strike fans why he was Team Liquid's rock. Known for its volatility, Counter-Strike often throws players to the side the moment they begin to slump. ![]() Players such as Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo, who has led several majority Brazilian squads from Luminosity Gaming to SK Gaming to MiBR, are a rarity. Nitr0's 5½-year tenure on Liquid is nearly unheard of in Counter-Strike. For the first time since early 2015, nitr0 would no longer be sporting Liquid's iconic blue and white. But at the end of the day, it just didn't feel right to me anymore."Īs the player break progressed, nitr0 felt more confident about his next move: It was time to leave behind the team he helped build and lead to championship-level heights after more than half a decade. "I was still helping the team out the best I could in other departments of the game. "I felt like I was slacking so bad individually," he said. With a player break on the horizon, thinking about what was next weighed on his mind. Quarantine had gotten to him, and his and Liquid's performance online was far from the level the team was playing at a year earlier when they won ESL One Cologne, the most prestigious non-Major event on the Counter-Strike calendar. So on that early July day, the day before Independence Day in the United States, nitr0 thought it could be the last of his routine for the past six months. Read more: Final VALORANT tourney in North American Ignition Series announced | Team Liquid hire Moses as new Counter-Strike head coach It was oversaturation and us being mentally unhealthy. ![]() "Literally the same teams you scrim against in matches back-to-back because there were so many tournaments, because all the T.O.s wanted to keep holding tournaments online because they gotta make money too somehow. "I don't think it was mentally healthy to get in the same spot every day and just play against the same exact teams online," nitr0 said. Star-studded finals versus Na'Vi and Astralis became repetitive series versus Evil Geniuses, Gen.G and FURIA. Liquid, a fully North American squad, became region-locked - unable to play European teams - as play moved online. 1 - it was "the best feeling in the world," according to nitr0 - but now they didn't even get to face the best in the world. For a brief period of time, Liquid held the title of No. The only other team to accomplish the feat was their rival Astralis. Last year, Team Liquid was one of the best teams in the world, just the second team to win the Intel Grand Slam. Now, every day was basically the same: practice, play, eat, sleep, repeat. From 2019 to early 2020, nitr0 found himself on the road more than half the year - whether that was in Team Liquid facilities in Los Angeles or Utrecht, Netherlands, or competing in Denmark, Germany, Sweden or another country. You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browserĬS:GO Weekly: 'Nitr0' leaves Counter-Strike a legend, on to VALORANTĪs Nick "nitr0" Cannella booted up his PC on July 3, he plopped down into his chair at his Louisiana home for the final day of his 2020 routine.įor the previous six months, since COVID-19 put the majority of the world into quarantine, the professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player's schedule had changed drastically.
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