Sources: Steel to Leave CS:GO to Play Professional Valorant

Veteran Counter-Strike in-game leader Joshua “steel” Nissan has decided to leave CS:GO to play professional Valorant, according to multiple sources with knowledge of his decision. Edgar "MarKE" Maldonado is expected to step into his place on Chaos Esports Club.

Steel has played for a number of organizations throughout his time in CS:GO, including iBuyPower, Team Dignitas, Ghost, and most recently Chaos. In 2015, he was implicated in a match-fixing scandal with iBP, and he was banned from participating in Valve-sponsored tournaments, along with most of his fellow teammates at the time. Most tournament organizers followed suit until ESL began allowing steel and the other banned players to participate in their tournaments in July 2017.

After the ban, steel rejoined Torqued and also played for Ghost Gaming before joining Chaos last November. He also served as an analyst for ECS in 2017 and has been a guest commentator at multiple CS Summit events.

Chaos recently reached the semifinals of ESL One: Cologne North America under his leadership. This result followed a recent first place finish in Season 34 of ESEA Premier North America in July. Chaos sit one place back from a chance for Major qualification spot in the North America Regional Major Ranking.