One of the few players that’s lifted trophies in both VALORANT and Counter-Strike is reportedly reaching out to a number of professional CS2 teams about yet another return.
Nick “nitr0” Cannella, winner of IEM Grand Slam season two in CS:GO and the First Strike tournament in VALORANT, is looking to return to CS2 yet again, and has already been in contact with a “number of teams” in the North American region. Nitr0 provided a quote to Dust2.us confirming his interest in returning.
“VALORANT was not what I expected it to be and I didn’t see a future for myself,” the former in-game leader told the North American Counter-Strike outlet. “CS is home and with the lack of IGL’s in [North America], this is where I belong. I still have a lot to offer to NA CS and I can’t wait to give CS2 everything I have.”
While nitr0 is one of the few players that has lifted a trophy in both games, he’s also the only player to make multiple switches between games. After nearly six years and a handful of major CS:GO trophies with Team Liquid, nitr0 left for VALORANT and 100 Thieves in 2020, capturing a First Strike trophy months later and helping establish 100T as one of NA’s best teams throughout 2021.
Nitr0 would return to Liquid and CS:GO at the start of 2022, but the team failed to find the same success as before, with nitr0 stepping down in the middle of 2023 after BLAST Paris before the release of Counter-Strike 2. At the start of 2024, nitr0 went back to VALORANT again when he signed with M80, competing in the NA Challengers league until moving to the bench earlier this month.
Nitr0 has not played CS2 on the professional level yet, but is picking an opportune time to rejoin, as the Americas RMR has seven spots at the Perfect World Shanghai Major on the line, the most the region has seen in years.
