100 Thieves has decided to exit the professional CS:GO scene, the American esports organization announced yesterday. The organization re-entered the CS:GO scene almost a year ago with their signing of the former Renegades roster. Amid rumors of star Justin “jks” Savage joining Complexity, 100 Thieves has revealed it will be stepping away from competitive CS:GO entirely.

The news was revealed by 100 Thieves CEO Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag in a video released on Twitter. Nadeshot cites the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as a main motivator for stepping out of CS:GO, along with the scene’s shift to Europe-based tournaments. “For us specifically, what went wrong,” Nadeshot starts, “[...] number one, 100 Thieves is a North American organization.” Haag explains that 100 Thieves is based in Los Angeles, and cannot give the roster the support it needs should they wish to compete in Europe.

100 Thieves has taken multiple attempts to enter the CS:GO world, originally signing the Brazilian former Immortals lineup in 2017. With various scandals surrounding the team, the roster was dropped in early 2018 before ever playing an official match under the 100 Thieves name. The organization rejoined the scene in October of 2019, signing the Australian Renegades lineup.

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The team finished second in their first outing under the 100T banner, falling to Astralis in the IEM Beijing 2019 final. The roster peaked at fifth in the World Rankings, and closed out 2019 in the top ten. Going into 2020, 100 Thieves finished 5-6th in IEM Katowice, one of the only LAN events that would go on that year. More recent results include third and fourth-place finishes at DreamHack Masters Spring and cs_summit 6, respectively.

After the team’s second-place finish in ESL Pro League Season 12 North America, rumors began to circulate on the future of the roster. Coach Chet “Chet” Singh, formerly known as ImAPet, left the team to coach NRG’s VALORANT division. Rumors then surfaced of 100T star Justin “jks” Savage potentially joining Complexity’s CS:GO lineup after Owen “oBo” Schlatter’s departure.

100 Thieves does not currently have plans to re-enter the CS:GO scene in the future, but Nadeshot says they will “continue to keep [their] eyes on it.” The current lineup will play out the remainder of IEM New York North America under the 100 Thieves name before parting with the organization. There is no official word on where any of 100T’s players will go next.

Source: 100 Thieves

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