Braxton “swag” Pierce takes a break from competitive CS:GO
Braxton Pierce, also known as Brax, has officially left Torqued after being with the team since September. This unexpected move comes as a surprise as the team was performing well in North American online qualifiers for major ESL and DreamHack events.
Reasons behind swag’s decision
“I don’t want to go into details why I’m making this decision and I know the timing is really bad as they have a big tournament coming up in Brazil, but I don’t think there was a good time to make this choice,” swag explained in an announcement on Twitter. “I know my ‘comeback’ since being unbanned from ESL and DreamHack has been underwhelming. I know I’m capable of way more and I just need to keep grinding.”
The journey of the unbanned trio
Following their re-admittance into ESL and DreamHack events, the unbanned trio of Swag, AZK, and DaZeD formed a team called GX, which also included Pollo and dapr. Eventually, DaZeD stepped down as the in-game leader and steel took over the role, leading the team to compete under the Torqued banner. Koosta joined the team after CLG dropped its male teams, replacing witmer.
Recent performances and future plans
With the addition of steel, Torqued managed to qualify for ESL One Belo Horizonte and DreamHack Open Tours. However, they finished last at DreamHack Tours, and they are still expected to compete at ESL One Belo Horizonte in mid-June. Swag had the second highest HLTV 2.0 rating at DreamHack Tours on the team. Despite this, swag feels the need for a mental reset and will be streaming and playing FPL and Rank S on FACEIT and ESEA to reach his potential while considering other offers.
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