100 Thieves Benches Steel, Promotes b0i to VALORANT Starting Roster
100 Thieves has made the decision to bench Joshua “steel” Nissan from their active VALORANT roster. Former substitute Aaron “b0i” Thao will be taking his place in the starting lineup. This move was confirmed by a report from Upcomer’s George Geddes on Sept. 25.
Steel will be moved to a substitute position, but not the primary substitute position, according to 100 Thieves’ official announcement. That spot will be given to 16-year old Johann “seven” Hernandez for the remainder of 2021.
Steel expressed on Twitter that he is far from finished with professional VALORANT and intends to come back for the 2022 VALORANT Champions Tour campaign.
Steel’s last appearance with 100T VALORANT was at VCT Masters Three Berlin, their first offline event. They performed well in the group stage, finishing 2-0 and reaching the semifinals before ultimately losing to Team Envy. 100T was also the only team to defeat eventual champions Gambit during the group stage winners match.
A greatly respected tactician, steel joined 100 Thieves in September 2020 after his CS:GO career was cut short due to a Valve ban. The team, comprised of experienced CS:GO veterans, won First Strike a few months later and competed at Masters in Stage Three after facing some challenges in the first two VCT phases.
Despite reaching the semifinals of VCT Masters Berlin, 100T still needs to secure a spot at Champions. They will have to compete in the Last Chance Qualifier against tough competition to secure the final North American spot. The matches are set to begin on Oct. 12.
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