Freakazoid Quits Competitive CS:GO to Pursue Valorant
| Tags: CS2, Valorant
| Author Caroline Rutledge
Freakazoid joins Zellsis in the search for Valorant success.
Former Swole Patrol member Ryan “Freakazoid” Abadir has revealed his decision to step away from competitive CS:GO just a day after teammate Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro did the same. The 27-year-old announced this development in a Tweet, stating that he will instead focus on Riot Games’ new first-person tactical shooter Valorant.
Sometimes life says out with the old and gotta go with the new. I’m quitting cs and going to be playing Valorant. I can’t wait to be apart of the team that competes at worlds or whatever it’s called for it and fucking shit up against teams world wide. LETS GO
— Ryan Abadir (@FreakazoidA) May 10, 2020
Freakazoid has been active in the Counter-Strike scene since the Source days, and has been competing since 2008. In Global Offensive, Freakazoid reached second-place finishes at the ESL Pro League Season 1 Finals, ESWC 2015, and the FACEIT League Season 2 Finals with Cloud9. He played in three CS:GO Majors under the Cloud9 banner, reaching the group stage of ESL One Cologne 2015, DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015, and MLG Columbus 2016.
Freakazoid represented a number of prominent organizations after Cloud9, including Echo Fox, Ghost Gaming, and eUnited. The experienced rifler found some success with Ghost Gaming, finishing 3-4th at the iBUYPOWER Masters 2019 and reaching 15th in the World Rankings. He joined eUnited in September of 2019, though struggled to find good results before the team was dropped by the organization in March of 2020. He has since played under the Swole Patrol name, recently reaching a 6th-place finish in ESL Pro League Season 11.
More Leaving For Valorant
Freakazoid and Zellsis are two of many esports professionals leaving one game in favor of Valorant. Former iBUYPOWER stars Braxton “Brax” Pierce and Keven “AZK” Larivière, along with former Cloud9 rifler Tyson “TenZ” Ngo, left CS:GO to compete in Valorant. San Francisco Shock star Jay “Sinatraa” Won and Washington Justice DPS Corey “Corey” Nigra both left the Overwatch League to pursue Valorant as well.
Freakazoid maintains a consistent streaming schedule, broadcasting both CS:GO and Valorant gameplay to his 366,000 Twitch followers.
Caroline is an esports journalist focusing on CS:GO. Starting out as a casual CS:GO fan, her interest quickly turned into a passion as she spent years studying the game. She has put that knowledge to use as a journalist, now writing about professional CS:GO for multiple websites including TheGamer.