ScreaM Clears Up Confusion about Switching to CS2

Former Counter-Strike star and current VALORANT professional for Karmine Corp, Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom, has cleared up confusion about his tweet, which some suspected to be him thinking about switching to Counter-Strike 2 

After losing to NAVI and blowing up the chance to secure a Champions 2023 spot, Karmine Corp’s Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom tweeted about his thoughts on his career’s future.

Never took a flight that fast after a game, already back home

Time to rest some and reflect on the options I got for the future of my career

I heard there's a game coming out soon.. 🙄

— KC ScreaM 🇲🇦 (@ScreaM_) July 22, 2023

“Time to rest some and reflect on the options I got for the future of my career. I heard there's a game coming out soon.” – he ended the tweet with this statement, and as a former Counter-Strike professional with a long history in the game, some speculated the statement to be his interest in switching to CS2, Counter-Strike’s massive update on the existing game. 

In another tweet at a later instance, the 29-year-old cleared up the confusion many people had about him leaving the VALORANT competition for a different gaming career. 

J'ai tweet sous le coup de la frustration de ne pas se qualifier et certains de mes propos étaient maladroits et pas nécessaires, et je m'excuse auprès de tous.

J'ai aussi vu que mon dernier tweet a été mal pris et je tiens à apporter un peu de précisions.

J'ai absolument tout…

— KC ScreaM 🇲🇦 (@ScreaM_) July 22, 2023

“For the reference to CS2, it was more irony than anything else, very misplaced with hindsight given the circumstances. I want to continue in Valorant and do everything to win trophies.” – explained ScreaM in a long Twitter post, giving a sigh of relief to all his VALORANT fans.

He also mentioned the frustrating feeling of having a poor season and blamed himself as the captain for such results in another post.

Je vois beaucoup de message sur Twitter attendant ce fameux TL et comme vous tous nous l’attendons aussi. Croyez-moi, malgré les difficultés et les frustrations qu’on a traversées en équipe, je n’arrive toujours pas à comprendre l’abandon d’un poste. La Karmine Corp donne cette…

— KC ScreaM 🇲🇦 (@ScreaM_) July 22, 2023

“Being the captain, I take full responsibility for the failure of my team. I take full responsibility for our performance, for the difficulties we went through. I am solely responsible. Don't blame my team, nor my structure, nor my family.” 

ScreaM and Karmine Corp’s 2023 Season

This year was Karmine Corp’s first adventure in the tier 1 scene, and they immediately got the attention of the French VALORANT scene by signing former Team Liquid members and siblings Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom and Nabil “Nivera” Benrlitom.

Even with these two talented players, the reasonably new organization had one of the poorest forms at VCT EMEA. Karmine Corp ended the Regular Season with a 2-7 record, staying at the bottom of the standings. During their EMEA League matches, the team was ridiculed far too many times for their misplays and lack of synergy, even giving them the title of the “worst team in the region.”

Alexis “Newzera” Humbert stepped down in the middle of the Regular Season, and the team had to bring out their assistant coach Ahmed “ZE1SH” El Sheikh, to the stage for not having an official sixth man. ScreaM mentioned this abandonment of the team recently in his tweet, saying, “Believe me, despite the difficulties and frustrations we went through as a team, I still can't understand the abandonment of a position.” Going further into Newzera’s stepping down, ScreaM boldly mentioned, “I just hope that the reason for his abandonment has the merit of being defended.”

Right after Newzera’s departure from the squad, ScreaM stepped down from the IGL role by giving the responsibility to ZE1SH.

Voici la raison de mon tweet ce matin… ⁰⁰Mon frère et moi vivons encore ce moment où un de nos coéquipiers abandonne l’équipe au sein d’une compétition (Liquid). Aujourd’hui on rencontre beaucoup de difficultés en interne et honnêtement je crois que c’est la première fois dans… https://t.co/Zftz5pkgYh

— KC ScreaM 🇲🇦 (@ScreaM_) April 19, 2023

With the assistant coach still playing for the team, Karmine Corp came into the LCQ with an opportunity to make it to the biggest VALORANT tournament this year. Moreover, they had a much better chance at reaching that goal due to EMEA having two spots for the LCQ finalists due to FNATIC’s victory at Masters Tokyo, while other regions have only one. Additionally, Team Vitality’s withdrawal from the LCQ meant there were only six teams and two Champions slots, making the odds even better!

Karmine Corp won their first game against BBL Esports, avoiding the single-elimination bracket. However, the next two opponents didn’t allow the French roster to go through, ending Karmine’s 2023 VCT Season without any notable achievements.

ScreaM and Karmine Corp’s Future

Credit: Riot Games

In the Twitter post where ScreaM cleared up the rumors about him switching to CS2, he also mentioned the uncertainty of Karmine Corp’s plan for the next VCT Season – “I don't know yet what the Karmine will want to do for next season, so I'm waiting to see my options for the future.” 

Many teams with poor performance in the first year of the VALORANT franchise are expected to have significant roster changes, and it is possible for KCORP to take the same route.