Version1’s rise in VALORANT is a product of the fall of North American Counter-Strike
Aside from regions like Korea and Japan, where Counter-Strike never took off to begin with, no other region has seen as much migration to VALORANT as North America. It wasn’t surprising to see players with no clear opportunities in CS:GO, like TSM’s Braxton “swag” Pierce, 100 Thieves’ Joshua “steel” Nissan, or T1’s Sam “DaZeD” Marine, switch over. And it wasn't shocking to see older players looking for more glory and fame in the second half of their careers, like 100T’s Spencer “Hiko” Martin and TSM’s James “hazed” Cobb, also make