Valorant Claims Another Overwatch Pro

Valorant is still in beta, but that isn’t stopping Riot’s new tactical shooter from poaching pros from other esports titles. Corey “Corey” Nigra, a hitscan (precision shooter) DPS (damage per second) player for the Overwatch League team Washington Justice announced that he will no longer be playing in the OWL but will instead take his talents to Valorant.

This is not the first professional Overwatch player to abandon the game in hopes of a career in Valorant. The MVP and face of the league, Jay “Sinatraa” Won, left the league to join the Sentinels Valorant squad. Sinatraa was the former DPS for the San Francisco Shock and a champion of the 2019 Overwatch League.

Corey posted in a TwitLonger the reasoning for his retirement from Overwatch and why Valorant is the next best option for his career: “When I was younger, I had the ambition to go pro in Counter Strike. Seeing Valorant as a hybrid between CS and OW, this looks like the game that was made for me. I’ll be pursuing all opportunities available to me and will start up hitting the grind” Corey explained. At this time, he doesn’t have any contracts set up with organizations planning a Valorant team. For now, he will be focusing on his twitch stream found here

Corey has accomplished so much during his time with the Justice and he will be missed in DC and the Overwatch League community.#JusticeFamily pic.twitter.com/KnXJtXnFrm

— Washington Justice (@washjustice) May 8, 2020

The Future of Overwatch

Some players, both professional and amateur, have found issue with the balancing system that has come into Overwatch. One of the largest issues players faced was the introduction of hero pools, weekly bans of three to four heroes. This has since been restricted to higher ELO ranks and the competitive scene, but the impact on the community is withstanding.

Despite players finding success in other games, Valorant is still tempting S-tier gamers to come over. Valorant’s unofficial pitch as the perfect hybrid between Counter-Strike and Overwatch is its main draw. With the potential this game has, it is only a matter of time until premier organizations like Team Liquid, G2, and Cloud9 announce their own plans to form a team, and when that happens, who knows what other players will jump ship to try and get in on the action. Until then, Valorant is still in beta and is scheduled to be fully released this Summer.