On Friday, Braxton "Swag" Pierce announced on Twitter that he was leaving the Swole Identity organisation (formerly known as Swole Patrol) that he joined last September, after being forced to retire from CS:GO.
The American player — who played with IBUYPOWER in the past — wants to focus on Valorant, even if he hasn't excluded continuing to stream CS:GO.
In Counter Strike Global Offensive, Swag had a rather chaotic career. Spotted by the public in 2011 while he was still evolving on 1.6, he was propelled to the forefront of the CS:GO scene when he joined Complexity in 2013. His outstanding skill helped his team climb the podium at ESEA S15.
He continued his ascent by joining IBUYPOWER alongside big names in the scene, such as Keven "AZK" Lariviere and Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham. After some mixed results with the North American organisation — and to the surprise of all — he was banned from Valve majors following his participation in the IBUYPOWER cheating scandal of 2015.
Since his ban, Pierce has failed to regain his former glory — he was ranked 18th in the 2014 HLTV top players ranking. After spending many months as a stand-in for Cloud9, he went from one small organisation to another.
A comeback in Valorant could allow the American to redeem himself in the public eye and recapture his past glory.
The exact release date for Valorant (formerly known as Project A) is still uncertain, but we do know that Riot Games' brand-new FPS will be released this summer on PC. Like League of Legends, Valorant will be free-to-play and will base its economy on skins.
