koosta retires from CS:GO, switches to VALORANT

Once hailed as North America’s brightest prospect, Kenneth “koosta” Suen has announced he will be retiring from competitive CS:GO and making the jump to Valorant. The explosive AWPer will be rounding out Gen.G’s Valorant squad as its fifth and final player.

A legacy unfulfilled

Koosta first came into the CS:GO limelight as Enemy’s main AWPer, easily becoming the standout player on a roster that punched well above its weight class. Although noted for his explosive AWPing, koosta’s rifling skills left a lot to be desired, a trend that followed him late into his CS:GO career.

He was soon rewarded for his stalwart AWPing skills with a spot on Team Liquid. Although there was a lot of hype and expectation surrounding Liquid’s acquisition, the move failed to deliver the desired results. Only four months into his endeavor with Team Liquid, koosta found himself traded to Counter Logic Gaming in favor of veteran Josh “jdm64” Marzano due to lackluster results.

Koosta remained with CLG for a year and a half, with the roster ultimately being hailed as one of NA’s finest. But success on the big stage evaded koosta as the player found himself on the fringes of international tournaments, but never actually managing to crack the top.

Stints with lesser acclaimed teams such as GX, Torqued, and Ghost Gaming followed, finally culminating in a half-a-year long episode with Cloud 9. But the talented AWPer still could not find his footing, and when all seemed lost, Gen.G emerged.

Image Credits | HLTV

In the zenith of his CS:GO career, koosta assumed the in-game leader position with a talented, but otherwise unproven Gen.G roster. In a covid-stricken 2020 season, Gen.G somewhat unexpectedly emerged as a premier North American team, winning DreamHack Open Anaheim 2020 and ESL One: Road to Rio – North America in a season most other teams would like to forget.

Ultimately, koosta leaves a vexing CS:GO legacy as one of the biggest unfulfilled potentials in the history of North American Counter-Strike. His flashes of brilliance were more often than not overshadowed by a lack of consistency and countless infamous moments that will go down as lore in CS:GO history.

A fresh start

Although his switch to Valorant comes as quite a shock, it follows the lasting trend of top players turning to greener pastures in Valorant.

Gen.G’s Valorant roster has evidently failed to produce the desired results. The team had a good start in the early stages of competitive play, most notably winning T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Invitational but has otherwise stagnated as the scene evolved.

Last month’s victory at Pittsburgh Knights Before Christmas Invitational shows that the team still has lots of potential, but are nevertheless looking miles behind the likes of TSM, 100T, and Sentinels.

It is safe to assume that koosta will be filling in as the team’s main Operator, but with zero to none competitive Valorant experience, it may take some time before the desired results start pouring in.