The Architect Of His Own Demise: The Story Of ScreaM (Part 2)

After the fiery first year of 2013 and a semi-final appearance at the first-ever Major, ScreaM moved to Titan where things slowed down. Eventually, he left Titan for Epsilon where Lady Luck saw him miss two Majors. Finally, after representing a myriad of teams, he got the calling that could have changed everything for him. 2016 had arrived.

A Final Shot At Revival 

After the Titan roster was bought by G2, Ex6TenZ was replaced by bodyy. 2016 arrived and it marked a period of renaissance for ScreaM. He was reunited with shox, bodyy had taken the helm, and G2 and ScreaM were ready to fire. At the inaugural event of ECS, ScreaM had cleared all the dirt that the past had thrown at him. He shined the brightest he had ever shone. G2 won the event and 2-0ed then-number-1 LG. ScreaM was the MVP of the tournament. 

He went on to regain his place in the top 20 of HLTV, after bagging ninth place and closing the year with an astonishing 65% HS percentage. This is despite him expanding his horizons by including a lot of sprays, as compared to his previous years.

But as it was for ScreaM all his career, things simply had to fall apart whilst he was at his peak. The quality of his absurdly, yet single dimensionally, talent was deemed subpar when the time came for G2 to build the new French mega-team. 

ScreaM had been left behind.

This was the last blow, the last stab, and the last sigh for ScreaM. His mental state only got worse when a highly anticipated move to FaZe Clan that would see him reunite with rain fell through at literally the last moment, when the new aim god, NiKo, was signed. He ended up joining EnVyUs, being the replacement of his former teammates that went on to create a French super-team without him. He spent a lot of time there and as he stated himself, he “traveled and enjoyed a lot,” but he never really got his sparkle back. 

CS:GO Career’s Epilogue and Post-Retirement 

 

Soon he parted ways and joined GamerLegion. He would play only for a few months, before being benched indefinitely, after which he would bid his official goodbye.

He didn’t know it at the time, but his last LAN was in a small Polish city, beside a football stadium. In the Good Game League tournament venue, there were a mere dozen or so fans, barely a mirror to what ScreaM and his insane talents deserved. As fate would have it, his last LAN match would be played against his former team, G2. shox put an end to a career that he started brightly with; the mercy killing of a man who never quite reached the top.

Of the 6 LANs he won, 4 came in 2013 with VeryGames. After that beautiful start of a career, no one would’ve expected a player of ScreaM’s caliber to win only 2 in the following 7 years. On retirement, it was clear ScreaM felt empty and unsatisfied, as he gave his final interview as a CS:GO pro. 

Streaming his talents might have been his go-to, his retirement plan. But like Hiko, this is a man with a competitive thirst that was not quite quenched. ScreaM could simply not stop. He broke the rods that wanted to draw the curtains on his gaming career when he signed a contract with Team Liquid for one of CS:GO’s fiercest competitors: VALORANT.

Teaming up with fellow CS:GO outcast, Jamppi, a 27-year-old ScreaM has already won 2 tournaments, being the MVP in both. His team is currently Number 2 in EU rankings, suggesting he’s doing quite well there. Perhaps he could finally reach the heights that eluded him in his yesteryears, all while being what he truly wanted: The Aim God; the man whose one-taps will forever be talked about.

As to what his legacy is doesn’t seem to be a matter of much debate. Through the “rosy” lens that the world has blinded us all to, we judge fellow players. ScreaM may be one-dimensional but what more is one-dimensional is us not stretching perspectives. By his own admittance, he was not used well in the teams he played in over the years and could’ve been better and could’ve won more. Two top 10 appearances and 6 LANs are bad, it seems. 

But what if he did not want to be the best player in the world? What if he did not want to expand his horizons in the way he was forced to? What if he did not want to be a sprayer like EliGE, or a utility master like gla1ve? He clearly wished he could’ve won more, but what if he simply wanted to be ScreaM? What if he wanted to be the best aimer in the world, not the best player? 

What if he simply wanted to shine as the diamond he was born, and not the overly chiseled and molded graphite the CS:GO world forced him into?