365 Days that 100 Thieves are Looking to Forget

At 6:38 eastern standard time, Matthew Haag posted a video on Twitter. Sitting presumably at his desk, he stared into the front-facing camera of his phone and delivered a message to his fans. It was a message he was frustrated to have to deliver. Two players the team had signed in January — one of which had just recently made it to America from the United Kingdom — were going to be dropped from the roster. Adjusting his hat, he began.

Clearly unscripted given his wandering eyes, he attempted to communicate the logic of the decision. The team just didn’t work. He talked about the cutthroat nature of competitive VALORANT at the moment and offered an apology to 100 Thieves for not finding a long-term solution.

And after four minutes and thirty-eight seconds of talking, he motioned to stop the recording. It is not often in esports to receive a raw response, a raw message. When we do, it sometimes doesn’t feel right.

100 Thieves currently sits in a difficult position in the competitive VALORANT scene. Once having the best team in North America, they find themselves struggling to adjust. A scene constantly growing, constantly evolving has seemingly been moving too fast for the organization. Struggling to find the new “breakout player,” struggling to find cohesion with their line-up, they’re….struggling.

The team has cemented the idea of their “core three.” Spencer “Hiko” Martin is widely respected as the figurehead of the team. He was the man picked by 100 Thieves to build out their VALORANT division. And it worked right away.  And it was working. Widely respected as a legend in the North American Counter Strike: Global Offensive scene, he transitioned incredibly well into the new title — not only as a player but as a content creator.

A fellow notable name in the North American Counter Strike scene would also make the switch to the new title a little bit later. Ethan “Ethan” Arnold joined the team nearly a year ago — replacing Quan “dicey” Tran. While there have been highs and lows to his switch, he has been one of the better names to make the “late switch” and find success in the new title.

And finally, there is Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk. A player that was involved in the CS:GO  scene to a lesser extent that his peers, he made his name in VALORANT — quickly earning a positive reputation. He would be picked up by 100 Thieves for the First Strike tournament — alongside dicey. And his performance secured his status as one of the best young players North America had to offer. 100 Thieves believed they hit the jackpot.

But VALORANT was moving slowly, transitioning from 2020 to 2021. Teams were able to catch up to the lead 100 Thieves seemingly had. More specifically, Sentinels were smoothing things out and would begin their reign in North America. 100 Thieves wouldn’t be the only roster impacted by this downtime. Fellow top team TSM would also have issues.

100 Thieves didn’t necessarily see any major red flags on the radar either. The team would make their first permanent roster change in the post-Dicey era on September 21st — benching in-game leader Joshua “steel” Nissan for Aaron “b0i” Thao. But it wouldn’t produce the results the team was expecting — failing to make it to the VALORANT Champions 2021 tournament. It didn’t necessarily feel like a shock given their form. But a year prior, it would have been mind-boggling.

Since then, they would also hit a little bit of bad luck. Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella, the man tasked with taking over for Steel in terms of in-game leadership duties, unexpectedly left VALORANT to return to Counter Strike: Global Offensive. This stunning turn of events not only would signal a dramatic change in the perception of both esports titles were valued by players, but it was also a massive loss for a team attempting to figure out their woes. A man expected to be a pillar of stability dipped.

The organization hasn’t recovered.

…

Four minutes and thirty-eight seconds was what it took for Haag to summarize what has been a disaster. Two series of games were too much for a team that noticed cracks already in the team’s chemistry prior to the games. It is interesting to see this information come to light — how was this not picked up in try-outs? Because hearing that the decision was being made because they didn’t mesh this early doesn’t make a ton of sense.

It was a message that needed to be delivered but doesn’t necessarily inspire confidence. The hidden tin-foil hat theory is given Haag’s personal success at playing the game and his recent comments on social media, his involvement with the decision-making of the line-up will now increase. Call of Duty fans know how much of a red flag this is given some of his involvement in questionable decisions regarding said esports division.

It’s beginning to feel that the organization is tip-toeing around the root of their problem. The core that they’ve built their franchise around isn’t necessarily checking all of the boxes. It is a difficult conversation to have. Especially with the value Hiko can provide to the organization through content, it is a dilemma. It is a dilemma several organizations have faced surrounding their signing of Oscar “mixwell” Cañellas Colocho. Both are good players, maybe even great at times. They just aren’t great enough on the map right now to be worthy of “face of the franchise” material.

How do you go about fixing it?

That’s the dilemma 100 Thieves will have to face. The organization has brought in two journeymen to replace Hunter “BabyJ” Schline and Adam “ec1s” Eccles. Sean “bang” Bezerra and Noah “jcStani” Smith are coming in with not a ton of expectations on their shoulders. In reality, they’re pretty much playing with house money. Either they get the credit for turning around 100 Thieves or the blame gets shifted onto the 100 Thieves core.

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