100Thieves could have acquired TenZ for $2 million in 2021 says Cloud9 CEO cover image

100Thieves could have acquired TenZ for $2 million in 2021 says Cloud9 CEO

NA Valorant would have had a different look today.

Cloud9 CEO Jack Etienne has revealed that 100Thieves had originally looked at acquiring Valorant sensation Tyson "TenZ" Ngo in back in 2021.

TenZ Cloud9 buyout clause was $2 Million

In a report published by DotEsports earlier today, it has been revealed that 100Thieves had tried to sign TenZ for their Valorant team back in 2021. However, the reason why they didn't end up acquiring the Valorant sensation was all down to the overwhelming buyout clause set by Cloud9. According to the report, TenZ's buyout price had originally been set at $3 million dollars back in February 2021, before they were forced to reduce it to $2 million. 100Thieves attempted to acquire him for around $1 million but were flat out rejected.

100Thieves Founder Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag confirmed this in a clip from one his streams prior to the announcement of their new roster. In the clip he talks briefly about 100Thieves' attempts to sign TenZ along with the likes of Jay "Sinatraa" Won, prior to his suspension, and Acend's Mehmet Yagiz "cNed" ipek.

"There's a world where TenZ could have been on 100Thieves. But his buyout from C9 was the most egregious thing I have ever come across in Esports history." While he said that he wishes that they had gone for TenZ, it was simply an "unfathomable number." As well as being higher than the buyout clauses for most League of Legends players.

Sentinels would eventually manage to acquire TenZ for their roster for around 1.5 million in June, 2021. Supposedly at the behest of TenZ himself, who really wanted to play with the Sentinels roster. And given how dominant Sentinels' roster was in 2021, including their win at Masters 2 last season, you have to wonder how things might have looked for TenZ and 100Thieves' Valorant team if they had ended up paying that unfathomable number for his services.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest Valorant news and updates.