Nadeshot recently achieved one of the highest ranks you can get in Valorant’s ranked ladder, hitting Immortal with apparent ease.
Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag is a name that's become synonymous with the ideal post-pro gaming career lifestyle. He leveraged his brand to create 100 Thieves, one of the world's fastest-rising esports organizations.
And given he's retired as a pro gamer, you might think that his skills have deteriorated. Not so fast. Nadeshot just managed to do what many have struggled with, beyond the pros - he hit Immortal in Valorant.
Nadeshot has been grinding to Immortal for the past while, and finally cracked through the barrier on a match where he won 13-2. That's not an easy feat to do. Only the top 1% of players hit Immortal in a given region. While
For those that aren't in the loop, or perhaps have been hiding under a rock for the past decade or so, Nadeshot made a name for himself in Call of Duty esports as part of Optic Gaming. He later left the organization to found 100 Thieves, which has become one of the biggest teams in the world. Not only are they very successful in the games they compete in, they also are one of esports most fashionable brands. Their merch drops regularly sell out within seconds of dropping.
While that was a controller-based game, he's more than proven that he has the chops with a mouse and keyboard in Riot's hit tactical shooter.
As a refresher, here's everything Nadeshot's achieved in his professional gaming career, placement-wise. You can decide for yourself if you think he has the pedigree to stand alongside current pros - hell, he might even smoke a few on the server in Immortal now. While it may have been 7 years since Nadeshot hung up his controller, he's stayed active in various competitive games, streaming his Warzone runs as well as Valorant.
Nadeshot's Career Achievements:
- Career Earnings: $242,933.75 from 61 tournaments
- 31 1st place finishes
- Most successful during Modern Warfare 3 and Advanced Warfare
- Star player for OpTic Gaming during his tenure there, from about 2012 through 2015.
100 Thieves Valorant squad seems to be an inspiration
100 Thieves' time in Valorant itself has been a good one, on the whole. Despite their relatively young age as an organization, they've managed to put together a roster that's made deep runs at Masters Berlin. While the squad missed out on Champions, falling short in the NA Last Chance Qualifier, they've been retooling their roster and approach in the run-up to the 2022 season.
Currently, the team is gearing up to compete in the North American VCT Challengers competition. While they may have missed out on Champions, they were invited to compete in this competition due to their performance throughout 2021. The groups for that event have just been released, with 100 Thieves falling into Group A alongside Cloud9 Blue, XSET, The Guard, Luminosity Gaming, and Evil Geniuses.
The Cloud9 Blue matchup is of particular interest, as they were the ones that knocked 100 Thieves from contention for Champions at the end of last year.
At the end of 2021, they parted ways with both Nicholas "Nitr0" Cannella (who departed back to CS:GO) and Joshua "steel" Nissan, who joined T1 shortly after. As replacements, 100 Thieves rounded out their roster with Adam "ec1s" Eccles who took over IGL duties, as well as Hunter "BabyJ" Schline from FaZe Clan.
For all the latest on competitive Valorant, including 100 Thieves run at NA Challengers 1, keep it locked here to Esports.gg.