VAC Banned Pro Jamppi Reveals Why he Left CS:GO for Valorant

Finnish CS:GO AWPer Elias "Jamppi" Olkkonen has finally taken the decision to leave competitive Counter-Strike and switch over to Valorant. On 26 January, the 19-year-old came forward with a video where he announced his departure from CS:GO while also pointing out the reasons behind this move.

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Jamppi leaves CS:GO for Valorant

Jamppi who was benched from ENCE’s active CS:GO roster earlier this year as part of an overhaul that the organization is currently going through with its CS:GO division, has finally announced a move to play Valorant competitively.

He commented on this move saying that “These kinds of things happen all the time in esports, nothing I can basically do about it. I just wish best of luck to the new team and hopefully, they will succeed.”

Jamppi went on to thank ENCE for the opportunity that they had given him to compete against some of the best teams in the world. The Finnish pro spent about 9 months with the organization during which the best he could do was help them qualify for BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Finals.

“It was a nice experience for me and as for the future, I don’t think this is a surprise to anybody. There have already been some rumours about it, but I will be switching over to Valorant.”

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Jamppi reveals the reasons behind this decision

The 19-year-old did give everyone the reasons behind making this switch to Valorant. “The first reason probably all of you know,” said Jamppi, hinting towards his controversial VAC ban which is the biggest reason that has influenced his decision to leave competitive Counter-Strike. 

This VAC ban prohibits Jamppi from participating in any Valve sponsored tournaments. As the Finn cannot legally participate in a CS:GO Major and any of the qualifier tournaments directly related to it, not many top-tier CS:GO teams seem keen on signing him. So despite being such a talented player the handicap which Jamppi suffers from has turned him into more of a liability than an asset for an organization.

Jamppi did try to file a lawsuit against Valve in order to get rid of the VAC ban placed against him so he could freely compete once again, but even that was not enough with Valve seemingly winning the case according to the last public verdict that was presented by the district court.

He claimed that he could have been one of the best players in Counter-Strike but there was always something about the VAC ban that disturbed him mentally. But as he moves forward, Jamppi has reached out to Valorant teams that are scouting for a talented player.

“It is like a fresh start for me. Mentally also, I think its a very good thing that I can play freely and compete and hopefully become one of the best players in that game.”

The Finn joins a long list of CS:GO pros that have switched over to Valorant due to multitude of reasons, varying from no opportunities in CS:GO, suffering some kind of a controversial ban, or just reaching a stagnation point. It will be interesting to see where Jamppi goes from here and how does Valorant treat him.