M80 Coach, Happy, On Nitr0's Departure, "It Was A Gamble, But Was Needed"

M80 was so close to winning Ascension Americas last year, but they fell just one win short of making it to VCT. This year they were back into the race once again with nitr0 in the active roster. While everything was going well for the team, nitr0 and M80 announced during VCL NA Stage 2 that they are parting ways. 

nitr0 made a switch to CS2 once again as he didn't see a future in Valorant for himself. This was definitely a shocking move and during the VCT Ascension Americas 2024 pre-event press conference, M80's coach, Happy, was asked to shed a light on the decision. 

"I think it was in a way like a gamble, but it was needed and both parties were like satisfied with that outcome," Happy said. "But that did put us in a situation where we had to go through a lot with that."

Talking about neT's addition, Happy added, "Even though he's is a very smart and qualified player, it's never easy to bring someone that is like completely new within a roster because he has to adapt to what you're having and we have to adapt too. Like okay, we have a new guy coming in. You want to make him feel confident and welcome."

He continued, "But I feel like we kind of thrive in this situation where we have our backs against the wall in a sense because we had like three weeks of preparation or maybe even a bit less than that and we did pull through. I think that that environment created the team in a sense where before we were a bit like spread apart but having to regroup for one common goal that was like winning playoff. I mean we did win it and that created a bond within the team that's going to be very help for the Ascension coming up."

M80 will start their Ascension 2024 run against All Knights on September 11 and you can watch the action live on Valorant Americas' official Twitch channel.