After more than five weeks of silence on social media, Michael ‘Shroud’ Grzesiek has finally posted something and it looks to be teasing a forthcoming announcement about his future.
The cryptic GIF, which is only around five seconds long, shows the slow-motion pulling of a trigger and firing of a bullet from what looks to be an M4-style rifle. The close-up footage pans across the barrel of the rifle which has a short snippet of Valorant gameplay projected onto it. The camera continues to pan across to follow the bullet flying through the air.
The short Valorant clip appears to be the POV of a player holding the Operator sniper and aiming down the sites, scoping in on an enemy Omen agent, before there’s an explosion to cut the clip and signify the firing of the bullet. Omen’s cloaked and mysterious character design very closely resembles Shroud’s trademark logo of a hooded figure that has appeared everywhere during his past streams.
From the general style and aesthetic of the short teaser it looks like it could definitely be a snippet from some form of stream intro or transition overlay, hinting that a return to streaming could be just around the corner for Shroud.
If this is a teaser for his return, Twitch will likely be the platform of choice. Despite leaving Twitch to join Mixer, Shroud left on considerably better terms than Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins. He also has a channel with over 7 million followers waiting for him if he decides to go back.
— Michael Grzesiek (@shroud) July 31, 2020
While Shroud has released no content of his own since Mixer announced it was shutting down, his more hardcore fans have still been able to get some form of Shroud fix as he has been appearing in girlfriend Hannah ‘Bnans’ Kennedy’s Valorant streams as a teammate.
While some believe this teaser could be hinting that Shroud might be coming out of competitive retirement to have a crack at Valorant esports, all the signs look to be pointing towards a streaming announcement. Plus, he said earlier this year he’d never go pro again, so it would be a massive surprise if this turned out to be the case.
