daps announces free agency

18-9-2020 22:46

The experienced in-game leader's future has been up in the air since he stepped down from Gen.G's starting lineup.

Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele has been released from his contract with Gen.G, the Canadian player announced on Friday. In a Twitter post, the 27-year-old said that his priority is to continue his playing career, but he did not rule out the possibility of taking on a different role "if it seems like a good fit".

The announcement comes less than a week after daps revealed that he was leaving Gen.G's starting lineup. He cited a number of reasons for the move, including his inability to make changes to the team, both inside and outside the game, and the long LAN hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

daps is a free agent after nine months with Gen.G

daps joined Gen.G in December 2019 alongside Cloud9 teammates Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta and Kenneth "⁠koosta⁠" Suen to form the core of the organisation's first-ever Counter-Strike team, which was completed later that month with the signings of Sam "⁠s0m⁠" Oh and Hansel "⁠BnTeT⁠" Ferdinand from Envy and TYLOO, respectively.

Gen.G caused a sensation in February when they won DreamHack Open Anaheim, their first LAN event, over FURIA. The team went on to win ESL One: Road to Rio and place second in cs_summit 6, but their results outside the RMR tournaments were largely disappointing, especially the 5th-6th place finish in Flashpoint 1 and the last-place finish in ESL One Cologne.

Gen.G have yet to announce who will fill the vacant spot on the roster. Danny "⁠Cxzi⁠" Strzelczyk, formerly of Faint and Positive Vibes Only, stepped in for the team in Thursday's ESL Pro League victory against 100 Thieves and is also expected to feature in Saturday's match against FURIA.

With daps' departure, Gen.G now have:

Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta
Kenneth "⁠koosta⁠" Suen
Sam "⁠s0m⁠" Oh
Hansel "⁠BnTeT⁠" Ferdinand

Chris "⁠Elmapuddy⁠" Tebbit (coach)

good luck daps, you are a great guy

2020-09-18 22:46

14 replies

open to other offers ... hmm

2020-09-18 23:01

7 replies

He won't get a job in NA, unless it's an MDL team with 3k a month salary Only options are China or Europe

2020-09-18 23:14

6 replies

-JT +daps

2020-09-18 23:48

given how they kept changing their 5th player stupidly faze might as well trial him lmao

2020-09-19 00:01

4 replies

I mean, FaZe desperately need an IGL...

2020-09-19 00:11

3 replies

legit the only options they have right now if they don't want to bring in an inexperienced guy is either daps, MSL or krystal. not saying they're optimal pick ups but last time they signed kjaerbye xdlmao

2020-09-19 00:47

2 replies

Yeah, that was the most stupid move from any team i've seen in a while.

2020-09-19 11:23

1 reply

I kept waiting as a fan for a year and a half or so for them to make optimal changes especially given Niko's shit results as IGL and then they announce kjaerbye :)

2020-09-19 15:15

nt Veraffunschutz

2020-09-18 23:08

*Verfassungsschutz

+1 (not me!)

2020-09-18 23:19

Reported for alt!

2020-09-19 00:43

Sad for daps very good IGL gl

2020-09-19 10:53

good players but is old

2020-09-19 17:37

C9?

2020-09-18 22:47

Faze.daps

Expected!

FaZe daps

Daps orgullo Argentino (?

2020-09-18 22:48

ez4GODDAPS

and the daps cycle continues. time to build another team

Dude, I kinda feel sorry for him ngl

2020-09-18 22:49

Same, especially with this Gen. G lineup, they showed crazy potential at DH Anaheim, s0m was playing as a interesting NA prospect, auti was awping better than NAF, koosta was rifling very well, BnTeT was not quite at his 2018 form, but he was playing very well. They managed to beat Furia, North, ENCE, and coL. They got the invite to Jonkoping but instead it was online where they were a streaky team. They barely had any chances to show their LAN potential with BnTeT, only attending that DH Open and Flashpoint

2020-09-18 23:30

He wasn't kicked this time, he stepped down himself

2020-09-19 00:05

yeah, but do you really think an IGL like him, that build the team out of nowhere, that went straight into top 30 would leave? Just after 9 months? Officially its a step down, but i think he got told to leave.

2020-09-19 00:19

Wtf Would have assumed Gen.G would offer him an analyst/talent scout role in a heartbeat

except daps wants to keep playing cs it seems

5 replies

Yeah, but honestly, I kinda figured he understood his mechanical skills are no longer strong enough to compete at the highest level

2020-09-18 23:02

if he knew that he’d be a coach or analyst a long time ago

i think he knows, but he just enjoys the playing itself much more. Just like Krystal in godsent.

2020-09-19 00:20

2020-09-19 05:44

2020-09-19 22:01

valorant time

-jt +daps in the ex-c9 squad

Faze daps -kjaerbye

2020-09-18 22:50

-NiKo This move could actually make sense and would give FaZe a good tactician at long last

2020-09-18 23:24

Would be weird but i could see it. They have enough fragging power to overcame daps' lack thereof.

2020-09-19 05:45

They've had more-than-enough firepower for a while, but with some of the worst tactical play around, its no wonder they lose to teams they should be stomping. Relying on a bunch of aimers without tactics doesn't work in this day. It could have been the juggernaut 5 years ago however

2020-09-19 11:33

Good luck

2020-09-18 22:51

mibr daps

2020-09-18 22:52

Colossos9 Daps

2020-09-18 22:53

i would buy him for 10$

2020-09-18 22:54

its time to build another team and get kicked after some success lucky nubmer 3

2020-09-18 22:57

FaZe time

I'm just curious on who he wanted to change in the team. "Inability to make changes to the team" doesn't mean anything else right?

2020-09-18 23:03

I think it could do. It could be like player roles. The fact he also mentions outside of the game makes me think that he had basically just lost control of the players.

If you remember when he went into C9 he wanted Auti back on the rifle. Soon as they went to Gen.G he was back on the AWP. Could be nothing but it makes me curious. I even remember an interview with him joining C9 where he said one of the first changes he was making was putting Auti back on the rifle. Considering he's a borderline top 20 player as a rifler and a mediocre AWPer I'm not super surprised either.

2020-09-19 17:28

become a coach! you'd be the best coach

2020-09-18 23:05

Ah, he just wanted to join faze, for sure better than xizt/fallen

2020-09-18 23:06

BEST OF LUCK DAMIAN

2020-09-18 23:07

He's hinting that he wouldn't mind being a coach.. I think he'd be great at that. I can think of a number of teams that lost a coach!

2020-09-18 23:10

FaZe daps lul

2020-09-18 23:13

Faze Or -JT

Faze daps G2 get NiKo Gen.G get Amanek seems like a good package deal

2020-09-18 23:22

Amanek isnt asian so -1 C9 Amanek so Alex and Amanek reunited

2020-09-18 23:57

when did amanek ever play together with him? alex was on vit not G2

2020-09-19 02:01

LDLC?

2020-09-19 03:18

He is maybe not bad as an IGL, but his fragging is weak, and overall he is a weak player. Leaving Gen.G for him seems weird, I don't think he will find better team that would want him. But GL in finding that.

2020-09-18 23:28

Regular IGL

2020-09-18 23:29

Why did he even step down from gen g?

2020-09-18 23:33

Spunj and prof were talking about it on hltv confirmed podcast. So they think that daps just got told to leave, or they will have to kick him. And because leaving looks not so harsh like kicking someone, he just left. But its just a theory.

2020-09-18 23:41

okeey, ty

2020-09-18 23:53

Maybe some organisation or FPL could have him in a role as a talent developer, if he would consider that an option. If he can coach, there is a lot of teams missing coaches these days. If you know what I mean.

2020-09-18 23:38

I bet a team like New England Whalers or triumph or RBG will make a big investment in him to make them into a decent team. He has built two top NA teams he can do it a thrid.

2020-09-19 01:44

Gen.G FalleN would be nice.

2020-09-18 23:58

GOOD ONE. fallen is trash

2020-09-19 01:37

God no.

2020-09-19 11:37

Good luck in Valorant

good luck in cloud9

2020-09-19 00:10

hope he comes to valorant

Faze clan

2020-09-19 00:46

100T Valorant

2020-09-19 00:55

Cloud9 maybe? Really not many choices in a dead scene. Goto an MDL Team I suppose and make a couple racks a month.

2020-09-19 01:13

BNTET TOP 5 IGL LETS GOOO!!!! MAKES POLISH SCENE GREAT AGAIN!! +111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

2020-09-19 01:29

2020-09-19 02:04

open to build another team and leave

2020-09-19 01:43

lol

2020-09-19 01:45

-bot2k +daps on liquid pls

2020-09-19 01:47

sad

2020-09-19 02:05

valorant

2020-09-19 02:08

canadian but argentinian in soul. good luck daps.

2020-09-19 02:19

Cloud 9 daps as sixth player. Stand in for Alex if he dont feel like travelling

2020-09-19 02:25

Good igl

2020-09-19 02:32

100t PLEASE pay this man a good salary and get him. JKS, Jkaem, Daps and maybe change the other 2 and you've got a team with massive potential.

2020-09-19 02:39

who cars? Just retire pls

2020-09-19 03:24

-elmapuddy +daps as coach

2020-09-19 04:15

rip geng unless they get dexter IMMEDIATELY if they sign cxzi i'm done supporting this team

2020-09-19 05:04

What daps has done with NA cs is non comparable to any player THANK YOU DAPS FOR YOUR HARD WORK MAKING 2 TEAMS SOO GREAT THAT NOW ONE OF THEM IS TOP 1 in NA , and i am sure gen.g will follow the same path with czxi GL ahead P.S - I HOPE FAZE GETS YOU

2020-09-19 05:27

ISURUS DAPS

2020-09-19 07:23

poor analyst bot

2020-09-19 08:25

27, never going to get better in game, coach role or retire.

2020-09-19 09:12

+Zellsis?

2020-09-19 09:32

Another great IGL offering his services. Will faze stand by again? He's even free agent so don't even need to buy him out, just offer him a sweet package in order to move to europe.

2020-09-19 09:42