Jamppi confirms move to VALORANT

The 19-year-old Finn is hoping to start with a fresh slate in the Riot Games first-person shooter.

Elias "⁠Jamppi⁠" Olkkonen has confirmed the rumors of his plans to make a switch to VALORANT in a video statement released on Twitter.

He also commented on his stint with ENCE, where he played for close to nine months until he got benched earlier in January as part of the organization's overhaul of the CS:GO division, which saw the Finnish side take the international route as it signed Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer, Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi, and Paweł "⁠dycha⁠" Dycha.

"These kinds of things happen all the time in esports, nothing I can basically do about it," Jamppi said in the video about his benching in ENCE. "It was nice from ENCE to give me the opportunity to compete against the best for eight months, it was always my dream to play against the best and I got it."

"I will be switching to VALORANT. The first reason all of you know," the 19-year-old shared, referring to the VAC ban that has prevented him from participating in Valve-affiliated tournaments and which he has tried to get lifted in a drawn-out court battle with the American company without success.

"Obviously, it's like a fresh start for me," he went on to explain. "Mentally also, I think it's a very good thing that I can play freely and compete and hopefully become one of the best players in that game."

Jamppi follows in a long line of players who made the switch to the Riot Games FPS with hopes to start anew. The youngster first came into the public eye when he joined SJ, where he played for a year and a half in 2018-2019, with some impressive performances there earning him a "One for the future" spotlight.

However, in late 2019, his VAC ban reportedly cost him a spot in OG when the team was being formed, and eventually led the Finn to file a lawsuit against Valve in a pursuit to remove his ban from Major competitions as he claimed the Steam account in question had been sold to a friend before it was banned.