A 14-year veteran of esports, 32 years-old Spencer “Hiko” Martin has announced his retirement from professional career with 100 Thieves.
Hiko’s competitive career began in 2011 with Counter-Strike 1.6, but it really took off in 2012 with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. He was on a number of well-known North American squads over his almost eight-year career in CS:GO, including Complexity, Cloud9, Rogue, and Team Liquid.
Hiko left professional CS:GO in 2020 to become the first member of the 100 Thieves VALORANT roster. They entered into early North American competition with high aspirations after finishing the first edition of 100 Thieves with former PUBG players Alfred “Pride” Choi, Keane “Valliate” Alonso, Zachary “Venerated” Roach, and Diondre “YaBoiDre” Bond. Unfortunately, the team’s and players’ expectations were not met, and a few months after their first roster signing, 100 Thieves began a rebuild by breaking ways with everybody save Hiko, and bringing in Nick “nitr0” Cannella, who had recently left professional CS:GO.
After adding Joshua “steel” Nissan, Quan “dicey” Tran, and Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk to their team, 100 Thieves entered First Strike: North America with the goal of establishing themselves as a top North American roster. 100 Thieves had won their first big championship in Valorant after defeating TSM in the grand finals, and they were eager for more in 2021. The squad’s performance in the debut year of the VCT, however, was less than great, causing the team to break ways with Quan “dicey” Tran and replace him with Ethan “Ethan” Arnold for the VCT North America’s third stage. The team’s adjustments qualified them for Masters: Berlin, where they finished in a respectable third or fourth position. During his nearly two-year tenure with 100 Thieves, Hiko established himself as a Sova player that could be counted on to win crucial rounds, whether in a 1v1 or with a large number of opponents. He closes his professional career with a championship in Stage 2 Challengers 1 and First Strike: North America, as well as a slew of additional podium places throughout the course of the 2021 VCT season.
This announcement leaves 100 Thieves with only three active members, although Dot Esports says that former Built By Gamers player William “Would” Cheng and Rise player Derrek “Derrek” Ha will join to complete the lineup.
The roster of 100 Thieves VALORANT now has:
- Ethan “Ethan” Arnold
- Sean “bang” Bezerra
- Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk
- Daniel “ddk” Kapadia (Manager)
- Sean “seangares” Gares (Head coach)
- Michael “Mikes” Hockom (Assistant coach)
Read more: kennyS: “I’ll switch to VALORANT, maybe I’ll stick with CS:GO, maybe I’ll just be a content creator”
