Joshua "steel" Nissan has been officially benched from 100 Thieves' active VALORANT roster, with previous replacement Aaron "b0i" Thao taking his place in the starting lineup.

According to the official statement from 100 Thieves, Steel will be shifted to a substitute role, although not the primary substitute position. Johann "seven" Hernandez, 16, will take up that place for the duration of 2021.

Steel responded to the statement on Twitter, saying that he's "not even close" to being done participating in professional VALORANT and that he'll be back for the 2022 VALORANT Champions Tour season.

Steel's final appearance with 100T VALORANT came at VCT Masters Three Berlin, which was also their first offline tournament. They went 2-0 in the group stage and advanced to the semifinals before losing to Team Envy, another North American team. In a dramatic comeback during the group stage winners match, 100T were also the only team at that tournament to defeat eventual champions Gambit.

Steel joins 100 Thieves in September 2020 as a highly respected strategist whose CS:GO career was cut short by a Valve ban. Only a few months later, the seasoned CS:GO team won First Strike, and despite a number of missteps during the first two VCT stages, 100T participated at Masters in Stage Three.

Even making it to the semifinals of the VCT Masters Berlin wasn't enough to ensure a place at Champions. Now, in order to clinch the last NA place, 100T must play in the Last Chance Qualifier against a loaded field. The matchups will begin on October 12th.