Hiko no longer twitching at Twitch
Spencer "Hiko" Martin is no longer working for Twitch, the player revealed in a tweet Wednesday afternoon. He has been a part of the streaming platform since joining alongside Robin "Fifflaren" Johansson in April of 2015 when CS:GO's popularity was rising, and Twitch were looking to maintain and develop viewership for the game.
By leaving Twitch, Hiko hopes to refocus solely on playing CS:GO, looking once again to return to the Major stage. In his tweet, Hiko went on to say that he "learned more about the industry than (he) could have ever dreamed of learning only as a player," and revealed that he intends to return to streaming occasionally "by late December at the latest" in a reply to a fan.
Rogue impressed in the New Challengers stage of the FACEIT Major, taking an indestructible-looking Astralis to the limits before narrowly falling 13-16. A surprise loss to Spirit saw the team up against North in an elimination matchup, where they once again were unable to edge out a win and fell 23-25.
Marred by an unstable roster following the departure of Casper "cadiaN" Møller and fielding Kevin "kRYSTAL" Amend for the first half of the online season, Rogue's run in ESL Pro League Season 8 and ECS Season 6 was middling.
They ended their ECS run in 7th place to hold the slot for Season 7, while they will have to play two upcoming MDL teams in EPL Relegation for the second season in a row if they hope to retain their ESL Pro League spot for the next season. With Hiko now able to put his full time and effort into practicing with the team, Rogue will hope to improve their results going forward into the new year.
Hiko and the rest of Rogue are currently competing at DreamHack Open Atlanta, where they were able to win their opening matchup against Fragsters 16-8. They were unable to secure a spot in the semifinals with a 16-13 loss to Ghost in the Group B winners' match, putting them up against the winner of Vitality and Fragsters in the decider matchup tomorrow if they hope to keep their tournament run alive.
