Kim “Glow” Min-soo has retired from Valorant. The 33-year-old captain of the Korean Valorant team Vision Strikers announced his retirement two weeks after he failed to qualify for VCT Masters Reykjavík.

In his 13-year career, Glow competed in Counter-Strike 1.6 with Project KR, WeMade FOX, Lunatic-hai, and other popular teams. He later transitioned to CS:GO in 2016 with MVP PK.

In 2020, he switched to Valorant and led Vision Strikers straight to the top of Korea’s domestic scene as the team’s in-game leader.

Vision Strikers has an unparalleled record of 104 wins, four draws, and two losses. However, it lost to NUTURN Gaming in VCT Korea Stage Two Challengers in May, missing out on qualifying for Iceland. 

“Some people may question my decision,” Glow said in an announcement video today. “But taking into consideration my age and the future success of our team, I think that this is the right time for me to retire.”

In-game leaders record fewer kills and greater deaths compared to their teammates at times, but Glow routinely underperformed in competition in recent months.

“My time as a player was coming to an end and I myself felt this the most especially over Challengers One and Challengers Two, where we ended up shocking a lot of people with our loss and where I felt that my ceiling as a player was at its limit,” Glow said.

“I believe that Vision Strikers will develop even further [without me] and become an organization that not only conquers the domestic scene but the international stage, as well as other endeavors,” he said.

A replacement for Glow is yet to be determined ahead of VCT Masters Berlin. Watch this space for more details.