From A Competitive Icon To Your Average Streamer
Adam "Polen" Polen has recently left his team of four years due to creative differences. He’s moved on from the competitive Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) scene to now provide content on a streaming platform known as Twitch. His team, known as Mythic, has built up a reputation of maintaining their players for a long period of time. Polen officially pushed through that barrier by making a career around his individual talents. This isn’t the first time Polen has switched to streaming, it’s just his first time he's gone independent.
POLEN'S JOURNEY
He was a streamer for Mythic back in 2019 but has decided to play a different role in the world of esports. With the state of North American Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the move to casual gaming has become the standard. No longer are players willing to dedicate their days practising for hours on end, but instead playing for fun. Something that most competitive gamers haven’t done since they were kids.
Polen first appeared in 2016 after he joined Mythic as a rifler known for his entry fragging abilities. He has never played higher than the B-Tier level but became recognised in his division. The most consistent part of Polen’s career was his teammate Erik "fl0m" Flom who also joined Mythic back in 2016. The two stuck together for nearly four years as a rifler and AWPer duo. They didn’t start to earn a lot of money within tournaments until 2020. Another confusing factor as to why Polen decided to leave at the height of his career.
As a rookie, Polen had his first taste of success in the ESEA Season 34 Main Division near the start of 2017. A small online event made up of unknown teams and independent players. Mythic earned a top three placement out of a total of eighty-three teams. It was a great start to the year considering it was one of Polen’s first official tournaments. Their invite to the Season 25 Global Challengers wasn’t as exciting, but they still brought home three thousand dollars.
DOWNWARD SPIRAL
Fast-forward to 2018, Mythic was going through some tough times. They lost Alex "LeX" Deily to a different game and Eric "adreN" Hoag moved on to coach Team Liquid. During that time Polen was stuck on a team that was at an all-time low, which led to him having second thoughts. He ended the season off on a high note at the Gfinity Spring Series, but was still looking for a different career path. In August 2019, Polen switched to a streaming role - but was still contracted under Mythic. He began to gain traction on Twitter while viewers piled up on his Twitch channel.
That year, Mythic wasn’t doing too hot and lost most of their events. Because of what happened, Polen turned off his camera and focused on winning. His goals moved away from Twitch and went back to C-Tier CS:GO. Entry fraggers must have laser focus and that’s what Polen lacked in his 2019 season. Once 2020 came around, Polen had his highest earning year as a player by helping Mythic win some cash.
Click to enlargeA CHANCE TO TURN THINGS AROUND
Halfway through his final year of competitive CS:GO, Polen finished second in the ESEA Season 34 Premier Division finals. The event brought in ten thousand dollars after losing to Chaos Esports Club, one of the best teams in North American at the time. Polen proceeded to have his fair share of ups and downs, but eventually made it back on top at the ESEA Cash Cup, Mythic placed first in the event after beating PVO in a fast-paced matchup.
All of these events led to Polen’s final goodbye to competitive CS:GO in the ESEA Season 35 Premier Division semifinals, Mythic had a great run after only losing six games in the entire event. Polen’s team of four years lost to the New England Whalers in the upper bracket finals, but they finished with solid results. Little did they know that this would also be Polen’s last event before calling it quits. He started his career on the bottom of the leaderboards but came out on top.
TIME FOR A CHANGE
Polen made a post on Twitter about his departure from the competitive scene and why he’s chosen the path of a streamer. He’s had some personal issues in his life, which has made it hard to compete at such a high level in CS:GO. While streaming still isn’t ideal for Polen, it’s a lot better than partaking in the competitive scene. Gaming has been his main job for such a long time, and it’s become his only source of income. Those who don’t want to play with a team are forced to move into content creation with the help of their fans. Unless someone is willing to invest in their own organisation, the only route to choose is moving to Twitch.
Images via Mythic
