ALEX reveals how burnout led to his move from Vitality to Cloud9

Julian Young
ALEX CSGO Vitality

Alex “ALEX” McMeekin was a powerhouse IGL for Team Vitality before stepping back from his role in early 2020. Now a member of Cloud9’s CSGO roster, ALEX has revealed how burnout played a role in his move from Vitality to Cloud9.

Each year’s competitive CSGO schedule is a fast-paced and time-consuming gauntlet. Players must deal with weeks of travel to and from various tournaments before getting a chance to sit down and actually compete.

While most of 2020’s esports events have moved to an online format, the schedule in previous years has led to many players stepping back from their roles and even retiring from competitive CSGO entirely.

In an interview with Dexerto’s Andy Williams on December 16, top CSGO player Alex “ALEX” McMeekin revealed how his packed schedule and travel commitments led to serious burnout, and contributed to his recent move from Team Vitality to Cloud9.

While discussing the move from Team Vitality to Cloud9, Andy asks ALEX when he realized it was time to take a step back from his role with the team. He starts the conversation by asking “Was it burnout? We’ve heard you be vocal about that before.”

He confirms that burnout was not the only reason for the move, but it was one of the biggest factors. “It wasn’t the sole one obviously,” he responds, continuing “there’s always multiple factors.”

In July 2019, ALEX voiced concerns about the team’s travel schedule. Traveling more than 30 weeks per year was not feasible for him, and after hearing his travel commitments would increase from the previous season, he decided to take a step back before joining Cloud9’s roster.

After discussing the burnout factor, ALEX also spoke about laying the foundation for Team Vitality’s success before his move to Cloud9. Vitality is currently the number 1 ranked team in the world based on their performances in 2020.

When asked if he helped lay the foundation for Vitality’s impressive performances before moving to Cloud9, ALEX confirms he had a role to play in setting the team up for success.

While downplaying the importance of his contributions, ALEX admits “I definitely had a role to play in that [setting the foundation for success].” ALEX also mentions Vitality’s coaches as another important factor in the team’s 2020 performances.

For mobile users, segment starts at 3:10.

The Brit also thinks the online format is a good fit for Vitality’s players. “Right now online CS kinda suits the players they have,” he mentions. He is interested to see how they will perform once in-person competitions resume: “That’s what I’m curious to see, if they can pull it off on LAN.”

ALEX ended the discussion with nothing but positive things to say about his former team. He praises his old teammates, saying “They work really hard, they have a great coach and second coach. Vitality give them everything they need.”

While the stress and burnout from a brutal travel schedule led to him taking a step back, he seems refreshed and excited to be a part of Cloud9’s CSGO roster moving forward.

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About The Author

Julian is a former writer at Dexerto, located in the United States (East Coast based). He covered general gaming, esports and entertainment news, but has a soft spot for Destiny in particular.