Michael Grzesiek[3] (born June 2, 1994), better known as Shroud (formerly mEclipse[4]), is a Canadian streamer, YouTuber, former professional Valorant player, and former professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player. As of April 2022[update], his Twitch channel has reached over 10 million followers, ranking as the eighth most-followed channel on the platform,[5] and his YouTube channel has over 6.79 million subscribers.
| Shroud | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Grzesiek in 2018 | ||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||
| Name | Michael Grzesiek | |||||||||
| Born | June 2, 1994 (29 Years) Canada | |||||||||
| Career information | ||||||||||
| Games | ||||||||||
| Playing career | 2013–2017, 2022–present | |||||||||
| Team history | ||||||||||
| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive: | ||||||||||
| 2013–2014 | Slow Motion | |||||||||
| 2014 | Exertus eSports | |||||||||
| 2014 | Manajuma | |||||||||
| 2014 | compLexity Gaming | |||||||||
| 2014–2017 | Cloud9 | |||||||||
| Valorant: | ||||||||||
| 2022 | Sentinels | |||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | ||||||||||
Twitch information | ||||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Followers | 10 million[1] | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2014–present | |||||||||
| Subscribers | 6.82 million[2] | |||||||||
| Total views | 1.14 billion[2] | |||||||||
| ||||||||||
Last updated: 11 March 2024 | ||||||||||
Career
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Grzesiek started his Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) career with several ESEA teams, particularly Exertus eSports and Manajuma. He was soon signed by compLexity Gaming as a stand-in, and later by Cloud9 in August 2014 when they acquired compLexity's roster.[citation needed] He helped lead Cloud9 to a first-place finish at ESL Pro League Season 4 in 2016.[3] He stepped down from the starting roster in 2017 to move to full-time streaming for Cloud9.[6]
Streaming and content creation
On April 18, 2018, Grzesiek left Cloud9 and officially retired from professional CS:GO.[3]
On March 10, 2019, Grzesiek reached 100,000 Twitch subscribers, gaining another 14,000 the next day, making his subscriber count more than double streamer with the second most at the time—TimTheTatman.[7] He continued to stream full-time on Twitch until October 2019, when he announced his move from Twitch to Microsoft streaming platform Mixer. He would be broadcasting exclusively on Mixer, following the steps of fellow streamer Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, who announced a similar deal earlier that year.[8]
On June 22, 2020, Microsoft announced that it would be shutting down Mixer and instead partner with Facebook Gaming. It was alleged that Grzesiek received an offer from Facebook that would have financially exceeded that of Mixer. Grzesiek declined the offer and received the remainder of the current contract payout.[9]
On August 11, 2020, Grzesiek announced that he would return to stream exclusively on Twitch.[10] His first stream back the following day peaked at over 516,000 concurrent viewers.[11][12]
Valorant
On July 8, 2022, Grzesiek signed with Sentinels as a player for their Valorant team.[6]
Personal life
Born in Toronto, Canada with Polish heritage, he has been living in the United States for several years. In 2021 he purchased a $9.4 million house in Los Angeles where he currently lives with his girlfriend, Hannah Kenney, aka Bnans.[13]
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | The Game Awards | Trending Gamer | Nominated | [14] |
| 2019 | Esports Awards | Streamer of the Year | Nominated | [15] |
| The Game Awards | Content Creator of the Year | Won | [16] | |
| 2020 | 10th Streamy Awards | Live Streamer | Nominated | [17] |
| 2021 | 11th Streamy Awards | Live Streamer | Nominated | [18] |
| 2022 | The Streamer Awards | Best FPS Streamer | Nominated | [19] |
| Gamer of the Year | Won | |||
| 2024 | Nominated | [20] |