Kristian “Kellex” Keller announced on Friday that he will be retiring from professional Overwatch and leaving the Toronto Defiant. The 21 year old served as the Main Support player for the Defiant during Overwatch League season 3 and previously played with the Boston Uprising for the first two OWL seasons. The Danish player also represented Denmark in the OWL world cup in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
Kellex will be leaving the Defiant, and retiring from competitive Overwatch.
In his statement, Kellex did not cite a specific reason for his departure, nor did he indicate any future plans. Instead, he spent time thanking the Defiant and his fans for supporting him throughout this three year OWL career.
“I’d like to take this time to thank everyone that I’ve had the pleasure of working with,” Kellex said in a statement on Twitter. “All my teammates, my coaches, my managers, my orgs and the Overwatch League itself. I’d like to thank all my wonderful fans that have followed me throughout my career and all the new fans I gained on the defiant. You guys make the hard work and stress of competition worthwhile.”
Kellex is the latest in a long line of players retiring from professional Overwatch competition. Many OWL players have left to pursue careers in other games like VALORANT, while others have decided to take a step back from Esports entirely. Most recently, OWL MVP and DPS for the SF Shock Jay “Sinatraa” Won retired to join the Sentinel’s newly formed VALORANT roster. The Defiant’s head coach Félix “Féfé” Münch also retired in mid April, citing the pandemic and a desire to support his wife’s career as his primary motives for leaving the team.
The departure of Kellex leaves the Defiant with only two support players left on their roster. Presumably Korean Main Support Joo-seong “RoKy” Park will be taking Kellex’ starting spot in their upcoming battle against the L.A. Gladiators on Sunday, May 3rd.
