How old is Tarik? Valorant streamer joins Sentinels as a content creator

Former Counter-Strike sensation turned Twitch streamer Tarik "tarik" Celik has become the top Valorant streamer on the platform. With over 2.2 million followers, he regularly pulls in tens of thousands of viewers to his streams, sometimes overshadowing the official channels during tournaments with his watch parties.

The King of FPS content recently made headlines by joining the famous North American esports organization Sentinels. But readers must not forget his past accolades as the 26-year-old made history in 2018 with Cloud 9 by winning North America's first-ever Major win in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

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Tarik's age, esports, and streaming career explored

The boy from Brooklyn, as his iconic YouTube intros keep reminding us, has become one of the most popular Valorant personalities with his steady stream of content. Born February 18, 1996, Tarik has become a veritable giant in the streaming scene at just 26.

His FPS clout comes not only from his Twitch streams but also from his illustrious career as a CS professional. With him joining the Sentinels as a content creator, some might wonder why exactly the gaming community holds him in such high regard.

Let's go down memory lane and relive some of the defining moments of his career.

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"We hawt": The good'ol CS days

The Counter-Strike legend grew up watching his elder brother play games on the PC, according to a family interview with Valve in 2016. There was friction with his parents, but after Global Offensive got released, there was no looking back.

By 2014, Tarik found himself on Counter Logic Gaming and won a bunch of minor events, but the team failed to leave its mark in bigger tournaments. By 2016, the gamer had become a proper streamer, well-known in the CS circles.

He got his next big break when he joined OpTic Gaming in 2016 and won Eleague Season 2 that year.

Then came the glory days of Cloud 9 as he dropped out of OpTic the following year. A year later, he won North America's first-ever Major at Boston while being named the Man of the Tournament. This immortalized him as one of the best players in the game ever.

With his streaming career also booming, the content he was churning out with his fellow teammates, such as Jacky "Stewie2K," became insanely popular on Twitch and YouTube. It gave rise to several memes such as Cereal 4k and "we hawt," terms that are still used by his loyal fans to this day.

Post Boston, however, C9 broke away, and Tarik left for other orgs. He had moderate success with sides such as MIBR and Evil Geniuses and won a couple of more tournaments like ESL One New York 2019 and the subsequent online ESL One Cologne.

In April 2021, he officially announced stepping away from the competitive scene to focus on streaming.

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King of Valorant

While initially starting as a variety streamer primarily playing Counter-Strike, Tarik quickly picked up Riot's new tactical shooter. To almost no one's surprise, he was an instant hit.

Attracting a large number of fans, both old and new, the Turkish-American streamer quickly soared on Twitch.

His streamer and ex-competitor colleagues had already started streaming, and he fit perfectly. The online star's daily ranked grind and top-notch gameplay, coupled with collaborations with other esports legends, such as Shroud and Stewie2k, and Twitch personalities like Pokimane and Disguised Toast, garnered a large audience fast.

Tarik's rise in viewership (Image via Twitch Tracker)

A telltale sign of his huge popularity was when his stream reached a whopping 200K+ concurrent viewers during the last North American Last Chance Qualifiers during Shroud's return to competitive play. No wonder Sentinels signed Tarik.