Following a four-year break, NRG Esports is resuming its professional Counter-Strike activities with a newly formed North American team.
HLTV reported on November 4 that NRG was considering re-entering the CS scene after a four-year hiatus. At the time of this report, however, no player contracts had been finalized.
As of November 28, NRG has officially re-joined the CS2 community with a fresh North American team, which includes some familiar faces from their previous stint in the game.
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A humorous introductory video featured NRG co-owner Sapnap and CEO Andy Miller announcing the team, which is composed of previous members from Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses, and Complexity.
After 4 years, NRG Makes a Comeback to NA Counter-Strike
Damian ‘daps’ Steele and Vincent ‘Brehze’ Cayonte, who moved to Evil Geniuses in 2019, are rejoining NRG.
Other new additions include ex-Team Liquid member Joshua ‘oSee’ Ohm, former Complexity player Justin ‘FaNg’ Coakley, and Jadan ‘HexT’ Postma.
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Most of the new NRG players left their respective teams during the recent off-season, as these teams were restructured for the upcoming Major cycle. Except for HexT, who left EG in a sudden departure just hours before NRG’s announcement.
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NRG’s return to the NA CS scene comes as major organizations are starting to step away, with Team Liquid making a surprising shift from NA to EU, and Evil Geniuses, one of the two remaining major organizations in NA, allegedly planning to end their esports venture.
NRG had a CSGO team in their arrangement from 2016 to 2019, with legendary players such as Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik and Ethan ‘Ethan’ Arnold on the roster at one point. The team had a particularly successful period in their last two years.
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While under NRG, their roster managed to achieve a fourth place in the 2019 StarLadder Berlin Major and later, under Evil Geniuses, victories in the 2019 ESL One: New York and the StarSeries i-League Season 8.
With NRG’s return, North America now boasts three major teams in the CS scene.