NRG Esports NRG Esports North America Rank #3 FiNESSE Pujan Mehta s0m Sam Oh Verno Andrew Maust mada Adam Pampuch Ethan Ethan Arnold have made two important swaps to their roster ahead of Stage 2 by benching Max "Demon1" Mazanov and releasing Jimmy "Marved" Nguyen. These roster changes leave NRG with two vacant spots on the team.
Marved and Demon1 were new additions to the NRG roster in 2024. A brief stint with Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #4 N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid in 2023 would result in Marved on the bench before leaving last December. His reunion with Austin "crashies" Roberts and Victor "Victor" Wong bode well for the core, as the three Reykjavik champions prepared for the Americas Kickoff.
Demon1 could not have had a better franchising debut in 2023. The rookie joined Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses North America Rank #20 Derrek Derrek Ha NaturE Nicholas Garrison supamen Phat Le mid season and helped take them to the grand finals of Masters Tokyo, where they fell to EMEA titans FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #2 Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu stand-in Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder , who were fresh off an international win themselves. Despite the setback, Demon1 and the rest of the geniuses plotted for their run at Champions, an event that concluded with EG claiming the first-ever Champions trophy for North America.
In 2024, the team fell short of their expectations, despite a series of roster changes unifying title holders under their banner. They ultimately failed to break into any international events—a playoffs loss to Sentinels denied the team an appearance at Masters Madrid, and a strong lead in Stage 1 of the Americas League quickly fizzled out as NRG failed to even advance past the group stage.
Now, NRG have one final chance to make this year's Champions. A handful of Championship Points will not be enough to save the team should they fail to directly qualify for the event.
When it comes to Marved and Demon1's replacements, rumors have pointed to Pujan "FiNESSE" Mehta and Sam "s0m" Oh returning to pro play. Both of them stepped away from the competitive scene last fall to focus on content creation.
NRG Esports NRG Esports North America Rank #3 FiNESSE Pujan Mehta s0m Sam Oh Verno Andrew Maust mada Adam Pampuch Ethan Ethan Arnold is now: