WE’RE NOT DONE YET!
It’s do or die time for NRG VALORANT. With a trio of matches heading into the week being the only official VCT matches guaranteed for the 2024 season, the boys in orange and black needed to pick up at least two wins to advance to this year’s playoff stage. Standing at 3-4 in the regular season heading into the trifecta, it would take a strong showing to leap into the top-6 spots in the VCT standings and cement our spot for the postseason.
Starting our NRG Super Week off on Monday against G2, the team were upset on our pick Haven with a slow start on the defensive front leading to an 8-4 deficit at the half. Despite the team winning the second-half pistol round to draw the gap to just a pair of rounds down, G2 were able to win the last four rounds of the map to close out with a series advantage.
Another slow start plagued the team on Map 2 Bind, which has historically been a sticking point for NRG over this season. With yet another 8-4 pit to climb out of, the team found themselves trading rounds in the second half with just not enough time to spare, losing three of the final four en-route to a 13-8 defeat and 2-0 series sweep respectively.
Absolutely needing a rebound series against KRU, NRG found themselves on the ropes early on Map 1 Split. Another pesky slow start resulted in a 6-1 disadvantage, and despite clawing back in small increments to make matters interesting, KRU were able to take the series lead with a 13-8 game win.
With just one map separating NRG VALORANT from postseason elimination, the pressure didn’t crack this team filled with highly respected veterans. With a strong first-half scoreline on Map 2 Ascent, NRG were able to win six of the final eight rounds and level the series at 1-1 with the W Streamer s0m’s 22-elimination performance leading the team. Finally in command of a series with momentum, Map 3 Sunset proved to be a major morale boost, winning the first-half in convincing 9-3 fashion before a final 1v2 clutch from crashies secured the 13-7 Map 3 win and the series.
It may be do or die, but NRG VALORANT is not dead yet. However, they will need some help. With only one game left to play in the regular season on Sunday against Cloud9, NRG sits a half game behind the cutoff line in the standings with an extra game played. With a variety of scenarios in play, what is most important is that NRG must win Sunday against C9 before receiving some help from other teams in the standings.
Before the end of the VCT Americas League season, join us in person to #BringTheNRG and MEET NRG DEMON1! Come hang out at the NRG Spectrum Castle, snap some pics with Demon1, enjoy food and drinks with us and cheer NRG on for our make-or-break match this Sunday at 4 PM PT with another NRG VCT Watch Party, powered by Spectrum! All fans can RSVP by clicking here!
NRG Kia WITH THE #NRGWIN
After a pair of tough results to start the Summer Split campaign for NRG Kia, the League of Legends team found themselves in the win column last Thursday with a commanding 2-0 series sweep over Immortals.
The team of Contractz, Dhokla, Palafox, FBI and huhi returned to the Riot Arena stage determined to improve on an 0-2 start to the Summer. In Game 1, both sides found themselves poking and prodding through the first 25 minutes of the match, but an opening gank by Palafox followed by a massive stun from the trusted top laner Dhokla sparked a team fight win to secure the Baron at 26 minutes in. From there, the team was able to snowball into a 35 minute game win that featured a staggering 43 assists on 17 team eliminations.
Game 2, which didn’t see first blood drawn until 22 minutes in, saw a split of objectives at the dragon pit and a near dead even gold differential over the course of the match. But at the 36 minute mark, a kill from Palafox’s Azir proved to be all the opening that NRG Kia needed, securing a team fight win and marching down mid lane to the Nexus for the game and series win.
With this result, NRG Kia is now 1-2 on the season and back on the right track. With a three week hiatus due to the Esports World Cup, the team will be back on the rift on July 21st against Shopify Rebellion.
CAPTAIN AMERICA IS BACK!
The Captain America of Counter Strike is coming home. We are pleased to welcome nitr0 as our in-game leader of NRG CS2!
Following a year-long hiatus from competing in CS, nitr0 is back and dawning the orange and black for the very first time in his illustrious career. As one of the most prolific IGLs that has graced the North American CS scene, nitr0’s presence on our team is yet another boost for our hopes of becoming one of the top contending teams in NA.
Most notably on Team Liquid for over seven years across two active stints, nitr0 led his team to championships at IEM Sydney, ESL One Cologne and BLAST Premier Los Angeles all during the Summer of 2019, in which TL were the HLTV ranked No. 1 team in the world. He then took his talents to VALORANT, competing under the 100 Thieves banner in the pre-VCT era from 2020-2021 before most recently competing earlier this year in VALORANT Challengers under M80.
NRG’s schedule for the Summer continues to fill up, with a return to the ESL Challenger League beginning later this month followed by a European bootcamp in the month of August for the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown happening August 21st-25th. Get ready to #BringTheNRG for a Summer to remember for NRG CS2!
FULL SQUAD MEETS TREVOR WALLACE
Earlier this week, the Full Squad Gaming crew released another hilarious episode of Who’s The Imposter with worldwide star comedian Trevor Wallace as the celebrity guest!
Boasting over 18 million followers across his socials and hundreds of millions of views, Trevor is one of the most successful Celebrity Imposters we have EVER had and his improv skills were put to the ultimate test when he had to be the Imposter alongside Classify, Avalanche, Nick and Mike! A massive shoutout to Rockstar Energy for fueling our incredible content series of Who’s The Imposter.
Check out all the hilarity with our FULL video on YouTube by clicking here and be sure to like and subscribe (and turn on those notifications) for the next episode!
NRG APEX FIGHTS FOR GERMANY LAN
NRG Apex are poised to finish the regular season strong as they return to action July 6th for the final ALGS Split 2 matchday.
The trio of Nocturnal, Reptar and FunFPS are solidly in 8th Place in the overall standings, with the top 20 teams earning a berth into the ALGS Split 2 Finals on July 14th. From there, the top-12 teams in the overall standings will earn a bid to the Stage 2 Playoffs which were recently announced in Mannheim, Germany on August 29th-September 1st! With a prize pool of $1 million up for grabs, the ALGS season just upped the ante for another exciting worldwide event.
Catch the regular season finale this Saturday at 3 PM PT by tuning into the official Play Apex Twitch stream, and stay tuned to NRG Current for all match updates!
NRG CALENDAR - THE WEEK AHEAD
Here are some of our upcoming match dates for our teams in action over the next week. We’re deep in the Summer heat of competition, so be sure to follow NRG Current and all NRG socials for up-to-date match coverage and more! #BringTheNRG
NRG VALORANT
July 7th: NRG VALORANT | NRG VCT Super Week vs C9
NRG Apex
July 6th: NRG Apex | ALGS Split 2 Regular Season Finale