American esports group NRG Esports has reportedly expressed curiosity in choosing up a Counter-Strike 2 squad, practically 4 years after its unique stint in Counter-Strike: International Offensive.
“Impartial sources” confirmed to news site HLTV yesterday that NRG was trying into launching a CS2 undertaking. Additional feedback revealed that, whereas the pen was removed from put to paper, the org confirmed they already “had a core in thoughts,” hinting NRG’s return to CS was very a lot already underway.
NRG’s return couldn’t have been timed higher with their residence area of North America in determined want of organizational assist; nevertheless, there was no clear indication that NRG will decide into securing an NA roster. Given the org’s different rosters in VALORANT, Rocket League, and League of Legends are all primarily based in North America, it’s a secure assumption they’d be on the very least internet hosting a CS2 workforce within the area.
Plenty of choices are on the desk because the likes of Workforce Liquid and Cloud9—NRG’s NA friends—have opted for rosters exterior of the area. Whereas Liquid is seemingly making a return to an American lineup, with little to no org competitors, NRG has free rein to select among the many area.
One other attention-grabbing choice comes within the type of October’s GameSquare merger, with each FaZe Clan and Complexity’s CS2 rosters now owned by the identical umbrella company. It’s completely speculatory, however ought to one roster be pressured out, NRG could also be well-placed to pounce on certainly one of CS2’s high groups already.
NRG entered Counter-Strike in 2016 with the acquisition of the previous Technique roster led by German strategist Fatih “gob b” Dayik. After chopping and altering, the squad started to peak in kind by 2018 beginning with their maiden offline win at IEM Shanghai over hometown heroes TYLOO.
2019 was a key yr for NRG in CS:GO, with the squad constantly discovering themselves within the high 4 at worldwide tournaments. After a outstanding semifinal run on the StarLadder Berlin Main in September 2019, Evil Geniuses bought the roster, with NRG opting to depart Counter-Strike.
NRG Esports chief government officer Andy Miller at the time cited that whereas it was “gut-wrenching” to see the squad depart, the CS scene was “unsustainable” and that “salaries are dumb.”
With such a roster shuffle expected as items transfer in Europe, the sky is the restrict for NRG who can have many choices on the desk forward of the top of the CS2 aggressive season.
