NRG bench four, look to bring in OpTic core

NRG benched four players last night, including Ethan and hazed. According to Dot Esports, they will sign the OpTic core as replacements.

The North American organization is one of the five that were selected by Riot for the upcoming VCT Americas 2023.

The outgoings

Fans of NA CSGO will fondly remember hazed and Ethan from their time in the game. Ethan had played for NRG in the game after joining from CLG. After retiring from CSGO while playing for Evil Geniuses, Ethan joined 100 Thieves. He was later bought by NRG and has remained there since.

It was on CLG where Ethan previously played with hazed, who also played with stream team Mythic and as a stand-in for OpTic. Hazed entered VALORANT with TSM, but was bought by NRG in late-2021.

The other players benched are tex and eeiu, as well as coach JoshRT. The final member of the team, s0m, will remain on the active roster.

The incomings

The OpTic core NRG will reportedly be signing is FNS, crashies, and Victor. The three are viewed as some of the best players in the world in their respective roles.

Victor is one of the best Flex Duelists in the game, and his ability to take space across the maps is credited as being one of the main reasons for yay’s successes in 2022.

FNS was the IGL for OpTic, leading them to a top-four, runners-up, and a first-place finish in 2022 at VALORANT’s three LAN events. It is that run of consistent successes that made OpTic the best team over the course of the year.

Crashies is one of the best Initiators in the world and alongside Victor, he helps FNS with calling across maps. OpTic’s coach, Chet, is also reportedly making the leap to NRG, an organization he will be familiar with as their former coach in CSGO.