Multiple sources have informed Rush B Media that NRG Esports is looking to create a Valorant roster and have reached out to Chet Singh for the coaching position. Additionally, a source with direct knowledge of the situation says that NRG has prioritized signing Damien “Daps” Steele and Sam “s0m” Oh to the team. The North American Counter-Strike scene has struggled in recent times with many prominent professional and community members leaving for Riot’s new FPS.
Valorant has been calling Chet for some time; he revealed earlier this year that he had offers from Valorant teams to become a coach before signing with 100 Thieves. Earlier this week, Chet announced his departure from the Nadeshot-run clothing brand slash esports organization and revealed that he was also released from his contract and pursuing opportunities within Valorant. Daps and Chet know each other well from their time together (coincidentally) on NRG Esports and guided the roster to continued improvement.
Daps recently departed from the Gen.G Counter-Strike roster on September 11, 2020, where he cited differences with teammates on the roster formation and the general direction of the professional scene during the COVID-19 era. His contract with the organization ended just a few days later where he proudly announced that for the first time in the last five years, he was a free agent. With NRG Esports courting the former CSGO professional, it’s a reunion of sorts as he spent quite a bit of time under its banner. Daps was famously heralded as a top IGL under the NRG banner, going from player to coach back to a player since joining in December 2016. His achievements with NRG caught the eye of Cloud9 who enlisted him to formulate a new CSGO roster that would compete among North America’s best. However, after only a short time with Cloud9, he moved on to Gen.G.
The most surprising inclusion within the NRG Valorant roster would be s0m. There has been no indication of his intention to leave CSGO, and he has become a rising star since his breakout FPL ventures. Despite his lack of formal team experience and young age, s0m first entered the professional scene when he joined Team Envy. Over his nine months on the Dallas based organization, s0m enjoyed moderate success before leaving to join Gen.G on a permanent transfer for the first iteration of the roster. While with Gen.G, Daps and s0m were able to find considerable success for their young roster, winning DreamHack Open Anaheim and ESL One: Road to Rio – North America. Recently however, the roster has been struggling to find much success with s0m’s individual performance dropping, which could be what’s sparking the youngster’s swap to Valorant. Daps’ knowledge of s0m’s ability during their time together on Gen.G is certainly a contributing factor in working together now in Valorant with NRG.
Rush B Media reached out to Gen.G and NRG for comment on this report. Gen.G and NRG have both declined to comment on this report.
s0m’s departure would leave Gen.G with the following roster:
- BnTeT
- autimatic
- koosta
- cxzi (Stand-in)
NRG’s Valorant team would consist of:
- Daps
- s0m
- ImAPet (Coach)
