Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele, Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte, Jadan "⁠HexT⁠" Postma, Justin "⁠FaNg⁠" Coakley, and Josh "⁠oSee⁠" Ohm has been announced as the new roster for NRG Esports, who returns to the competitive scene after a four-year hiatus. 

NRG played their last matches in CS:GO in September 2019. Back then they had just finished 3-4th at the Berlin Major before the roster was acquired by Evil Geniuses. Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte is the only returning player from the last iteration of NRG. The new lineup is a mix of players, that have recently played for Team Liquid, Complexity, and Evil Geniuses. Damian "daps" Steele will return as a player after having coached Team Liquid since 2022.

The announcement of the new NA roster (three Canadians, and two Americans) comes as a pleasant surprise for the many fans of Counter-Strike in North America, who have been relying on Complexity to represent the continent in the past months. Team Liquid is supposedly also looking to return to the NA scene, which could ignite a new era for North America in Counter-Strike.

oSee

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daps

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It is exactly one year ago that the North American Organization from Evil Geniuses was placed first on HLTV’s world ranking. EG had finished the summer of 2020 with a hat-trick of victories in BLAST Premier Spring 2020 Americas Finals, cs_summit 6 NA, and ESL One Cologne 2020 NA.

The strong summer was replaced by a year of disaster as EG did not manage to reach one single Grand Final. Even a spot in the playoffs was a rare sight in the rest of 2020 and all of 2021, where several roster changes began to shake the foundation of the team to a point, where the CEO of Evil Geniuses had to come forward to state that “EG would not be leaving CS:GO” as many other NA teams had done. The downfall of EG has placed them at 40th place in the world ranking at the latest update.

For Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov the last year has also been rough. The AWP’er has struggled to produce the same numbers as previous years, which has taken its toll on the Bulgarian.

- It is horrible. Since I have never been in such a spot it is very hard. But I am getting through it, he tells Pley.gg.

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The 21-year-old could easily have passed his mediocre results on the fact, that the team around him has been dysfunctional. But for "CeRq" it is the other way around.

- If I am not performing it has nothing to do with the team and the structure. It is on me. I think it is completely my fault, and I am just trying to fix it, he states.

Together with his coach, Damian "daps" Steele he is trying to hit the reset button to find his way back.

- We went away from my style a little bit and I went into being a supportive AWP’er, and that is not where my strength is. So we are trying to figure out how to revert it back and have more structure around me at the start of the rounds. We are trying to make it so I am a little more aggressive now, he tells in a call from Mexico, where EG is currently bootcamping.

With daps and SPELLAN as stand-ins, EG made another quick exit from BLAST Premier Fall Groups, where CeRq and the rest of the roster had to leave another tournament without a single win. This time the roster changes were a result of a much-needed break for Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte and Peter "stanislaw" Jar, who had to take some time off to be able to recharge the batteries.

- It is hard for people to keep their motivation up. It was very demotivating to once again play a tournament without the full roster, but it was for personal reasons which we all understand. We gave them the time they needed, and now we are back. It is like one month delay to what we wanted, but it is how it is, the 21-year-old Bulgarian says.

When asked about the general mood in the EG camp, the answer is perhaps a bit unexpected.

- When we were at BLAST Premier Fall Groups it was a fun event for us. Damian "daps" Steele told us, that there was zero pressure because we were playing with two stand-ins. We did not get mad at each other and used it as a practice for the core of the team. Now we are all together again and I can honestly say, that the mood is not as bad as people think it would be. We just got back together and everyone is excited to play again. We want to get back to where we were at. I think the mood is better than ever. I just hope it stays this way.

Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov and the rest of the EG roster is scheduled to take part in the North American RMR event next week, while they will have to fight their way to a top-two spot at the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown event to qualify for the BLAST Premier Fall Finals in Copenhagen in November. 

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Evil Geniuses

The North Americans from Evil Geniuses will have to do without their IGL Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz and the profiled rifler Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte at the upcoming BLAST Premier Fall Groups, the team announced on Twitter. The two players have both “requested time away to focus on their respective mental health”.

The two replacements will be EG’s head coach Damian “daps” Steele and the Bulgarian Teodor “SPELLAN” Nikolov. This will be the second time in a row with daps as a stand-in, as the former IGL also played instead of Stanislaw at ESL Pro League Season 14.  

Evil Geniuses hope to present their original lineup once again at IEM Fall, which is right after BLAST Premier Fall Groups. IEM Fall is the last RMR event before the Major in late October. 

- We feel that allowing our lineup the time needed to come mentally and physically prepared for IEM Fall, not only best supports our players, but also puts our team in the best position to qualify and succeed at the much-awaited Major, EG said in a statement.

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EG arrive at the prominent event with a heavily decimated squad

daps and the rest of Evil Geniuses will kick off their BLAST Premier Fall campaign tomorrow at 16.30 (CET), where they will take on Astralis in the opening round. The two other teams in Group A are Liquid and Vitality.

Evil Geniuses’ roster for BLAST Premier Fall Groups:

{cflag:BG} Teodor “SPELLAN” Nikolov (Stand-in)

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daps

Player stats

Articles mentioning daps

NRG returns to CS with North American roster

CeRq on miserable 2021: “I have never been in this spot before”

Evil Geniuses to play with two stand-ins at BLAST Fall Groups

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