Report: NRG look to turn Evil with Genius move
According to a report by Jarek "DeKay" Lewis, NRG's CS:GO team is "in advanced discussions" with Evil Geniuses, with the team set to debut with the new organization as early as ESL One New York.
NRG has had a CS:GO roster for nearly four years, beginning with the signing of the ex-Method roster in January 2016. Although they struggled to find the right roster formation at the time, the core of Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte, Ethan "Ethan" Arnold, and Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov eventually helped NRG achieve their first taste of glory with an IEM Shanghai victory in 2018. 2019 saw NRG make two blockbuster moves by adding Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz and Major champion Tarik "tarik" Celik, with the roster reaching new heights by finishing in the top four at the StarLadder Berlin Major earlier this month.
Evil Geniuses were a staple of the CS 1.6 scene, holding rosters in Counter-Strike for many years with their first notable squad being signed in 2007. Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert played for the organization for almost four years before making the move to compLexity, with the team eventually disbanding and the organization pulling out of the Counter-Strike space.
The reported move would see the return of Evil Geniuses to the Counter-Strike scene, with their previous attempt at a return falling through. The organization had taken aim at the iBUYPOWER roster of 2014 with the plan to add Spencer "Hiko" Martin in place of Joshua "steel" Nissan, but talks fell through following the match-fixing scandal that came to light in early 2015.
There have previously been rumors swirling around about Evil Geniuses moving to reemerge into CS:GO, but now seems the time for them to strike with many other notable organizations, including Dignitas, TSM, Misfits, and 100Thieves all aiming to sign teams as well.
NRG most recently topped ECS Season 8 Week 1 to put themselves in contention for the first spot at the LAN finals. Should the reported move to Evil Geniuses come to fruition, the fate of the team's spot in ECS Season 8 remains unknown as FACEIT have previously made it known that the spot in the league belongs to the organization. However, given ex-Luminosity recently being granted the ability to keep their slot, nothing is set in stone.
NRG currently fields the following players:
Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte
Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov- Ethan "Ethan" Arnold
- Tarik "tarik" Celik
Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz- Chet "ImAPet" Singh (Coach)
The above roster are set to face off against FaZe in their opening matchup of ESL One New York tomorrow at 2:35 PM EDT. if they will be competing under the Evil Geniuses banner, an announcement from the organization should be expected in the near future.
