NRG drops star Valorant player & coach after disastrous VCT season

NRG has let go of a star Valorant player and coach, Victor and Chet, after a disastrous VCT season for the stacked squad.

As announced by NRG on July 15, both Victor “Victor” Wong and head coach Chet “Chet” Singh were let go from the squad in the middle of Americas Stage 2.

“NRG management has decided to continue without me for next season. Will be exploring options for Valorant franchising/challenger & CS2 for next year,” Chet said in response to the news.

Victor replied, “I was able to play with some new and exciting teammates, and then ended it with some of my oldest friends and teammates. We had the difficult task of catching up during the last month and unfortunately, the results weren’t what we wanted.”

VCT Roster Update: Today, we have decided to release @victorwong and @chetsingh from the NRG VALORANT roster.

From the beginning, they've had an incredible impact at NRG and we are so grateful for all their contributions. Thank you for everything and we wish you the best! pic.twitter.com/8GTMGuVDTX

— NRG (@NRGgg) July 16, 2024

Chet went on to claim the decision to release him was solely on NRG’s management, with the players not wanting him to be released from the team.

He also claimed that a HLTV report on him eyeing a return to professional Counter-Strike was an influence in the management’s decision. These comments came by way of a follow-up stream the same day of NRG’s announcement.

After the news broke, Max “Demon1” Mazanov and the team’s manager were put in the squad according to the Global Contract Database, however, it may just be a formality so the team is still fielding a full team during the rest of the stage.

Chet says the players on NRG didn’t want him released, and it was solely an upper management decision

He says the article that HLTV dropped about him potentially pursuing a return to Counter-Strike was a big one influence to NRG management pic.twitter.com/RrEMPEh5bs

— Valorant News (@ValorINTEL) July 16, 2024

NRG’s 2024 season has been rough for the squad. Coming into Kickoff, they were expected to be one of Americas’ top dogs with a squad filled with trophies in their cabinet. However, after not qualifying for both Masters tournaments, they shifted drastically.

Going into Americas Stage 2, they benched Demon1 and let go of Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen, bringing back Pujan “FNS” Mehta and Sam “s0m” Oh in attempt to save their season.

In Stage 2, to qualify for Champions, it was too tough an ask as the revamped squad only won one of their four matches in the regular season, not qualifying for the playoffs and ending their run early.

Now as Stage 2’s playoffs decide which Americas teams will be representing the region at Champions, NRG has already started their rebuilding phase for the next season.