NRG Esports adds Stanislaw hours before StarLadder Majors qualifiers

Steven Rondina Published 12/06/2019

NRG Esports have made some last-minute changes to their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster.

Less than 24 hours ahead of the team’s first push towards the StarLadder Berlin Major, the organization announced it is tweaking its lineup. Per a statement on its website, the team has signed CompLexity Gaming player Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz to take over as in-game leader. He replaces longtime NRG player Damian “daps” Steele.

“We are extremely excited to announce the addition of Peter ‘stanislaw’ Jarguz to the NRG CS:GO roster,” the organization said in a statement. “With the addition of stanislaw, Damian ‘daps’ Steele will be moved to the substitute roster…We would like to extend a huge thank you to daps for his tireless work in building our CS:GO program and instilling a winning culture that has defined our team.”

Stanislaw is an intriguing addition to the NRG Esports lineup. The Canadian player has enjoyed successful runs with OpTic Gaming, Team Liquid, and CompLexity Gaming, most notably leading OpTic to the ELEAGUE Season 2 championship and captaining CompLexity to a surprise top-eight finish at the FACEIT Major: London. He joins what has already been a successful NRG lineup.

Though the deactivation of Daps is sudden, the shakeup could be the tweak NRG Esports needs to reach the top. While Daps was an integral part of the organization’s rise up the North American scene and formed the team’s core alongside Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte and Jacob “FugLy” Medina, Daps has struggled individually at times and the team hasn’t quite been able to get over the hump and truly cement itself as an elite CS:GO team.

NRG Esports’ Struggles in 2019

After two unremarkable years in CS:GO, NRG Esports exploded in 2018 following the additions of Ethan “Ethan” Arnold and Cvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov. The team began to click in the spring with strong performances at StarSeries & i-League Season 5 Finals and Esports Championship Series Season 5 Finals. From there, the organization won the first live tournament in its history at Intel Extreme Masters Season XIII Shanghai, which was followed by another top finish at the CS_Summit 3.

When the team qualified for the IEM Katowice Major, many were expecting the tournament to be a coming out party for the organization. Things were initially trending in that direction until the New Legends Stage, which saw NRG collapse and get eliminated from the event.

That led to some shakeups to what has been one of CS:GO’s more stable rosters, with FugLy being booted from the team in favor of Tarik “tarik” Celik. The team has looked solid since with top-four finishes at the Esports Championship Series Season 7 Finals and Intel Extreme Masters XIV Sydney but further tournament wins have remained elusive.

NRG Esports is hoping that Stanislaw is the missing piece to the puzzle. Answers will come soon as NRG Esports competes in the Americas Minor’s North American qualifiers. The team’s run begins with a match against Mythic.

Steven Rondina

About Steven Rondina

Steven Rondina is a true lifelong gamer. His earliest memories are of playing video games, and he has continued playing them throughout his life with no plans to stop any time soon. Steven’s favorite franchises in gaming include Pokemon, Dark Souls, and Counter-Strike. He has previously published with Bleacher Report and other gaming outlets.

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