Ever since NRG’s early departure from VALORANT Champions 2023 on Aug. 13, fans have been keeping their eyes out for any news on what the org might do for 2024 onwards. Two players from the team have been in reports, and one recently admitted they’ll be stepping down from the roster.
Both s0m and FNS from NRG are no longer on the main roster and are moving to streaming roles for the organization starting on Aug. 28. This was announced on s0m’s stream, confirming that they will be streaming and looking for any opportunities for 2024 that come their way. S0m said on stream to his chat, “I’m not trolling, we’re not on the starting roster anymore. For now, during this offseason, [FNS] and I will be streaming, 12 hours a day, and there comes an opportunity, we’ll see.”
This news comes off the back of plenty of offseason rumors and reports, with VALORANT teams scrimming with lots of different players to see who moves on to their team for 2024. George Geddes reported that FNS would be on the move, also hinting in his report that s0m and ardiis would be on their way out, with NRG looking to potentially retool around Victor and Crashies.
Related: NRG reportedly considering VALORANT roster rebuild for 2024 season
This would be the official separation of the OpTic Gaming core that started out on Team Envy and evolved into the NRG roster we knew across 2023. Even heading into the year, there were some changes, but the roster shared three key players who led OpTic Gaming to a title in Reykjavík and a finals appearance at Champions 2022.
If FNS in particular were to move to a different team, that would be the official separation of the OpTic core. Last year was the beginning of that separation when OpTic wasn’t given a franchise spot, leading to that roster becoming free agents. Most of that group turned into NRG, but if FNS and s0m don’t rejoin the NRG roster, that core will be officially broken apart.
FNS and s0m are moving to streaming together, but whether they move to a new team together is still up in the air. Offers could potentially go to both of them as a duo, but also individually. FNS has a level of experience and success that few other IGLs have, while s0m proved himself as more than just a streamer with his performances in 2023.
He was crucial to NRG’s second-place finish in the Americas League, perfectly replacing Marved in that controller role despite his different playstyle. Even internationally, he wasn’t the reason for their problems, which mostly revolved around other teams getting hot when it mattered most.
Related: International LAN rookies end NRG’s VALORANT Champions run early in shocking rematch upset
The roster as a whole disappointed internationally, despite regional success, and fans were expecting changes after the recent poor performance at Champions 2023, where they were eliminated by rookie squad Bilibili Gaming.
