NRG Esports defeated Giants Gaming 2-1 at VCT LOCK//IN. After the match, NRG’s coach Chet Singh praised Ardis ‘ardiis’ Svarenieks for his flexibility as the player picked up three different Agents across three maps.
With the OpTic Gaming core moving over to NRG Esports in 2023, many people questioned who would fill the hole left behind by Jaccob ‘yay’ Whiteaker. The North American sniper was a big part of OpTic’s success in 2022 and took his talents to fellow VCT America league team Cloud9 in the offseason.
NRG chose to fill that hole with ardiis, who was a European sniper that played many of the same Agents as yay. In their win against Giants, NRG put ardiis on three different Agents: Killjoy, Jett and Sage. Hee managed to end the series with the most kills on the team at 50.
After the matchup, NRG’s head coach said that ardiis’s ability to change roles and Agents was a big reason he was added to the team in the offseason.
ardiis continues success on NRG Esports
Chet was effusive about the new acquisition in the post-match press conference. “We picked up ardiis knowing that he can play a lot of Agents so we’re just using that flexibility to our advantage. He doesn’t have to only play an aggressive character.”
The Masters Copenhagen winner himself was asked about his assimilation into the squad after playing on FunPlus Phoenix for all of 2022.
“The adaptation is going quite well,” ardiis said. “The team is super similar to FPX, we have a similar style, and we anti-strat a lot. Overall just super similar.”
After rostermania and nerfs to the Agent that ardiis and yay played on many maps in 2022, Chamber, both seem to have leaned into their Agent flexibility on their respective teams.
NRG Esports and ardiis will move on to the semifinals of the Alpha bracket at VCT LOCK//IN and play for a shot at the Playoffs on February 19.
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