![[EXCLUSIVE] “We basically said that, one day, Ethan is going to IGL” NRG Chet on the new NRG and VCT Americas 2024](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.strafe.com%2Fesports-betting%2Fstrafe-news%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F29%2Fchet-2.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
[EXCLUSIVE] “We basically said that, one day, Ethan is going to IGL” NRG Chet on the new NRG and VCT Americas 2024
Prior to the VCT Americas Kick-Off tournament, Riot Games organized a Pre-Season Media Day, inviting some of the most noteworthy names in the industry. Strafe Esports received the opportunity to conduct an exclusive interview with NRG Head Coach Chet “Chet” Singh. Knee-deep in preparation for the upcoming season, Chet had plenty to say on what 2024 had in store for them.
The NA Super-Team: Expectations and Vibe
Heading into the new season, NRG strut onto the stage as North America’s most stacked roster – on paper. Do they have what it takes to deliver on the reputation? We ask Chet what he and the team have been feeling as they gear up on preparations.
“We’re just looking to be one of the best this season.”
[Interviewer] Happy 2024! First off, just a vibe check. How are you and your team feeling heading into this new season?
We’re feeling pretty good, I think. We’re locking down most of our maps at the moment. So, the next couple of weeks – I think we have two more weeks, maybe a little bit more – just figuring out the small stuff and making sure everything just feels more cohesive.
[Interviewer] What are your expectations heading into the season?
I mean we’re just looking to be one of the best this season, I feel like we have strong people on paper, and as long as we just work hard, then we will show that we are a really good team.
[Interviewer] Would you rate yourselves as one of the best/most stacked teams in the league currently? At least on paper, is this something you consider? Or is that not even a consideration and it’s full focus on gameplay.
Yeah, I mean on paper, everyone’s saying we’re the most stacked – on paper. But like you said, we still have to work hard. At the end of the day, if you don’t put in the hours, don’t put in the work, it’s not going to show on the server.
Furor Over Scheduling
The subject of Riot’s scheduling for VALORANT has been the centre of much debate since it was announced. Many in the community did not hold back on their thoughts on this debacle. However, Chet is one of the primary voices and instigators pushing for longer seasons and better formats.
“This is probably the most disappointing year of formats and matches that they’ve made.”
[Interviewer] I wanted to get your thoughts on the format for the year. That means Kickoff, into Madrid, into the new season. Just your initial thoughts on how it’s been laid out.
I think I said this publicly as well, this is probably the most disappointing year of formats and matches that they’ve [Riot] made. And honestly, it’s quite a downgrade compared to last year.
Where there’s less matches, the first Masters only has 8 teams, which even if we qualified or not, 8 teams in a format for 8 teams is kind of concerning as well.
Because I don’t think there’s going to be that many games unless they figure something else out.
I’m not really sure what the decisions are, to have less games overall, for such a length off-season. I think they need to redo that department to be honest because they’re just not making good decisions at the moment.
[Interviewer] I spoke with Derrek earlier, and he had a suggestion for how he would prefer it to be formatted, which was two separate splits, each about 10 games. Would this be a format you would be open to? Is that a good number of games? Less? More? Where are you sort of leaning towards?
I think he’s basically just suggesting what happened last season. So, last season there were 10 games, and we played every team one time. And then you went into a Playoff bracket.
So yeah, I think that’s ideal, and I think there’s plenty of time in the calendar for them to do that, but they’ve chosen not to do that. So, for whatever reason it is, I don’t understand it.
Eyes on Madrid
With a tight window and fierce competition, there’s little room for mistakes for the NRG squad as they aim for one of the only two seats to Madrid, the first international competition of the year.
“Everyone has a legitimate threat and can win.”
[Interviewer] Ok, moving back a little. They’ve also revealed the matchups for Kickoff. So, you’re in the same group as Furia, Cloud9, and MIBR of course. And you’ll be facing Furia first. So, what are your initial thoughts on facing Furia as a team and the thoughts on the other teams in the group?
Furia seems like a pretty good team. They’ve changed their duelist to mwzera from what I understand, and that guy definitely has a lot of talent.
So, I think we just have to focus on making sure our fundamentals are good, since we won’t have any prior information on them. And making sure that the things we do are just going to be solid.
Because they are going to just play to punish us on bad – like if we made mistakes. So yeah, overall, I think the group is pretty balanced. Obviously people are going to say the other group is more stacked, etc, etc.
But just to focus on our group, everyone has a legitimate threat and can win. We’re just making sure – it’s not like we’re not focusing on them – we just want to make sure that us, ourselves, are good versus any opposition.
If we run into an issues, where a team runs Deadlock or Breach, or they play Iso or whatever, just wacky things that they are going to try, we can be ready.
[Interviewers] Based on your scrim results so far, and your performances, do you think you have a good shot at being one of the two teams to make it to Madrid?
Yeah, I think so. Our scrim results have been going pretty well. We’re also always learning a lot, every scrim. We’re not playing to win every single scrim; we’re just trying some new ideas.
We have a style that we think is good for our team. And maybe that’s beneficial for our matches. But who knows.
Until we see how the meta plays out later this year, everything is going to be a little off-meta.
From CS to VALORANT: Chet Continues to Lead
Chet is one of the more well-known coaches in the tactical FPS business. Stemming from a long profession in Counter-Strike, he transitioned over to VALORANT and helmed one of the most successful North American rosters in both games: NRG/EG in CS and Envy/OpTic in VALORANT.
“I don’t think there’s been a feeling that’s replicated that, ever.”
[Interviewer] You’ve been in the tactical FPS business for a long while, starting in CS and now working in VALORANT. You’ve also had the experience of working with a fairly long list of names from both scenes. With that line of thought, I wanted to get your take on which roster has been your favorite to coach across both game titles?
I think my favorite team, for like fun’s sake, for like a fun environment, the OpTic European roster. Where we had Magisk and Friberg – that was really fun, environment-wise. Results were mixed, but those were a good group of guys.
Same with the 100 Thieves Australian lineup that I had. Those guys were really coachable and good guys. Results were mixed because it was during COVID, but they were really good and really hard workers.
As far as my overall, I think that NRG CS:GO lineup to EG (when we got bought out), that was probably some of the best memories of my career, and where I had the most personal growth. And my biggest career wins. Winning that New York event that we won, like that was – I don’t think there’s been a feeling that’s replicated that, ever.
[Interviewer] Not even for example, in VALORANT? When you won Masters Reykjavik?
Nah, I think winning ESL One New York – it just felt […] – it was in my home state, and it was in front of […], we beat a team that had just won the Major. That feeling was unreal. I don’t think I can feel that again, because my family was there.
Reykjavik was cool, like I’m glad I won an event in VALORANT, but there was no crowd there either, and it was in a European country. Like it had less meaning, you know? Compared to something that was in my home state.
[Interviewer] Ethan recently also said the same thing, that that ESL One NY win just held a special place in his heart.
Yeah, also that trophy. I think every CS player wanted to win that style of trophy. That was like the goal of any players’.
A blast from the past. Evil Geniuses with Chet (ImAPet) and Ethan winning ESL One New York in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive back in 2019. Credit: Evil Geniuses // Twitter"He's surprisingly a lot nicer than people expect."
[Interviewer] You’ve been coaching for quite a number of years as I’ve mentioned. Do you have a personal mantra or concept (or series of concepts and principals) that you sort of bring when you coach a team. That this is what I want from you guys and what I want from myself.
I think I mainly focus on communication. Because I feel like that’s where everything starts. So, if the communication isn’t clear and concise, and I kind of have this motto of: ‘If you think something, say it. If you want to do something, say it. If you see something, say it.’
Whatever those three things, they’re kind of all similar to a degree, where no matter what happens in your mind or in front of you, you just make sure that communication is like said. So that way, no one’s guessing. If you want to be able to paint a picture in your head, kind of like a radio broadcast.
Let’s say it was an NBA game, and there’s like a radio broadcast of it, those commentators do a pretty good job of painting a picture there. So, you want to be having the same idea from your teammates. Like you want them to be able to paint a picture if you’re not there.
So that way, you know how to play the game around that information.
[Interviewer] I see! As a follow-up, I wanted to ask on the decision to make Ethan the IGL for this new NRG roster. Marved has shown his ability to IGL on Sentinels, what makes Ethan the ideal choice to lead this roster? What characteristics does he bring that you think would make him fit as the best IGL for this lineup?
Honestly, you look at the 2023 result, but he’s been in the pro scene as long as I have been. And me and him have been teammates in the past for quite some time.
And we always knew, me and Daps, when we were on the same team together. We basically said that, one day Ethan is going to be IGL.
Because he’s pretty vocal for his age, and now that he’s gained a lot of experience; through Counter-Strike, through the 3-4 years of VALORANT. And there’s just been so much development that he’s made since he started when he was 16 that I think, it’s just his time now.
Like he knows what he can do, he’s been under many systems. I’ve also been under the same thing. I have more experience than I used to. So, it’s easy to help him get to that path. And I think he’s already done a good job at that.
[Interviewer] Interesting…as a sidebar, I also would like to ask, what didn’t work with the NRG roster last year, that you think could potentially be fixed this year?
Well, I just think last year we lacked a little bit of ‘being on the same page.’ I think everyone had something that they wanted to do, and when that stuff didn’t work out, there was quite a lot of heroics that were tried because of it.
So, we weren’t very good as a unit. And I think communication was not very strong on our team. Like the things I said, we couldn’t paint a very good picture for our other teammates. So, that just made the game way harder.
[Interviewer] I see. I ask this also because Leviatán is now approaching a similar project to the one you attempted last year. They now have a sort of multi-lingual project going. So, looking at the fact, perhaps it is unfair to say this, but the project with ardiis didn’t quite work out the way you guys would have wanted. Do you think this new Leviatán project will work?
They seem pretty good. I’d call them a super team as well to be honest. LEV seems pretty strong. They have a very strong duelist-sentinel, support players. They’re not really missing anything to be honest. So, as long as they put in the work, then I don’t see why it would be bad. They seem like, on paper, very strong.
[Interviewer] Over the course of your VALORANT career, you’ve also had the opportunity to work with some incredible talents; yay, ardiis. Now you have access to Demon1. How have you tailored your approach in utilizing players of this calibre?
I kind of let [Demon1] play the roles that he wants. His roles are expanded a little bit – not too much – on characters that he’s playing. He’s surprisingly a lot nicer than people expect. I don’t think he’s toxic at all. He’s been very manageable. Honestly, it’s been a pleasure to work with him throughout the time that we’ve been practicing this month. And honestly, he surprised me a lot. There are some rounds, where like he hits some crazy shots that I just didn’t think people were capable of hitting. So, I mean, he’s just – he’s definitely a pretty important piece to have in a team I would say.
[Interviewer] Would you characterize him as the best talent you’ve worked with so far?
Yeah, I would say – he’s on another level right now. I’ve never seen people hit the shots he’s hitting right now, especially with the characters he’s playing.
[Interviewer] Demon1 does get quite a bad reputation, just from his public persona as the ‘bad guy’. But this peek behind the curtains is pretty interesting!
The Shifting Sands of the Meta, The Whims of Riot
As the season start draws ever closer, we sat down with Chet to ask him some of his thoughts for the new in-game elements of the 2024 season.
“I think the current map pool is the worst it has been.”
[Interviewer] On another point now, what are your thoughts on some of the in-game changes that have come through over the last couple of months? First thing is of course the sentinel changes that have come in (Cypher buffs, Killjoy nerfs), and how do you think that would affect the meta going forwards?
I think sentinels were in a really bad place anyways last year. Killjoy was slightly overtuned, so these changes are fine to be honest. The Cypher one is like whatever, larger trips, they reactivate faster, stuff like that. That stuffs fine.
It’s not that devastating. It’s probably just worse in ranked to be honest for people than it is in actual pro play. So, I think these changes are fine. Puts these characters in a good spot.
[Interviewer] So these changes haven’t affected your team’s choice of agent/composition on certain maps?
It’s made some changes, but honestly, I want to say its super insignificant that it’s affected all of pro play. It made Cypher more of a reason to get picked on certain maps than others, but you can still make Killjoy work. It’s purely playstyle dependent and the team.
[Interviewer] And of course the big one, the Skye patch. Correct me if I’m wrong but will Kickoff be played on Patch 8.01 not 8.0?
It will be played on 8.02 I believe. So, there should be one patch to go.
[Interviewer] Oh, so Kickoff will be played with nerfed Skye, not pre-patch?
Yeah, it’ll be nerfed.
[Interviewer] Ok. So, how have the changes affected your team? Obviously, Skye was a big part of a lot of teams’ agent compositions, sort of filled two roles at once. Has that affected your decisions for team compositions?
I think for starting maps, we’re probably less likely to use Skye. But you kind of just have to be more careful with how you spend your utility as Skye. Because now you don’t get a regenerating flash anymore. Which is fine. It’s not like you need to pre-flash long on Bind as Skye because you can already assume there’s one there anyways.
And sometimes people dodge it. So, it doesn’t really matter that much, you just have to know what you’re doing with it basically. You can’t make sloppy decisions with your flashes. And the moment you don’t have any, then that’s whatever right? You just play the game.
It’s not that devastating, maybe a few maps here and there, you might lean towards not using it [Skye].
[Interviewer] Also, I’d like to hear your take on expectations for duelists heading into this new season. Many people have concluded that the Jett-Raze meta has made it stale, would you see perhaps some Iso being played? Perhaps Yoru, who’s been picking up in popularity. Perhaps Chamber? Now that he’s gotten a couple of tweaks.
I think Raze and Jett will still dominate, no matter what. They’re just good characters that have actual entry potential. And the others just don’t. They’re always going to be slightly ahead. The other duelists you can kind of make work.
Like Yoru for example like you said, you can definitely make work. Maybe by itself, or you run it with some unorthodox gimmick/comps that you want to try. This Kickoff could be perfect to just run Yoru. Because people aren’t used to it.
Phoenix and the other ones are less likely. You kind of have to force them to make them work. Pretty personally, I don’t have any issue with where the duelists are at.
But there’s not much nerfing you can do to the strong ones – the pure entry ones. Because that’s just the role they fill. You would have to completely change how their mechanics work for them to not be picked. As long as Jett has a dash and Raze has satchels, they can just get over utility. No one else can do that.
[Interviewer] And of course you now have Ethan, who sort of popularized the support Yoru last year if I recall correctly, on Pearl I believe?
Yup, that’s right. It was on Pearl.
[Interviewer] Final question, what are your thoughts on the current map pool? Haven is out, Breeze, Icebox is in. The map changes overall. Haven going out especially is a tough blow for most teams, pretty popular map.
Yeah, I think even for ranked, Haven was just really enjoyable. But now it’s just gone. I think the current map pool is the worst it has been. It was kind of better when they didn’t open up the halls again for Breeze. But they opened it again.
That kind of reverted the whole reason they took away the map in the first place. Now if you look at it, the only thing they really changed was the middle of it, and maybe like a little bit of B. But mainly the middle. So, it doesn’t really make too much sense why they randomly decided to reopen that part of the map.
Because the whole point – now there’s 7 entrances to the bombsites. And, before there was just 5 or 6. Now halls is like a constant worry for the other team. So, kind of forces your defense to play really uncomfortably.
And I don’t know if they are intentionally trying to make it more attack-sided or what. Like again, these decisions they make aren’t very clear it seems. So, I don’t know – for me personally, I don’t see a lot of the communication towards pro players. Even though the game was said to be esports-focused, it doesn’t really feel that way at the moment.
[Interviewer] As we close now, do you have any words for the NRG fans, anything you’d like to say heading into this new season?
Just always support us whenever you can. When you tweet at us, we see it. When you come to the games, we’ll try to be hands on this season with meet and greets and give back more to you guys. Because I felt like we did a bad job of that last year.
Just wanted to make sure you guys feel more catered to then we did the previous year, and just trust the process that we’re going through. We might be running some things that could be unorthodox, could run some things that are regular. But, trust me, it’s been well-thought out, so no need to worry.
[Interviewer] Thank you so much Chet, and I wish you all the best in Kickoff. And hopefully I get another chance to speak with you at some point.
NRG faces off against Furia today for the Group A opening match. You can catch the game live on YouTube and Twitch.
Follow the VCT 2024 action on Strafe.
For more information on the VCT Americas Kickoff, check out Strafe Esports' piece on the Format, Schedule, Teams and more. If one of the other Kickoffs catches your fancy, we also have previews for EMEA, Pacific, and China.
As an additional bonus, you can catch the VOD for the interview on our new YouTube channel. Also, check out our tier list for the 33 partnered teams (VCT China notwithstanding) heading into 2024's season.