From VALORANT world champion and MVP to free agent, NRG today announced the release of North American superstar Max “Demon1” Mazanov, potentially opening up a lottery for the sharpshooter.
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2024 didn’t go as planned for Demon1, to say the least. After setting the world on fire in 2023 by joining the Evil Geniuses lineup and leading the underdog to a world championship with some pristine duelist play, Demon1 escaped contract hell and seemed headed for greener pastures with NRG. However, the team failed to make the Americas playoffs in the first VCT split, and ended up benching Demon1 between splits as the team attempted to shake up their fortunes. The move didn’t exactly backfire, as NRG once again missed out on the Americas playoffs and failed to qualify for any international LANs that year.
"He's too good to keep on the bench, so we're giving him a chance to shine somewhere else," NRG's post on X/Twitter read today. "Thanks for everything, Demon1." Demon1 himself quickly posted a simple "LFT" on his own account.
While NRG has underperformed significantly this year and Demon1 hasn’t shined nearly as brightly as he did with Evil Geniuses in 2023, the decision to release him still comes as a shock. NRG invested heavily in signing him and former EG teammate Ethan, with now-former coach Chet claiming to have even spent some of his own personal money on their buyouts. NRG is now left with just Ethan, FNS, and W streamer s0m signed to the VALORANT team.
