NRG captain Nick "nitr0" Cannella shared his thoughts on the team's preparation for StarSeries Fall in Barcelona. The squad's main goal at the tournament is to earn Valve points (VRS) in the race for a spot at the Singapore Major. Currently, NRG is ranked ninth in the Americas region, ahead of SportsBetExpert by only 36 points.
Despite their precarious position in the rankings, nitr0 isn't overly worried. According to him, following StarSeries Fall, the team is set to play in tier-2 tournaments like iBUYPOWER Masters FLM and FRAG University, where NRG will have plenty of chances to solidify their standing by defeating direct competitors.
Preparation for this tournament marked the team's longest practice period since Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli joined the roster. Although practice after FRAG St. Clair was limited to North America, the players managed to fix mistakes, build team chemistry, and expand their stratbook. At the same time, nitr0 acknowledges the gap in competition: matches against stronger opponents, such as Team Liquid, clearly demonstrated that mistakes are punished much more harshly at the tier-1 level.
NRG will kick off their tournament run with a match against MOUZ. The captain considers this a relatively favorable draw, noting that MOUZ is an understandable opponent both tactically and psychologically. The teams previously met in China, where NRG managed to take a map off them (MOUZ was playing with daps instead of br0 at the time).
The updated roster is also showing positive dynamics. hallzerk adapted quickly thanks to his experience playing in Complexity alongside EliGE—nitr0's longtime teammate. Because of this, the Norwegian shares a similar game philosophy and understanding of terminology. Meanwhile, Jeorge "Jeorge" Endicott, who returned from the bench, has started working significantly harder. As the least experienced player on the roster, he was tasked with developing pistol round strategies, which gave him a sense of responsibility and positively impacted the team's atmosphere.
At StarSeries Fall, NRG plans to take it match by match. Since the team currently lacks LAN bonuses in the VRS system, any victory at a tournament of this stature will be a critical step toward their main goal—qualifying for the Major.
As a reminder, StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2026: Teams, Schedule, Prize Pool, and Format for the Barcelona Tournament