Following their 2023 LCS Championship victory, there was plenty of hype surrounding NRG’s League of Legends roster. After completely faltering in the following year, however, multiple questions were raised on whether that one split was a fluke, or if something failed to work in the previous offseason.
In an interview with IWDominate and YamatoCannon, NRG jungler Contractz opened up about his team’s recent fall from grace, stating that one of the reasons why NRG’s 2024 League roster didn’t click was the single roster change made with IgNar being replaced by veteran support Huhi.
According to the 25-year-old, Huhi failed to fit with the rest of the team stylistically, and they could not find their groove throughout the season. He pointed out that although some fans thought of Huhi as a sidegrade, IgNar brought a ton of other aspects to NRG’s game that helped them become the champions that they were last year.
“I think IgNar is the silent glue that plays for tempo really well, keeps a lot of vision on his own, and doesn’t require a lot of help to set up plays or set up the map,” Contractz said. “He’s very similar to me in a sense where he’s very creative, [whether it’s] finding creative flank angles or not hesitating with engages.”
IgNar was always aware of Contractz’s positioning on the map, and as a support player, he was constantly ready to jump into the fray without even needing to be told. Huhi, on the other hand, is a very strong, consistent player, but when the situation diverts from the gameplan and the play gets too messy, he can get thrown off.
Contractz did acknowledge that he might have needed to communicate a bit more with Huhi and his team, especially because IgNar was always aware of the play at hand without needing extra comms. As a result, there was more miscommunication on stage, especially when plays broke down and became more hectic.
Ultimately, NRG will need to head back to the drawing board and build up a new strategy for next year, especially with Contractz, Palafox, and FBI’s contracts all expiring at the end of November.
