Chris “Horder” Feng has been making waves with solid play in NA’s amateur scene for some time now, a young and promising player with a few finishes near the top of Tier 2. Now, this split, he was set to get a huge opportunity. A
returning-to-league NRG with an absolutely stacked roster was announced, with aims of heading to the LCS via promotion, and
Horder was to be their new toplaner.
However, in an announcement this morning, NRG shocked fans by revealing the joining of toplaner
Frankie “Zamudo” Lin in Horder’s stead, just a week after the initial roster announcement.
Zamudo was set to make his LCS debut on LYON over the last several splits, but was unable due to repeated visa issues.
This sudden decision, leaving Horder without a team after publicly committing to him, with next-to-no time to find another, has left fans baffled by NRG’s management. While the team did say they’d either pay Horder’s salary for spring or support him via Korean bootcamp, and continue to give him access to the team’s coaching staff as a resource, he is, at the end of the day, still out of a team.
To further confuse things, NRG’s announcement post on Zamudo was deleted about an hour after its release, leaving fans in the dark about the signing. Horder’s post, however, remains up, describing how NRG’s actions were done “without warning.” He summed up the situation succinctly, with a smiley face following “I love esports,” a tongue-in-cheek reference to the screwings-over that occur so constantly to players and staff alike by the culture of ultra-fast-paced, and quick to replace or fire, esports organizations. It’s to be seen if, before the impending roster lock in only a few days, Horder will be able to find another team.
