Sources - VALORANT: mada set to join NRG in VCT Americas

NRG have their Duelist for the 2025 VCT Americas season. According to Sheep Esports sources, Adam “mada” Pampuch has reached a verbal agreement with the club. The Canadian has already played in VALORANT's North American elite, in 2021 with Andbox and then in 2022 with Luminosity Gaming, without much success. Shortly before the end of the 2022 season, Shopify Rebellion bought out the Luminosity roster. It was under his new colors that mada competed in the Last Chance Qualifier Americas hoping to qualify for Champions. But he failed.

For the past two years, the 20-year-old has worn the jersey of Shopify Rebellion, which became Moist x Shopify (MxS) in September 2023 when they merged with Moist Moguls. Since 2023, however, the team has been playing in North American Challengers league, the equivalent of the local second division. After another year without a spark, 2024 was supposed to be mada's breakthrough year on the official circuit. Moist x Shopify had indeed built a roster this season that was among the serious contenders to qualify for the VCT Americas, thanks to the Ascension tournament.

However, after a strong start to the year with a 5-0 record in Split 1, MxS struggled in Split 2, finishing 3-3. The team had nevertheless qualified for the end-of-season playoffs and could still hope to secure a ticket to the American promotion tournament. But MxS was unexpectedly beaten by TSM in the Lower Bracket Final of the playoffs. As a result, mada and his team finished Top 3, while only the Top 2 qualified for the Ascension tournament. From a personal point of view, mada, however, had an excellent year: the Duelist finished fox example Stage 2 with the 2nd best 2.0 rating in the league (1.29)

Mada was one of the most sought-after Tier 2 players by VCT teams. He had diferent options but ended choosing the American organization.

Mada is NRG's third recruit this offseason. Before him, Initiator Andrew “Verno” Maust and Head Coach Malkolm “bonkar” Rench - both with Oxygen Esports last year - had also reached an agreement with the team, as previously reported by Sheep Esports. All three men therefore come from the VCL NA, confirming the organization's need for a fresh start.

The club clearly needs new momentum, because after a rather successful 2023 (2nd in the VCT Americas, 4th in Masters Tokyo and participated in Champions), the 2024 season was disastrous. NRG finished 9th in Stage 1 despite the arrival of Max "Demon1" Mazanov, who had just been crowned world champion with Evil Geniuses. The 2023 Champions MVP was placed on the bench after that, but results did not improve. NRG finished 8th in Stage 2, missing out on all the international events this year.

Header Photo Credit: Moist x Shopify/Sheep Esports