NRG coach daps to play for br0 at CS Asia Championships

Damian “daps” Steele, NRG’s head coach, will step into the active roster for Alexander “br0” Bro at the CS Asia Championships. NRG announced br0 is out for the remainder of the tournament because of a family emergency. daps will play starting with the Group A lower-bracket match against MOUZ on May 21, 2026 at 03:00 local time.

NRG began the event with a 13-10 loss to Legacy and moved into the lower bracket. A loss to MOUZ would eliminate the team from the CS Asia Championships.

At IEM Atlanta, NRG finished 13th-16th after 0-2 defeats to FUT and FaZe. A defeat to MOUZ would result in back-to-back tournaments ending in lower placements for the organization.

daps has previous experience filling a playing role. He replaced Nick “nitr0” Cannella at the StarLadder Budapest Major when nitr0 missed the event for the birth of his child. During that period daps served as in-game leader and recorded a 0.70 rating as NRG went 2-3 in Stage 1.

NRG is scheduled to face GamerLegion in the opening round of Stage 1 at the Cologne Major, which begins June 2. The team will need to manage practice and lineup stability in the short window between events if br0’s absence continues.

The organization gave no timeline for br0’s return beyond stating he is out for the remainder of the CS Asia Championships and did not provide further details about the family emergency.