OpTic’s H3CZ explains that he’s “on Nade’s side” in falling out with NICKMERCS

Albert Petrosyan

It’s no longer a secret that popular streamer Nick ‘NICKMERCS‘ Kolcheff and 100 Thieves CEO Matt ‘Nadeshot‘ Haag have had a falling out, and OpTic Gaming‘s Hector ‘H3CZ‘ Rodriguez has given his take on their situation.

One of the biggest topics of discussion in the esports community over the past few days has been the public discord between NICKMERCS and Nadeshot.

On May 24, Nick announced that he had parted ways with 100Thieves after three years with the organization, revealing that he wants “nothing to do with” Nadeshot.

The sudden nature of the split stunned fans, and it was a topic brought up in the March 27 episode of H3CZ’s popular ‘The Eavesdrop Podcast,’ in which the CEO said that he was siding with Nadeshot in this instance.

“Knowing Nadeshot for as long as I have, there’s no way that I can offer an opinion other than that fact that I’m on Nade’s side,” he said.

Nadeshot - YouTubeNICKMERCS and Nadeshot spent a lot of time in LA when Nick first moved out, consistently featuring in each other’s YouTube videos.

While he had complimentary things to say about NICKMERCS and the way he conducts himself, H3CZ dropped several pointed hints that he may not have totally agreed with making such a public video about matters that took place behind closed doors.

“I don’t know the ins and outs of what their relationship was like,” he said. “Every single time I asked Nade, Nade’s like ‘it’s between me and him, I got nothing to say.’ Which is honorable as fuck! To me, behind closed doors, shut door, he’s like ‘nah it’s between me and him.'”

Travis Gafford - YouTubeDespite being CEOs of rival orgs, Nadeshot and H3CZ remain good friends.

However, H3CZ made sure not speak too directly on the situation at hand, considering that he remains close friends with Nadeshot and has probably been privy to information that the 100T CEO may not want spoken about in a public forum. 

One thing he did make clear was how regrettable the split was, believing that Nick and Nade could have been a powerful duo in esports.

“It would have been an incredible duo-ship right there,” he said. “I think they would have done fucking amazing work together.”

You can check out the entire episode 30 of The Eavesdrop Podcast below, with the segment about NICKMERCS starting at the 22:22 mark. 

Why did NICKMERCS leave 100 Thieves?

NICKMERCS first joined 100 Thieves back in 2016, when the organization was nowhere close to being as prominent as it is today. 

Three years later, Nick announcing that he was leaving the org, revealing that things hadn’t worked out the way he had envisioned when he first joined, which ultimately disintegrated his relationship with Nadeshot.

Overall, it has been a major period of transition for Nick, who also recently moved back to his home state of Michigan, where he plans on continuing to build on what has been a very successful past year-and-a-half. 

Disclaimer: Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez is a minority shareholder in Dexerto Ltd.

About The Author

Albert is a former esports and gaming writer, focused particularly on Call of Duty and content creators. Spending over three years at Dexerto, Albert eventually now works with streamer NICKMERCS and the MFAM group. You can find Albert @AlbertoRavioli on Twitter.