Riot Games has announced that the VCT Americas league is officially expanding to 11 teams after G2 Esports signed the former The Guard Valorant roster.
G2 Esports have secured a two-year stay in VCT Americas after signing the majority of the roster that won Americas Ascension in July under The Guard.
Michael ‘neT’ Bernet, Jonah ‘JonahP’ Pulice, Trent ‘trent’ Cairns, Jacob ‘valyn’ Batio, and coach Josh ‘JoshRT’ Lee have signed two-year deals with G2, Alban Dechelotte, the organization’s CEO, told Dot Esports. According to him, G2 beat out competition from over a dozen other organizations for the roster.
The only player who will not be making the move to G2 is Ian ‘tex’ Botsch, who announced on September 10 that he had begun his search for a new team. His replacement has not yet been determined as the team evaluates its options in the off-season.
WE’RE SO FUCKING BACKVCT Americas, you’re welcome pic.twitter.com/9oItgKtVO9
— G2 VALORANT (@G2VALORANT) September 22, 2023
G2 Esports’ addition to the North American league comes a year after the organization was left out of the list of ten partner organizations for the competition. G2 was reportedly set to join VCT Americas before Riot reversed its decision because of the association between then G2 CEO Carlos Rodríguez and controversial influencer Andrew Tate.
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Despite the setback, G2 remained committed to North American Valorant and signed a roster with hopes of securing promotion to the top tier via Ascension Americas. But the team, headlined by former Sentinels duo Shahzeb ‘ShahZaM’ Khan and Michael ‘dapr’ Gulino, fell short of expectations and finished the Challengers Playoffs in 5th-6th place.
G2 jumped at the opportunity to enter VCT Americas after Riot gave permission to the former The Guard roster to find a “suitable candidate organization for the Ascended slot”. The Guard, a North American American organization owned by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, “failed to meet the deadline to agree to the Team Participation Agreement of VCT Americas,” according to Riot Games.
G2 Esports’ Valorant roster:
- Michael ‘neT’ Bernet
- Jonah ‘JonahP’ Pulice
- Trent ‘trent’ Cairns
- Jacob ‘valyn’ Batio
- Josh ‘JoshRT’ Le (head coach)
Keep track of all the changes in the Valorant scene with our off-season rostermania tracker.