G2 Esports has reportedly entered into a verbal agreement to sign some of The Guard’s former roster and will take over their spot in VCT Americas.
G2 Esports has verbally agreed to sign some of The Guard’s former players and will thus take over the organization’s spot in VCT Americas, according to a report from Blix.gg.
The Guard won the right to play in VCT Americas by winning the Americas Ascension tournament. However, the organization missed key paperwork deadlines to join the league and Riot Games ruled that the league would not expand, leaving The Guard’s players without a VCT slot.
After significant community pressure, Riot decided to reverse its decision and gave The Guard’s players time to find a suitable organization to take over the slot. The organization would need to be approved by Riot and it would have to sign some of The Guard’s players in order to enter the league.
signing gif szn 🥳 were so back pic.twitter.com/ygCUK6Ripp
— G2 valyn (@valynfps) September 8, 2023
The Guard released its players and coach shortly after the news broke to give them an easier time to find another organization to represent, or sign with another VCT Americas team.
G2 Esports to enter VCT Americas by signing The Guard’s former players
G2 Esports was previously in contention to join VCT Americas as a part of the original 10 partnered organizations. However, after the organization’s now-former CEO posted a video partying with controversial influencer Andrew Tate, Riot Games reportedly passed on adding G2 to its league.
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G2 suspended the CEO and he left the organization shortly after. G2 then signed a squad to compete in the North American Challengers League, hoping to win Ascension and join VCT Americas through the promotion tournament.
That squad, however, flamed out late in the season and did not qualify for the tournament. G2 has since released a majority of that roster, keeping only Shahzeb ‘ShahZaM’ Khan on as a content creator.
However, according to some players from The Guard, they’ve already been signed.
Thankful for the opportunity, we’re fucking back pic.twitter.com/wliy6MxPPI
— neT (@neT_valorant) September 8, 2023
The Guard’s former players have reportedly been a hot commodity for organizations looking to enter the Riot-ran league. FlyQuest was one of the orgs reportedly interested in signing the players and even streamer Félix ‘xQc’ Lengyel expressed interest in joining the esport with the team.
It’s yet unclear how many of The Guard’s players will be sticking around on the team and what their final roster would look like if this signing comes to fruition.