G2 bid farewell to Valorant roster after VCT partnership snub
Colin Young-Wolff / Riot GamesG2 Esports have said goodbye to their Valorant roster the organization announced in a farewell video on October 18.
The news comes about a month after the organization was snubbed for a Valorant Champions Tour partnership spot in Riot Games’ Americas league.
G2 were denied a spot in the partnered league after CEO Carlos Rodríguez posted a video of himself at a party interacting with Andrew Tate, according to The Washington Post. The organization suspended Carlos for eight weeks without pay before he eventually step down from his role in the organization.
G2 was reportedly already courting Valorant players and staff in North America in anticipation of receiving the spot from Riot. After the list of the partnered teams was announced, multiple G2 players and staff members posted online that the organization was allowing them to explore other offers for the 2023 season while still under contract with the organization.
G2 Valorant players move on
While the organization has said goodbye to the players, they are still contracted to the team as restricted free agents and are open to offers from other organizations.
Multiple players from the G2 lineup have been linked with other teams during the Valorant offseason. Auni ‘AvovA’ Chahade and Óscar ‘mixwell’ Colocho are reportedly in talks with partnered organization Team Heretics, while Žygimantas ‘nukkye’ Chmieliauskas was linked with NAVI at the beginning of October.
While not an international powerhouse, G2 was the best team in Europe before the VCT circuit was established, winning six consecutive tournaments in 2020 and placing in the top four in First Strike Europe.
The team went on to qualify for two international events on LAN. At VCT Stage 3 Masters Berlin in 2021, G2 placed in the top four, while at Stage 1 Masters Reykjavík in 2022, the squad placed in the top six.