Gen.G
Gen.G
Korea
Rank #1
t3xture
Kim Na-ra (김나라)
Karon
Kim Won-tae (김원태)
have announced the free agency of Masters-winning trio Byeon "Munchkin"
Sang-beom (변상범), Kim "Lakia"
Jong-min (김종민), and Kim "Meteor"
Tae-O (김태오) amidst the end of their contracts. Gen.G, who signed the three for only one year before the start of the season, have also stated that they are "continuously in talks" to re-sign them.
Meteor, having been on Gen.G since late 2022, first joined in the beginning of the VCT partnership era alongside familiar names formerly from
TNL Esports
TNL Esports
Inactive
TS
Yu Tae-seok (유태석)
exy
Park Geun-cheol (박근철)
Jinboong
Kim Jin-won (김진원)
Meteor
Kim Tae-O (김태오)
including Yeom "eKo"
Wang-ryong (염왕룡) and Yu "TS"
Tae-seok (유태석). A tight first-round loss in VCT LOCK//IN against eventual finalists
LOUD
LOUD
Brazil
Rank #2
pANcada
Bryan Luna
saadhak
Matias Delipetro
Less
Felipe de Loyola
tuyz
Arthur Andrade
cauanzin
Cauan Pereira
attracted attention to the Korean squad, but hope ultimately fell flat in the Regular Season by finishing fourth in Playoffs and third in the LCQ to miss out on both international events for the year.
For the 2024 season, Gen.G decided to rebuild, releasing all players with the exception of Meteor. Bringing in a new core of hopefuls, all looking to one-up previous setbacks, the organization signed veterans Munchkin, Lakia, and t3xture – coming from
T1
T1
Korea
Rank #4
stax
Kim Gu-taek (김구택)
Carpe
Lee Jae-hyeok (이재혁)
iZu
Ham Woo-ju (함우주)
xccurate
Kevin Susanto
,
Dplus Esports
Dplus Esports
Korea
Rank #7
NGen
Lee Jae-hong (이재홍)
, and
Global Esports
Global Esports
Asia-Pacific
Rank #40
respectively – alongside at-the-time unknown rookie Kim "Karon"
Won-tae (김원태). Munchkin and Lakia in particular ended 2023 as rough as their teammates, with Munchkin bowing out in the Champions group stage under T1, while Lakia saw a similar group stage elimination in Ascension with Dplus.
The team entered Kickoff as an unknown quantity, but shocked the world by taking down both tournament favorites in the finals, defeating both
DRX
DRX
Korea
Rank #2
Flashback
Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁)
MaKo
Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관)
and
Paper Rex
Paper Rex
Asia-Pacific
Rank #1
mindfreak
Aaron Leonhart
Jinggg
Wang Jing Jie
f0rsakeN
Jason Susanto
d4v41
Khalish Rusyaidee
something
Ilya Petrov
to emerge as Pacific champions heading into Madrid. Gen.G set foot into Spain by tearing through their competition throughout their first Masters event, going undefeated until the grand finals with a narrow 2-3 loss to
Sentinels
Sentinels
North America
Rank #2
Zellsis
Jordan Montemurro
zekken
Zachary Patrone
johnqt
Mohamed Amine Ouarid
.
After qualifying as the second seed to Shanghai, Gen.G would make history for the region by being the first Asian team to win an international event. The lead-up to their victory involved a three-year drought that saw Western teams win every VCT title up until Masters Shanghai. In the process, the team made it through Masters flawlessly, going 6-0 in matches against top seeds such as FNATIC and 100 Thieves.
With a third championship to their name in one year following a 3-1 grand final against DRX in Stage 2, Gen.G entered Champions as the overarching favorites to win the event as a whole. Pitted into a group of death against fellow Masters finalists Sentinels and Team Heretics, alongside Chinese dark horse FunPlus Phoenix, Gen.G's expectations were quickly subverted with a collapse against Heretics and Sentinels to knock the home team out 9th-12th.
Kim "t3xture" Na-ra (김나라)'s contract also expires at the end of the 2024 season, however no announcement regarding his future on the organization has been made as of yet.
Gen.G
Gen.G
Korea
Rank #1
t3xture
Kim Na-ra (김나라)
Karon
Kim Won-tae (김원태)
are now down to:
Discord