After three years with
Evil Geniuses
Evil Geniuses
North America
Rank #21
Derrek
Derrek Ha
NaturE
Nicholas Garrison
supamen
Phat Le
icy
Jacob Lange
yay
Jaccob Whiteaker
, star duelist Alexander "jawgemo"
Mor has signed with
G2 Esports
G2 Esports
North America
Rank #1
jawgemo
Alexander Mor
trent
Trent Cairns
valyn
Jacob Batio
JonahP
Jonah Pulice
leaf
Nathan Orf
.
The move comes just over a year after Evil Geniuses and jawgemo's successful 2023 season. A second-place finish at Masters Tokyo and a triumphant victory at Champions Los Angeles saw the organization lift not just its first world championship, but a first for any North American team.
jawgemo holding the Champions trophy in 2023. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)
Following the trophy-capped campaign, other teams in the Americas region poached away much of the 2023 roster.
Ethan
and
Demon1
, the latter of whom was named the MVP of Champions 2023, were signed by
NRG Esports
NRG Esports
North America
Rank #4
FiNESSE
Pujan Mehta
s0m
Sam Oh
Verno
Andrew Maust
mada
Adam Pampuch
Ethan
Ethan Arnold
.
C0M
and
Boostio
were signed by
LEVIATÁN
LEVIATÁN
Latin America South
Rank #1
Demon1
Max Mazanov
tex
Ian Botsch
kiNgg
Francisco Aravena
C0M
Corbin Lee
nataNk
Nathan Bocqueho
and
100 Thieves
100 Thieves
North America
Rank #7
zander
Alexander Dituri
Cryocells
Matthew Panganiban
eeiu
Daniel Vucenovic
Boostio
Kelden Pupello
Asuna
Peter Mazuryk
, respectively. Assistant coach
Zikz
was also signed by 100 Thieves to be their head coach.
That left jawgemo, who had a server-leading 85 kills in the grand final against
Paper Rex
Paper Rex
Asia-Pacific
Rank #6
mindfreak
Aaron Leonhart
Jinggg
Wang Jing Jie
f0rsakeN
Jason Susanto
d4v41
Khalish Rusyaidee
something
Ilya Petrov
, as the only remaining player from the world championship-winning team. Former reserve player
Apoth
, former 100T players
NaturE
and
Derrek
, and
FaZe Clan
FaZe Clan
Inactive
POISED
Kevin Ngo
mummAy
Anthony DiPaolo
TiGG
Tanner Spanu
BABYBAY
Andrej Francisty
supamen
Phat Le
's
supamen
rounded out a crew of former tier one players to complete the EG rebuild.
Evil Geniuses performed below the heights they reached in 2023 with their new-look roster. They failed to qualify for any international competitions in 2024, and finished Americas Stage 2 ranked ninth, a far cry from their third-place finish in the 2023 Americas League.
In their first match of the new season, EG and jawgemo defeated G2 Esports 2-0. The match was the first domino to fall in a 3-2 start to the season that saw the rookie VCT organization miss out on Masters Madrid. As a result, G2 shuffled their roster, replacing one of the members from their Ascension-winning squad.
Five months later, in a blockbuster move now looking to build on a roster that's become one of the region's strongest, G2 Esports upgrade a duelist position that has been shaky as of late.
In their maiden year in the VCT, G2 took the Americas region by storm. After a slow start at Americas Kickoff, they finished second in both Americas Stage 1 and Stage 2, third at Masters Shanghai, and qualified for Champions Seoul, achieving a top-8 finish.
Former tier two player icy had assumed the duelist role for most of the 2024 season, joining after Kickoff, but had been shaky at times. The team fielded a number of compositions that saw them play without any duelists, most recently on Icebox against Leviatan at Champions Seoul.
Three players from the Americas Ascension-winning team The Guard remain on G2 Esports, with their roster now being: