After three years with Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses North America Unranked Derrek Derrek Ha NaturE Nicholas Garrison supamen Phat Le , star duelist Alexander "jawgemo" Mor has signed with G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Unranked 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 Unranked 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 Unranked Demon1 Max Mazanov tex Ian Botsch kiNgg Francisco Aravena aspas Erick Santos C0M Corbin Lee and 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Unranked 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 Unranked 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: