G2 bid farewell to their Valorant roster

The adventure of the world’s most popular esports organization, G2 Esports, has ended in the VALORANT competitive scene. The organization said goodbye to almost all its players, who had a disappointing end in the VALORANT Challengers League NA.

This kind of move does not surprise many in the community regarding a top-tier organization like G2 Esports. However, bad and disappointing results make teams take this drastic decision to terminate players. Remember that G2 was left out of the VCT 2023 Ascension Americas.

G2 Esports says goodbye to VALORANT players

Through an official press release shared via its Twitter account, G2 Esports announced the departure of four players and two coaches from its VALORANT lineup.

Ended the same way it started 🪦 pic.twitter.com/3B12yKUIfW

— G2 VALORANT (@G2VALORANT) July 7, 2023

In the announcement, we see that the organization says goodbye to:

• Michael “dapr” Gulino
• Francis “OXY” Hoang
• Erik “penny” Penny
• Maxim “wippie” Shepelev
• Dani “Dani” Hashweh – Assistant Coach
• Ian “Immi” Harding – Head Coach

On the other hand, it is worth noting that 29-year veteran and former Sentinels player, Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan has become a content creator for G2 Esports. However, ShahZaM also said in a Stream that he plans to continue playing competitively.

As referenced by the organization in the players’ farewell video, the team’s season ended just as it began, “very close to death.”. Remember that G2 was one of the widely favored teams to win it all in the VCL NA. In addition, to having experienced players like ShahZaM and dapr, they had great talent in OXY and penny. As a result, the team finished in third place in Split 1 of the 2023 season and were runners-up in the Mid-Season Faceoff.

Split 2 was the turning point

Everything seemed to indicate that the team would be fighting in Split 2 to be one of the best on the scene because they had shown great play up to that point. However, their Split 2 run ended in the worst possible way, as G2 had a terrible 0-5 record in their Group, while, in the NA Challenger Playoffs, they fell to Oxygen Esports (0-2), beat Shopify Rebellion (1-2) and were eliminated by The Guard (0-2), in the quarterfinals of the Lower Bracket. As a result, the team ended their season and, more importantly, lost their chances to fight for a spot in the VCT Americas League 2024/25 at the VCT 2023 Ascesion Americas.

The players’ journey does not end here

While it is true that none of the players are part of G2’s active lineup, this does not mean that their journey in the competitive scene ends here. Furthermore, OXY, wippie, and ShahZaM were among the best players in the entire VCL NA, even when their team had a terrible performance in Split 2. As a result, it is likely that these three players, and even the five leaving G2 Esports, will have opportunities shortly.

It may be that some other team in the Challengers category or even in the top tier (VCT) will be interested in the services of one of these players.

On the other hand, the permanence of G2 Esports in the NA region is also in doubt. There is no talent shortage in NA and worldwide to play VALORANT competitively, but the organization must analyze all its options.

Header: G2 Esports