G2 Esports entered VCT Americas as the 11th Team after The Guard failed to sign the contract for the same. The G2 players, who formerly made up The Guard squad, have signed on as their official roster.
The past month has been a rollercoaster ride for anyone who has been up to date with prevalent Valorant news, especially The Guard debacle. Even if you aren’t we will explain everything to you in this piece. However, the fact of the matter is that G2 Esports have made their way into VCT Americas by signing the Riot Contract after The Guard failed to do so.
G2 Esports will be the 11th Team in the league alongside greats like LOUD, NRG, Leviatan, Cloud Nine, 100 Thieves and more. In addition, the former Guard roster who were mistreated so harshly by their organization which they have been so faithful towards, have also joined G2 to finally get a chance to compete in VCT 2024.
Contents
- G2 Esports is the 11th Team to Join VCT Americas: Core of The Guard Sign-On
- The Current G2 Roster for VCT 2024
- A History of The Guard Roster Pre and Post-Partnership
- Why G2 Esports Got the Spot Instead of the Other Teams
- What is the Future of this Roster and G2 Esports?
G2 Esports is the 11th Team to Join VCT Americas: Core of The Guard Sign-On
The Guard Roster were undeservingly the victims of their former organization’s mistakes and almost lost out on a chance to compete in VCT Americas. However, G2 Esports and Riot had other plans. In a surprising turn of events, Riot withdrew that decision and allowed players to compete in T1 first. A short time after that, they announced that G2 Esports would now be joining VCT Americas 2024 as the 11th Team.
That being said, how did this happen? How was G2 the top contender to be selected for the tournament? Does this work like any other Ascension team or are the rules different? On top of that, what is the roster for this team? Let us see what we know so far.
The Current G2 Roster for VCT 2024
G2 is gearing up to be one of the best rosters in VCT 2024 especially in the Americas region. Let us take a look at who is going to be a part of G2 going forward.
- Jonah “JonahP” Pulice
- Trent “trent” Cairns
- Michael “neT” Bernet
- Jacob “valyn” Batio
- TBD
- Josh “JoshRT” Lee (Head coach)
As you can see, the fifth of the team is yet to be decided. There are a lot of potential players out there who could fit well with this Guard core. Former Duelist for The Guard, Ian “tex” Botsch left the team before they became a part of G2 so they did not get him on the roster. For now, the team has no plans to unveil the fifth anytime soon so it looks like it will be a while before we get any news from G2.
That being said, this Tier 2 Roster, according to the new Riot Rules, did better than most T1 teams in its 2023 VCT off-season last year. They beat Sentinels, T1, and TSM in the LudwigxTarik Invitational while they were also at the top of the game during the VCL North America Tournaments. Their win percentage was one of the best and their consistency was unrivaled. The only team that could compete on their level was M80 which had a strong roster of their own.
Let us look at how this roster was before the partnership and after it.
A History of The Guard Roster Pre and Post-Partnership
In the first half of 2022, The Guard became unstoppable. They beat teams like LG (currently Shopify Rebellion), 100 Thieves, XSET, EG, Sentinels, and OpTic to qualify for Masters Reykjavik. However, their luck in their first S-Tier tournament wasn’t as good as they thought it would be.
The Guard directly went onto the lower brackets of the Playoffs and lost out. For the upper bracket match, they had to face OpTic and they lost the match 1:2. In the lower brackets, The Guard faced PRX which they lost again 0:2.
In NA Challengers 2 for 2022, they lost four out of the five matches which is why they could not advance further. However, they still had a chance to qualify for Champions 2022 in the LCQ. They beat Sentinels, Cloud Nine, and FaZe to qualify for the LCQ Finals where they failed to win against 100 Thieves. Their 2022 Season was over. In the off-season leading to 2023, they won the LudwigxTarik Invitational by beating T1 teams like Sentinels and T1.
The 2023 Season was their best and most dominant performance so far. They went from a Tier 2 team to a Tier 1 team by qualifying and winning the VCT Ascensions Tournament against strong teams like NA’s M80, Brazil’s 00 Nation, and The Union. This gave them a slot in the VCT Americas League. This is where things went wrong.
Why G2 Esports Got the Spot Instead of the Other Teams
Once The Guard won the Ascension Tournament, they were supposed to sign a Riot Contract that confirmed their arrival in VCT Americas franchising. However, they failed to do so. This prompted Riot to make rash decisions. Riot announced that The Guard Roster and the team itself won’t be able to participate in VCT 2024. However, after careful consideration, they reversed the decision.
Soon after, G2 Esports was announced as the 11th Team to enter VCT Americas as they had acquired the former Guard roster. However, the question on everybody’s mind is why did G2 get the spot instead of any other team. The reason is that G2 was already in the run to be in the circle of partnership teams before an outside controversy last year.
Back then, if they had acquired the slot, they would have signed the XSET Roster. G2 is set to enter the Tier 1 stage after a whole year. It will be interesting to see what they can do with the combined might of The Guard core and another Tier One player whose announcement is definitely not far away.
What is the Future of this Roster and G2 Esports?
We think this G2 Esports admission is going to work just like any other Ascension win. They will stay for franchising in VCT 2024 and 2025 and will have to compete again for that spot. However, we do not know how Riot is going to tweak the rules as G2 is a much more stable organization than most Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams. That being said, it is a good move for Riot and G2 nonetheless. More importantly, the deserving players get to compete as they hoped they would.
The Guard core is strong in terms of skill and communication. They have had lots of experience in both Tier 1 and Tier 2 tournaments so it will be interesting to see how they perform in the future. Hopefully, they can get a fifth member soon and start honing their craft for VCT 2024. Let us see what the future has in store for this team now that everything is stable.
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