G2 Esports Announce Valorant Roster For 2022

G2 Esports announced its Valorant roster for the VALORANT Championship Tour (VCT) 2022 season. The news surfaced on Thursday, December 23, unveiling the return of some familiar faces and the addition of fresh talent.

G2 Esports will return to the VALORANT Champions Tour in 2022 with a new-look roster that will represent the organization in its second year of competing in Riot Games’ FPS title.

The roster changes follow G2’s disappointing finish to the 2021 season, failing to qualify for VALORANT Champions 2021. Regardless, G2 has achieved plenty of success overall and will look to build on that in 2022.

As revealed by the organization, the G2 Valorant esports roster will welcome back three familiar faces in Oscar “mixwell” Cañellas Colocho, Žygimantas “nukkye” Chmieliauskas, and Auni “AvovA” Chahade.

Mixwell is the longest-standing member of the team, who he joined in June 2020. Meanwhile, nukkye and AvovA have been with G2 since June 2021 and will continue with the team in 2022.

Joining the trio are two new signings in Johan “Meddo” Renbjörk Lundborg and Aaro “hoody” Peltokangas, formerly of Giants Gaming. Both are former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro players with plenty of VCT experience.

Meddo has first appeared in the Valorant esports scene in April 2020, when he joined FABRIKEN. He later played for FunPlus Phoenix, and in January 2021, teamed up with Giants Gaming.

Hoody made his debut in Valorant competitive scene in August 2020, when he joined STR99. He later played for Prodigy, with who he has achieved plenty of success in the lower-division leagues, eventually earning him a spot at Giants Gaming.

Meddo and hoody have been playing together at Giants Gaming since January and have achieved plenty of success, most towards the end of 2021. Most notably, the duo finished second in VCT 2021: Europe Stage 3 Challengers 2 in August and have since added the title of LVP Rising Series 3 champions.

Besides the addition of the former Giants Gaming duo, G2 Esports also made changes to the coaching personnel. As revealed by the Spanish esports organization, G2 also signed the former Giants head coach Daniil “pipsoN” Meshcheryakov, who will take over for Neil “neilzinho” Finlay.

The player and coaching personnel changes, while drastic, come as no surprise. G2 Esports has already announced that it will look to rebuild its Valorant division for the 2022 season.

The first reports surfaced early in November when coach neilzinho announced he was stepping down from the team. More changes followed with Jacob “pyth” Mourujärvi, who left the team on November 13.

The most notable departure that confirmed a major roster overhaul happened on December 1, when G2 unveiled the release of Jose Luis “koldamenta” Aranguren Herrero, whom G2 signed in July. But despite losing star players and a coach, G2 Esports did not need long to find suitable replacements.

G2 Esports proved to be a solid team in 2021, but they failed to deliver when it mattered the most. After middling success early into the year, G2 shifted into a higher gear following the mid-season changes.

In July, G2 Esports finished second in the Stage 3 Challengers 1 and placed fourth in the Stage 3 playoffs in August. Even at Masters Berlin, G2 Esports did not disappoint and made a deep run in the playoffs.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t deliver in the latter stages of the tournament, as G2 had to admit defeat to Gambit Esports in the semis. Still, playing top-four at the Masters was a solid testament to the team’s quality, suggesting G2 will end the season on a high note.

But, things did not go as planned. Despite their success midway through the season, everything came crashing down for G2 at the VCT 2021: EMEA Last Chance Qualifier, where they crashed out in third place and missed out on qualifying for the 2021 VALORANT Champions.

Regardless of G2’s disappointing finish to the 2021 season, the team looks set to reach new heights in 2022. G2 should debut its new roster in the qualifiers for the first EMEA Challengers, slated for late January or early February 2022.