G2 Esports Confirm HooXi and JKS signings

G2 Esports has announced the signing of Justin “jks” Savage and Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen to its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster. The news surfaced on Tuesday, August 16, confirming the rumors that have been floating around for weeks.

G2 Esports completed its roster rebuild on Tuesday, adding HooXi and jks, who got put in the active lineup. The announcement officially confirmed the long-anticipated off-season revamp, which has been rumored since July.

The duo joins G2 as replacements for Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and Audric “JACKZ” Jug, who have found themselves on the exit doors following the team’s shaky display in 2022. The outgoing duo was given an opportunity to explore their options in July, with only JACKZ finding a new home at HEET.

Meanwhile, Aleksib has yet to unveil where he’ll continue his CS:GO career. For now, he’ll remain a benched player of G2, waiting for another team to come knocking on the doors.

The signing of HooXi and jks is the first roster change G2 Esports have made since January when the European esports organization exchanged Aleksib and Nemanja “nexa” Isaković with OG and added Rémy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam as the new head coach. Unfortunately, since that roster change, G2 have failed to reach the heights they’ve set for themselves.

After swapping IGLs with OG and adding a new head coach, G2 Esports entered the new season with high expectations on their shoulders. However, the team did not perform at the level expected of them.

G2 kicked off the year with a shaky performance at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2022, where they placed fourth-sixth, but they quickly found their stride at IEM Katowice. In Poland, G2 initially went through a shaky run of results, losing to Fnatic and barely making it past FURIA and Astralis.

However, once the team found its stride, G2 looked significantly better. They not only made the playoffs but reached the grand finals, only to lose against FaZe Clan (0-3) in a very close series – proving that they now have a squad capable of competing for big titles.

Still, despite G2’s incredible run in Katowice, the team failed to show the same level of consistency in the following months. Just over a month after their finals run at IEM Katowice, G2 Esports attended ESL Pro League Season 15, where they crashed out in 17th-20th place and were just as disappointing at PGL Major Antwerp RMR, placing fifth.

It was just enough to qualify G2 Esports for the PGL Major Antwerp, but the team did not achieve the results they were hoping for. Despite their best efforts, G2 Esports crashed out of the Major in ninth-11th place.

Things did not improve in the next two months, as G2 Esports produced another disappointing run at IEM Dallas (fifth-sixth), BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2022 (third-fourth), and most recently at IEM Cologne, where G2 finished in ninth-12th place.

Due to the teams’ lack of success, G2 slipped down the global ladder, where they currently occupy the 11th spot, which is the lowest G2 have been since March 2021.

The signings of HooXi and jks are hardly surprising, as the duo was linked with a move to G2 Esports for the past month. Moreover, changes in G2’s CS:GO roster were expected due to the team’s lack of success throughout the year, with the last few months marking some of the roughest for G2 Esports in the team’s history.

Jks joins G2 Esports as a free agent, who was last seen serving as a stand-in for FaZe Clan during IEM Katowice, filling in the shoes of Robin “ropz” Kool and Havard “rain” Nyhaard. At the tournament, jks impressed the world with an average performance rating of 1.14, leading FaZe to the team’s first big trophy in years.

HooXi, on the other side, joins G2 Esports as the new in-game leader and former member of Copenhagen Flames, who he led to the PGL Major Antwerp quarter-finals.

G2 Esports will debut its new lineup in Group B of BLAST Premer Fall Groups. Their first match is slated for August 20, when G2 Esports clash with Astralis.