G2 Esports Rebuild Valorant Roster With Former Sentinel Players

According to reliable sources, G2 Esports announced the signing of five new Valorant players for the 2023 season. As said, the European esports organization acquired former Sentinel star players Shahzeb “ShahZam” Khan and Michael “dapr” Gulino.

On October 18, G2 Esports released its entire Valorant roster due to the organization not being accepted into the partnered league for the 2023 season. But despite being denied a spot in the big league, G2 Esports will continue to be involved in the Valorant competitive scene with a new-look NA roster.

As reported this weekend, G2 Esports have already reached an agreement with two former Sentinels star players in ShaZam and dapr. The duo are expected to team up with former Version1 duo in Erik “penny” Penny and Maxim “wippie” Shepelev, with ex-Dark Ratio player Oxy said to round up the new-look lineup.

The complete roster change was expected, as G2 Esports failed to be accepted into the partnered Valorant Championship Series league. As a result, the team parted ways with its entire roster, including Auni “AvovA” Chahade and Óscar “mixwell” Colocho, who joined Heretics, Aaro “hoody” Peltokangas and Žygimantas “nukkye” Chmieliauskas, who signed for Giants, and Johan “Meddo” Lundborg, who has yet to find a new home.

Besides acquiring a new roster, G2 Esports also made changes to its coaching personnel.

Former coach Daniil “pipsoN” Meshcheryakov left the organization on October 18 – along with the rest of the team, and joined Giants. In his place, G2 Esports acquired former Version1 head coach Ian “Immi” Harding, who will lead the new project through the North American Challengers league.

So even though G2 didn’t get a chance to compete in the new Americas international league, the European esports organization took the opportunity to remain involved in the Valorant esports scene. Granted, the once-great team will now have to play in the North American Challengers league, which does give them a chance to qualify for the big league.

G2 Esports first entered the Valorant esports scene in 2020, and the team instantly found success. And even that is an understatement.

Throughout 2020, G2 Esports attended seven tournaments and four qualifiers and won all but one – First Strike Europe, where they placed third-fourth. However, despite G2 Esports’ slip-up in the year’s final event, the squad still won some of the biggest competitions, including the BLAST Twitch Invitational and WePlay! Invitational.

In the 2021 season, G2 Esports slowed down a bit but remained a formidable force. Early into the season, G2 struggled to impress in regional VCT events but then found serious traction in the summer, when they placed second in VCT 2021: Europe Stage 3 Challengers 1, fourth in the Challengers Playoffs, and finished the Masters Berlin in third-fourth.

The team eventually missed out on the VALORANT Champions 2021, with a third-place finish in VCT 2021: EMEA Last Chance Qualifier. History repeated itself last year when G2 Esports found some success by claiming silver from VCT 2022: EMEA Stage 1 Challengers, but again ended the VCT 2022: EMEA Last Chance Qualifier in third place and missed out on the season-culminating event.

Despite not winning a single big event., G2 Esports remained one of Europe’s top teams initially expected to be invited into the partnered league. However, after the organization’s (now former) CEO Ocelote was involved in controversy, Riot decided to withdraw G2’s invitation to the regional league.

But even though G2 Esports will have to start the 2023 season in the lower leagues, they’ll have a chance to qualify for the Americas international league via Ascension (a new circuit).