G2 esports announced the signing of Finnish in-game leader Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainnen and Remy ‘XTQZZZ’ Quoniam. ‘Aleksib’ was signed on a swap deal with OG esports, where Nemanja ‘nexa’ Isakovic will be taking his place, while Aleksi will lead G2. Coach ‘XTQZZZ’ was signed to step in the shoes of Damian ‘maLeK’ Marcel, who was released after PGL Major Stockholm 2021.
The move comes after weeks of rumors and repoCrts from Talkesport, Dexerto, and 1pv.fr regarding the transfers of the Finn and the French coach.
This was the final change for G2 esports’ CSGO team, to complete their rebuild for the 2022 season. Previously AWPer Ilya ‘m0NESY’ Osipov was signed from NaVi Junior to take over the AWP role from Francois ‘AMANEK’ Delaunay. The in-game leading duties will fall on ‘Aleksib’s shoulders, while ‘XTQZZZ’ will be the head coach, his first foray on an International roster.
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Aleksib has previously represented ENCE and OG esports in CSGO, leading the former to a Major Grand Final at IEM Katowice and a tier-one trophy in the form of BLAST Pro Series Madrid 2019. He built the OG CSGO project from scratch with Nathan ‘NBK-’ Schmitt in 2019, but the roster saw little success in terms of trophies. They did have 8 podium finishes, including 3 Grand Final appearances – at IEM New York EU 2020, Flashpoint 2, and IEM Summer 2021, but a trophy kept eluding them.
XTQZZZ meanwhile, also built the Team Vitality CSGO project and had been instrumental in their success. It was under him that prodigy Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut’s skill was showcased to the world, and he finished as the best player of 2019 in his rookie year. He also helped in the development of ‘misutaaa’, ‘Nivera’, and ‘Kyojin’ as rookies and turned them into formidable tier-1 professionals. He was released from Team Vitality following the arrival of Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif, Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen, and Danny ‘zonic’ Sorensen.
G2 look done playing second fiddle to NaVi every time, as seen in the announcement video and will look to compete for trophies from the get-go, with a team that isn’t lacking in firepower in any way have each role finalized, be it in-game leading or AWPing. They will play their first game with the roster at BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2022, on January 28th.
With the addition of Aleksib and XTQZZZ, G2’s CSGO roster for 2022 is:
- Audric “JACKZ” Jug
- Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač
- Nikola “NiKo” Kovač
- Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov
- Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen
- Rémy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam (coach)
- Kenny “kennyS” Schrub (benched)
- François “AMANEK” Delaunay (benched)
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