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G2 Esports are set to make significant changes to their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team in the second half of 2022. The European organization has told French rifler Audric “JACKZ” Jug to explore his options, just after removing former in-game leader Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen from the roster.
Aleksib announced his benching on his Twitter page after the team’s rather disappointing performance at IEM Cologne. G2 were defeated in the early stages of the tournament, and the blame apparently went to the IGL. The team’s decision came after just six months of bringing Aleksib on, although the player has not been officially benched yet.
JACKZ arrived at G2 Esports in 2018 and has not had the most typical career after reaching the top late. Before joining a top team at 26, JACKZ played in the French subtop on 1.6. He also played for Epsilon, 3DMAX, and EnVyUs.
The 30-year-old was originally among G2’s French lineup along with Richard “shox” Papillon and Kenny “kennyS” Schrub. While shox and kennyS moved on, JACKZ stayed with the team during its move to different iterations of international rosters in the next few years and is now the only French player on the squad.
READ: G2 Esports CEO disappointed with recent CS:GO performances
During his time with G2, JACKZ was noticeably inactive between December 2020 and March 2021. He has engaged in several prestigious iterations with G2, like the all-French lineup and the current international project. Also, his help has been notable in getting the team to the finals of major tournaments, albeit without any title success. These include PGL Major Stockholm 2021, IEM Katowice 2022 and IEM Cologne 2021.
The team’s decision to bench JACKZ resulted from the unimpressive first half of the season. The period saw G2 bring in Aleksib from OG and IIya “m0NESY” Osipov in a bid to win more titles. Aleksib was brought in to take the place of Nemanja “nexa” Isakovicć as the in-game leader. The move showed promise initially, but it has not gone much further for the rest of the season.
With this lineup, G2 have only managed to get to the grand finals of IEM Katowice, which took place in February, after which they failed to fire in PGL Antwerp Major, ESL Pro League Season 15, and this month’s IEM Cologne tournament.
G2 are yet to reveal the players they have in mind to take up the roles of Aleksib as the new in-game leader and JACKZ as the support rifler. The team is down to three players besides the coach, Rémy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam – Nikola “NiKo” Kovač, Nemanja “huNter” Kovač, and m0NESY.
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