by in
Wildcard have announced Jake “Stewie2k” Yip as the latest addition to their Counter-Strike 2 roster ahead of PGL Astana 2025 Qualifiers.
The North American team did not reveal any information on the length of the veteran’s stint or who he is replacing; however, it appears to be a strategic move.
By adding Stewie2k and replacing either Love “phzy” Smidebrant, Aran “Sonic” Groesbeek, or Tim “susp” Ångström, Wildcard will field three North American players and be allowed to attend NA Major Regional Qualifiers, thus avoiding the more challenging European MRQ.
sup b!tch#StackTheDeck pic.twitter.com/EMBNu4w1IU
— Wildcard (@Wildcard_GG) March 26, 2025
Stewie2k’s signing was announced ahead of the PGL Astana 2025 qualifiers — Wildcard’s last event before the BLAST.tv Austin Major cutoff date on April 7.
The 27-year-old, who made his professional Counter-Strike debut in 2015, retired in April 2022 after leaving Evil Geniuses but has featured in a few tournaments since.
In late 2023 he stood in for Mythic, and in 2024 he joined Legacy for two months during their campaign through the Esports World Cup 2024 North American Qualifier.
More notably, Stewie2k was called in to join G2 Esports to replace Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen for Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2024.
In his first LAN event since April 2022, Stewie2k helped G2 win the trophy despite averaging an underwhelming 0.85 performance rating.
Since then, Stewie2k has featured in only one official event: the 7TV Streamer Invitational showmatch, where he played alongside former Cloud9 coach Soham “valens” Chowdhury and Mohamad “m0E” Assad.
The veteran will debut for Wildcard on Friday, March 28, in the PGL Astana 2025 North American Qualifier, when Wildcard face off against Daaku in the Group A upper-bracket quarterfinals.
