After Evil Geniuses gained their title at VALORANT Champions 2023, their offseason began controversially as a result of contractual points. No one is certain what’s taking place to the org’s championship roster heading into 2024, however the first domino has fallen as one of many key EG gamers at the start of 2023 is transferring on.
Star initiator and former EG beginning participant BcJ is ready to affix Challengers crew M80, probably finishing their beginning 5, according to reporter Max “Purest” Katz. This comes a month after studies said nitr0 can be anticipated to affix the M80 squad, a shock transfer after his sudden retirement from Counter-Strike.
As for BcJ, he would transfer down from tier one VALORANT to tier two, however be part of a crew that’s already thought to be a favourite for the Ascension occasions.
BcJ first made his identify on XSET in VALORANT, becoming a member of them firstly of 2021. He was a part of the identical XSET crew that competed towards groups like Sentinels, 100 Thieves, and Cloud9 to characterize NA internationally.
The place BcJ and XSET actually made their mark was topping OpTic Gaming at Stage 2 Challengers in 2022, which helped the crew safe their spot at VALORANT Champions. They ended up happening an underdog run earlier than finally shedding to the upcoming Copenhagen champs, FunPlus Phoenix, within the decrease bracket quarterfinals.
Because the crew’s initiator, BcJ was instrumental of their performances, whether or not he was hitting pictures or not. Initiators are the gamers that acquire essentially the most info for groups, irrespective of in the event that they’re on assault or protection. Because the trash speak constructed up heading into Champions, BcJ marked both himself and regional cohort Austin “crashies” Roberts as the best initiators in the world. His efficiency at Champions held to that testomony, however the shut loss to FPX proved the eventual finish. It nonetheless was a really profitable season, and after franchising led to roster chaos, BcJ signed with Evil Geniuses and ended up being their hottest low season pickup.
BcJ performed properly in 2023, however Evil Geniuses couldn’t shut out video games. Then, in one of many largest surprises of the season, he was taken off the roster and changed by a not too long ago signed rookie. It appeared to be a rash choice at first, however that rookie became one of the best participant on the planet; Max “Demon1” Mazanov helped EG go on a run in VCT Americas, end second at Masters Tokyo, and win Champions 2023.
BcJ formally gained the VALORANT world title too, however as a bench participant. He didn’t play a minute after his removing from the beginning 5.
After the reported contractual points for EG post-title, BcJ appeared to be getting off simply, becoming a free agent on Oct. 11, one month after the crew introduced it was severing ties with him and different bench gamers. It’s powerful to guage if he’s nonetheless a tier-one expertise contemplating the yr he had, but it surely appears the right spot in tier-two has opened up for him. M80 was second at Ascension in 2023, solely shedding to The Guard.
Now, with the potential beginning roster of BcJ, nitr0, NiSMO, Zander, and koalanoob, M80 want to run it again and get into VALORANT franchising.
Concerning the creator
