After experimenting with JaCkz and AmaNEk since NiKo’s arrival at the end of October, G2 Esports’ CS:GO team will play with AmaNEk going forward and has officially benched JaCkz, the organization announced today.
The 28-year-old has been allowed to explore his options while he still remains under contract with the organization. Unlike other teams in the scene, G2 doesn’t want to pursue a six-man roster at the moment. JaCkz recently completed two years with G2 and helped them make several deep runs in all sorts of CS:GO tournaments during that period.
Following NiKo’s arrival, G2 played two events with AmaNEk—BLAST Premier Fall Series, in which they topped their group, and DreamHack Masters Winter Europe, where they bombed out in the group stage. JaCkz, on the other hand, was given the opportunity to play at IEM Beijing-Haidian Europe and helped G2 reach the semifinals.
“We had six players with different profiles and qualities, so our goal was to determine which combination would work best on the field,” G2’s team manager Jérôme ‘NiaK’ Sudries said. “It’s all about balance and synergy, and even if we can anticipate certain things, the server is always the best judge. Our test focused on JaCkz and AmaNEk, and we quickly realized that our system benefited more from François’ [AmaNEk] qualities.
G2 will play in the BLAST Premier Fall finals with NiKo, huNter-, nexa, kennyS, and AmaNEk. The tournament will kick off tomorrow and is G2’s last scheduled event for 2020.