G2 Esports has officially introduced its League of Legends roster for the 2022 season, featuring new additions in the top and bottom lanes to supplement the returning mid-jungle core of Caps and Jankos. The kings of Europe made plenty of moves this offseason after a calamitous 2021 season in which they missed out on the World Championship.
Veteran top laner Broken Blade is joining G2 from now-defunct Schalke 04. And in a shift from the org’s usual strategy of signing proven top-level talent, G2 will start Spanish AD carry Victor “Flakked” Lirola and Belgian support Raphaël “Targamas” Crabbé. Flakked is a rookie, having played his last two seasons for the Spanish SuperLiga’s MAD Lions Madrid. Targamas has flourished in the ERLs since 2019, making it to EU Masters in four of the last five splits. In 2021, he played for French giants Karmine Corp and won back-to-back EU Masters titles on one of the strongest amateur rosters Europe has ever seen.
Targamas does have one split of top-level experience under his belt. He played in the EU LCS for Giants Gaming during the 2018 Spring Split. The team finished ninth that split with a 7-11 record.
Last offseason, G2 acquired superstar AD carry Rekkles from arch-rivals Fnatic in the offseason while sending longtime member Perkz to Cloud9. The team became unanimous favorites to speedrun the LEC and had expectations to seriously contend for the Summoner’s Cup at the end of the year. With those sky-high expectations, G2 underwhelmed in almost every possible way. What was supposed to be the greatest team in European history finished third and fourth in the 2021 LEC Spring and Summer Split playoffs, respectively, and missed out on clinching one of Europe’s three Worlds spots.
This prompted owner Carlos “ocelote” RodrÃguez Santiago to blow it all up. Rekkles is now set to play for Karmine Corp, while top laner Wunder and support Mikyx are both teamless at time of writing—though Wunder is reportedly headed to Fnatic. Former G2 head coach Fabian “Grabbz” Lohmann was also let go and is now at the helm of the LEC’s newest franchise, Team BDS. He’s being replaced by former longtime Schalke 04 head coach Dylan Falco.
You can watch G2 and the rest of the European teams in action when the LEC returns on Jan. 14.
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Published: Dec 3, 2021 12:23 pm