North American and South Korean organization Gen.G has practiced without Kenneth “koosta” Suen just weeks after the team failed to qualify for the VALORANT Champions Tour North America Stage One: Challengers event, multiple sources told Dot Esports on Feb. 17.
The team recently practiced with free agent Justin “Jerk” Milani as his replacement over the past few days, sources told Dot Esports. Jerk has not signed with Gen.G at time of writing, however.
Jerk played with Reformed, a free agent VALORANT team. The team competed in the Nerd Street Gamers Winter Championship – Finals, which concluded on Feb. 10. Reformed finished inside the top four after defeating Version1 but falling to XSET in the semifinals.
Gen.G, however, haven’t competed in smaller competitions outside of the VCT circuit since December 2020 during the Knights Before Christmas competition.
Gen.G competed in the first and second VCT NA Stage One: Challengers open qualifiers, which took place from Jan. 27 to Feb. 6. Gen.G defeated Bait Academy in the upper bracket of the first open qualifier but were defeated by T1 and Soniqs, which led to the team’s elimination.
In the second open qualifier, Gen.G were defeated by Built by Gamers in the upper bracket and sent to the lower bracket. Gen.G took down Synergy and Zero MarksMen Black but lost to Renegades on Feb. 5.
If Koosta is removed from the team, Gen.G will field Emir “rhyme” Muminovic, Anthony “gMd” Guimond, Nicholas “NaturE” Garrison, and Shawn O’Riley.
Correction Feb. 17 4pm CT: This article previously said that Gen.G lost to Zero MarksMen Black on Feb. 5. Gen.G beat Zero MarksMen Black and lost to Renegades. The article has been updated. We regret this error.
