Former XSET and 100 Thieves players Bryce “PureR” Lovell and Noah “jcStani” Smith have recently practiced with Korean-American organization Gen.G, multiple sources have told Dot Esports.
Gen.G entered 2022 with the hopes of qualifying for the North American VALORANT Champions Tour group stage. They began their journey in the first open qualifier on Jan. 27, though ultimately fell short, suffering losses to T1 and Soniqs ending their tournament.
They had a second shot at qualifying for the group stage during the second open qualifier, which began on Feb. 3. In the Round of 32, they were upset by Built By Gamers, knocking them to the lower bracket where they had to win six consecutive matches to earn their spot in the group stage. The task proved too tall for Gen.G as they lost 2-1 to Renegades. This eliminated them from North American VCT Stage One contention.
After their shortcomings in VCT, Kenneth “koosta” Suen parted ways with the organization to return to Counter-Strike. Additionally, founding member Anthony “gMd” Guimond was recently moved to the bench, as he eyes a potential move to TSM, as first reported by Dot Esports.
PureR has spent the majority of his professional VALORANT career on XSET. During his tenure, XSET shot up the NA rankings, solidifying themselves as a top-tier team. Despite their success, XSET was never able to claim victory during PureR’s run with the org. In Dec. 2021, young-gun Matthew “Cryocells” Panganiban joined the team as his replacement.
Recently, jcStani was on loan to 100T after they dropped Adam “ec1s” Eccles and Hunter “BabyJ” Schline. During his stint with 100T, they were unable to qualify for the Stage One Playoffs following losses to Luminosity and XSET.
jcStani announced he entered free agency in March this year.
