G2 Esports Bench JaCkz
G2 Esports has pulled the plug on its six-man CS:GO roster experiment, as Audric “JaCkz” Jug has been moved to the bench in favor of François “AmaNEk” Delaunay. The team has been juggling the duo after the acquisition of NiKo in late October, with JaCkz ultimately pulling the shorter end of the straw.
Although it was at first thought that G2 would be following in Astralis’ footsteps and fielding a six-man roster, the team opted for a series of unofficial tryouts to fill out its final roster spot. Both players got a chance to prove their worth, with AmaNEk competing at BLAST Premier Fall Series and DreamHack Masters Winter and JaCkz featuring at Intel Extreme Masters Beijing.
While neither player left a strong impression during the tryouts, AmaNEk felt like a better fit with the roster for the most part.
“When NiKo arrived, we made it clear that our goal was not to explore a six-man roster. We had six players with different profiles and qualities, so our goal was to determine which combination would work best on the field. 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 realised that our system benefited more from François’ qualities.”, stated G2’s team manager Jérôme ‘NiaK’ Sudries.
JaCkz emerged as a perennial superstar for G2 following his acquisition from 3DMAX. The player had been a consistent contributor on G2 for the last two years, albeit he evidently lacked the clutch gene at certain moments. Albeit G2 chose AmaNEk over the veteran rifler, a player of his caliber is a hot commodity in the current competitive ecosystem, as numerous teams are still preparing for the upcoming 2021 season.
Heading into the future, G2 is looking primed to return to the very top of the competitive CS:GO scene. While their inconsistency has been prevalent during the whole year, the newly acquired firepower in the form of NiKo will definitely help the team find its footing against the world’s best. The newly locked roster will debut at the BLAST Premier Fall 2020 Finals, where G2 will try to prove that the lineup’s victory at the Fall Series was not just a fluke.
