After months of silence, Evil Geniuses have finally revealed their Valorant roster for 2023.
Former NRG player Ethan “Ethan” Arnold is returning to EG, the same organization that he reached the pinnacle of CS:GO with. The team was ranked the number one CS:GO team in the world in 2019, off the back of wins at ESL One: New York and StarSeries i-League Season 8.
The 22-year-old will be hoping to replicate that success in Valorant, alongside new signing Brendan “BcJ” Jensen.
The duo join EG’s original core of five players from the past season. And with experience playing on the international stage, they bring some invaluable experience to the roster.
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Evil Geniuses sign Ethan, BcJ as part of 10-man roster
Ethan kicked off his Valorant career with 100 Thieves. But after the departure of Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella and Joshua “steel” Nissan, 100 Thieves was never quite able to replicate the same success they found with their initial roster — until a major overhaul that left Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk as the last man standing.
Even then, Ethan was widely regarded as one of the most well-rounded players in the game, combining top-tier experience with raw mechanical talent.
BcJ joins EG from XSET, a team that shot to international prominence this year following appearances at Masters Copenhagen and Valorant Champions 2022.
At Champions, XSET finally showed what they were truly capable of, taking down giants like Fnatic and FunPlus Phoenix.
The existing 5-man EG core was put together just ahead of VCT NA Stage 2 Challengers. The team showed marked improvement from its dismal 0-5 record in the previous stage, going 3-2 in groups, including a stunning win over OpTic Gaming.
The team is the only one in the Americas league to retain all five players from the previous season, choosing to build on the foundation it already established.
“You can’t just buy a legacy, you have to build it,” said head coach Christine “potter” Chi in the roster announcement video.
Evil Geniuses Valorant roster
- Kelden “Boostio” Pupello
- Ethan “Ethan” Arnold
- Brendan “BcJ” Jensen
- Corbin “C0M” Lee
- Vincent “Apoth” Le
- Jeffrey “Reformed” Lu
- Alexander “jawgemo” Mor
In fact, the current 7-man roster is just the beginning of what will eventually be a 10-man squad, according to potter.
This approach echoes what EG has done with its CS:GO squad, which is moving toward a 15-player roster in 2023 — a massive outlier in the CS:GO scene. Dubbed the Blueprint, it is supposed to help EG create a fluid roster, drawing inspiration from their League of Legends teams, which includes two academy squads.
EG will make their international debut next year, when all 30 Valorant partnered teams head to São Paulo, Brazil in February for the biggest VCT tournament yet.
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