G2 Esports is undergoing roster changes for its CS:GO team following its top 14 placing at the IEM Katowice Major last month.
The French side announced that it has signed Team LDLC’s Francois “AMANEK” Delaunay to replace Alexandre “bodyy” Pianaro on the active roster. Bodyy will be moving to the bench, where he’ll be joining former support and coach Edouard “SmithZz” Dubourdeaux.
G2 hopes that the move will bring “firepower” and “strategic/tactical depth” to a lineup that was top five in the scene in mid-2017. He joins Richard “shox” Papillon, Kenny “kennyS” Scrub, Lucas “Lucky” Chastang, Audric “JaCkz” Jug, and coach Damien “maLeK” Marcel on the Challenger status team. AMANEK also leaves his longtime duo, David “devoduvek” Dobrosavljevic, who’s still on LDLC.
Related: NiP, G2, and C9 finish 3-2 in the New Challengers stage of IEM Katowice
“We have a very clear vision of how we wish to evolve and refine our CS:GO team in 2019,” coach maLeK said in G2’s announcement. “This is a process that is evolving and developing as we review our performances, identify and reinforce our strengths and improve upon our weaknesses. Alex has contributed greatly to our recent development, engaging fully with the team and by making significant progress. That said, we still feel that greater changes are needed and as a result, have decided to move Alex to our bench.”
The change involving bodyy officially ends his tenure of almost three years on G2 with shox and kennyS. Under the G2 banner, the support rifler picked up three title wins at the ECS Season One Finals, DreamHack Open Tours, and the EPL Season Five Finals. Bodyy iterated that he didn’t fit well in the current “balance of roles,” because he moved from entry-fragger to lurk to compensate for the arrival of Lucky and JaCkz.
“This has been done in good spirits and following discussions with the team and we will be actively looking for a new home for Alex with his full support,” maLeK said. “Nevertheless, we are incredibly excited to have AMANEK as a part of the team. We believe AMANEK will adapt very well to our system and will allow other players to readjust and grow higher and better.”
Bodyy is now open to joining a new team, and it’ll likely be another French powerhouse like Vitality or Team LDLC, if either elect to undergo roster changes.
