Thanks to the downsizing throughout the year, however, the organization was faced with a dilemma as it reportedly needed to cut costs by reducing player salaries. Players were faced with pay cuts and were also put in “contract jail” as the organization negotiated for the highest buyout for their contracts.
Evil Geniuses reportedly turned down $100,000 buyouts for star players Max ‘Demon1’ Mazanov and Ethan ‘Ethan’ Arnold, according toRichard Lewis.
Things were even wilder behind the scenes as EG was also reportedly negotiating with FlyQuest to sell their VCT slot and roster before Riot shut the deal down.
FlyQuest were almost in VCT Americas
According to a report fromSheep Esports, FlyQuest and Evil Geniuses held negotiations over the acquisition of EG’s VCT slot and team over several months. The two organizations reportedly reached an agreement, but it was left up to Riot Games for the final approval of the deal.
However, the Valorant developer blocked the move according to the report. Unlike Riot’s other esports leagues in League of Legends, VCT leagues feature partnered teams instead of franchised organizations.
Esports orgs signed a four-year contract with Riot Games to play in their respective VCT leagues around the world, and do not own the slot. The report claims EG and FlyQuest were hopeful that Riot would allow this transaction to go through because of G2 Esports’ recent acquisition of The Guard’s roster and VCT slot.
FlyQuest were alsoreportedly in the running to signthe former Guard players and take over the temporary VCT Americas slot.
Evil Geniuses are currently set to take on the rest of the VCT Americas teams in the Kickoff tournament with an almost completely different roster from last year. Whether the organization will continue on in Valorant after its four-year contract with Riot for VCT runs out has yet to be seen.
Declan McLaughlin was a Gaming & Esports Writer on Dexerto’s US team, specializing in Valorant and League of Legends. He has bylines at Upcomer and Inven Global.
