North American organization Evil Geniuses has practiced without Daniel “roca” Gustaferri and Brandon “BRANTED” Ballard on its VALORANT roster, multiple sources told Dot Esports and journalist Max “Purest” Katz on Jan. 3. 

The move would tentatively leave EG with two players. The organization would need to sign three new players prior to the start of the 2022 VALORANT Champions Tour, which begins in January. EG has started to trial new players, sources tell Dot Esports. 

The moves follow a poor run of form from EG in several minor tournaments. The team recently finished second in the VCS Midwest Showdown, which took place from Dec. 3 to 5. EG took home $1,500 for their second-place finish. They lost to free agent mix roster Frag Ya Bag in the grand final. 

But EG looked impressive during their run in the Nerd Street Gamers Winter Championship: Open 7, which took place from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1. EG took down DarkZero in the round of 16 but lost to eventual tournament victors XSET in the quarterfinals. 

Roca and BRANTED were both signed alongside Mike “pho” Panza following the small rebuild EG underwent earlier in the year. Most notably, former player Christine “potter” Chi was moved to the coaching role in August. 

EG will temporarily field a roster of pho, Kelden “Boostio” Pupello, Jeffrey “Reformed” Lu, and coach potter.

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