G2 Esports Pull Out of CS Asia Championships 2023

By Tit Krajnik

28 Oct 2023

Tit Krajnik 28 Oct 2023

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G2 Esports will not attend CS Asia Championships
The European team announced the news on Saturday, October 28
To replace G2, the tournament organisers called up Wings Up

CS Asia Championships 2023 (credit: via Twitter (@PWRDEsports))

G2 Esports have unexpectedly announced that that team won't attend CS Asia Championships 2023. The news comes amid a major roster shuffle in the Counter-Strike scene, which tied two G2 Esports star players with a move to Team Falcons.

To fill in the gap, the tournament organisers invited Chinese Counter-Strike team Wings Up, who will come into the tournament after placing joint-third at the qualifying event – the Perfect World Arena Premier League Season 5.

Wings Up have recently made a couple of roster changes and brought in two European talent in Dominik "blogg1s" Janita and Rasmus "kreaz" Johansson, who teamed up with an all-Chinese roster of Liu "lan" Qi, Ding "gas" Yi, Peng "ChildKing" Junhao, Song "flying" Peiqi, and coach ZhaoHeng "813" Yu.

G2 Esports has not given an official reason for pulling out of the tournament; however, it's fair to assume that it has to do with the recent rumours suggesting G2 Esports might part ways with Nikola "NiKo" Kovač and Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov, who are potentially joining Team Falcons. As it stands now, nothing has yet to be confirmed, but G2 pulling out of CS Asia Championships 2023 does fuel the rumours.

G2 Esports are the second team to pull out of CS Asia Championships 2023 after Team Liquid's decision not to travel to China, following reports of Liquid looking to rebuild its lineup. As Team Liquid's replacement, the tournament organisers announced Ninjas in Pyjamas, who are also replacing some of its roster pieces and are still searching for a new in-game leader to replace Hampus "hampus" Poser.

CS Asia Championships 2023 is set to kick off on November 8, 2023, welcoming eight Counter-Strike teams, including Astralis, ENCE, FaZe Clan, MOUZ, TYLOO, Lynn Vision gaming, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and Wings Up. The tournament will start with a group stage, with two double-elimination (GSL) groups of four, with the top three teams advancing to a single-elimination best-of-three (Bo3) playoff bracket.