G2 Esports have signed Natus Vincere player Byron "Blurr" Murray to complete their roster after the departure of Kevin "Prano" Pranowitz. Additionally, Fabian "Fabian" Hällsten will be returning to G2 Esports in a coaching role, replacing outgoing G2 coach Thomas "Shas" Lee.
Fabian was part of the legendary G2 Esports roster that is, to-date, the most successful in Siege history. During his time as IGL, he won two Six Invitational championships (2018, 2019), three ESL Pro League titles (Seasons 4, 5, and 8), the Six Major Paris (2018), and DreamHack Winter 2019. The first two Pro League titles and the SI 2018 win were under the PENTA Esports organization, however.
After leaving G2 Esports, Fabian had a brief but unsuccessful "superteam" stint with Team Vitality. He then formed and lead Delta Project, an organization that fielded both mens and womens teams, but he failed to qualify for the Challenger League.
Subsequently, Fabian joined the EUL and APAC North desk as an analyst for Stages 1 and 2 for the 2022 season.
He now returns to G2 Esports in his debut as a coach, having been a player for the organization from Aug. 2018 until Mar. 2020.
While his exploits as a player are legendary -- only six players have been Six Invitational world champions twice -- this will be his first foray into coaching. It will also be his second attempt at leading a "superteam", as the current G2 roster has been described by some.
Fabian's experience, expertise, and gravitas make him one of the few (if not the only) candidates that could have viably replaced Shas, a similarly-legendary coach. Shas was together with Fabian and part of all his title wins with the PENTA and G2 teams.
Blurr, meanwhile first made a splash alongside Virtus.pro's Andrey "m1loN" Mironov in Season 4 of the CCS League and was crowned a champion of Italy in 2019 on the Mkers lineup. After a short time on Fierce Esports, he joined NAVI in Mar. 2020 on loan before joining them permanently in Aug. after a few months on MNM Gaming.
Over the last two years, Blurr has finished the EUL stages in fifth, first, third, eighth, eighth, and seventh. In the meantime, NAVI saw their captain, Jack "Doki" Robertson, leave to join his ex-teammate Ben "CTZN" McMillan on G2 Esports.
Now, Blurr will follow both and will be replacing Prano on G2.
After forming a cross-regional "super-team" at the beginning of the year, G2 exited in the quarter-finals of both the Charlotte and Berlin Majors. This makes them one of only two teams alongside XSET to reach the playoffs at both events.
In Stage 2, Blurr was the lowest rated player on NAVI, but that came alongside the entire team's struggle to finish in the top four. In Stage 1 of the 2021 season, he was the second highest-rated player in the European League alongside Stéphane "Shaiiko" Lebleu despite plaing a secondary support role.
Reuniting with Doki on G2 means that a majority of their roster is now British. As such, as it stands, EUL Stage 3 will include three majority British rosters.
As for Natus Vincere, they will now be looking for two new additions to replace both Blurr and Pedro "Thuunder" Muniz.
Aside from Prano, two players from Heroic are also out of a team. Numerous players from various tier-two and three lineups have also impressed, including members of WYLDE.
The transfer window is set to close on Sep. 4 and Stage 3 will kick off a few weeks later, so stay tuned for more news surrounding both NAVI and Prano's future and who will replace Thomas "Shas" Lee as G2's coach.