Оne of the founding members of the division is leaving to pursue glory on the GWENT battlefields.
It’s been in the works ever since he announced his intention to focus on other card games besides Hearthstone, and as of May 15 Adrian “Lifecoach” Koy is no longer with G2 Esports. He leaves the organization and his team-mates having won five major LAN titles, including the $250,000 Archon Team League championship.
Lifecoach expressed his dissatisfaction with Blizzard’s card game earlier this year in a lengthy vlog detailing the negatives that were plaguing Hearthstone at that time, some of which are still present in the current meta. In the same vlog, Lifecoach revealed his interest in GWENT, a card game in the world of Witcher developed by CD Projekt Red, which had taken gameplay complexity to a whole new level.
“I'm playing Gwent now, yeah? And Gwent is a great game, the competitive scene is really being taken seriously and also the playing fun is above,” Lifecoach said. “[CD Projekt] don't say, "Hey, we simply try everything, so that even the last dude can understand everything from the game", they say, "OK, our game is complex and competitive, but we also have something for you guys to begin the game.”
The switch of focus for Lifecoach raised the question what would his future be with G2 Esports, considering the brand isn’t involved with GWENT or any other card game besides Hearthstone at the moment. In March, G2 announced the renewal of contracts for both Thijs “ThijsNL” Molendijk and Dima “Rdu” Radu—the other two core competitive players on the team besides Lifecoach—but such confirmation regarding Lifecoach was missing.
According to G2 Esports, the split was amicable.
“We parted ways on good terms due to foreseeable differences in our plan for the future. We thank Lifecoach for his time with us and wish him the best in Gwent.
Hopefully our paths will cross again as Gwent emerges as an Esport.”
The Hearthstone division of G2 itself was kept tight by manager Jakub “Lothar” Szygulski with zero roster changes since the line-up was formed under the Nihilum brand in 2015, but the team will likely have to consider signing new blood should more team league opportunities appear in the future.
