Back at the club where he won the world championship earlier this year, Corbin "
C0M" Lee is expected not to continue with the
Evil Geniuses’ main team, sources tell
Sheep Esports. Anthony "
okeanos" Nguyen will also stop his journey with the team. According to our information, the team is looking into its academy to replace them for the final match of
VCT Americas Stage 1 and the
Esports World Cup qualifier. Still per sources, Jake "
Paincakes" Hass and Javan "
zerona" Varela are the two players most likely to join the main roster.
Since their 2023 world title, EG have failed to return to international LAN events, whether Masters or Champions. This situation appears to be weighing on the direction of the project, to the point of prompting changes mid-segment. In line with this, Cole "meco1e" Lewis took over as Head Coach, as announced by the club on May 1, while Christine "potter" Chi, who had held the role since January 2021, has been moved to the bench.
After a 2025 season that did not meet expectations, Evil Geniuses used the offseason to make four roster changes. Bao "bao" Nguyen joined the North American organization, marking his first appearance in the VALORANT Champions Tour, alongside more established Tier 1 names. He reunited with Phat "supamen" Le, the only player to retain his spot from the previous roster, as well as okeanos and C0M, both arriving from Leviatán, where they played together during VCT Americas Stage 2 2025. Douglas "dgzin" De Santana Da Silva completed the lineup, after playing Kickoff and Stage 1 with FURIA before ending his previous season in Challengers Brazil with Team Solid.
Four losses and zero wins in Stage 1
This five-man roster entered the 2026 season under the leadership of Christine "potter" Chi as Head Coach. After losing their first two Kickoff matches against ENVY and Sentinels in the Winner and Middle Brackets respectively, EG quickly dropped to the lower bracket. They managed a slight comeback with a win over LOUD and a rematch victory against ENVY, before being eliminated in the Top 7-8 by 100 Thieves.
A difficult result, but not necessarily indicative of the rest of the season. However, Stage 1 has not been any more successful. Before the final matchday, EG held the worst record among the 12 teams, with four losses and zero wins, and only one map victory out of nine played. These numbers have pushed the organization to act even before their final match of the segment, with the benching of C0M, the 2023 world champion under the same banner, and okeanos, who may have already played his last match in the VCT for now.
The duo could therefore be replaced role for role by Paincakes and zerona, both members of the academy team since the start of 2026. Primarily a Duelist, zerona is the less experienced of the two, with only four splits in Challengers North America. On the other hand, the American Initiator Paincakes has been active since the game’s launch, with numerous mixes and a presence in VCL NA since 2023, including a 2025 season with Shopify Rebellion Black, where he notably won Split 1.
