World champion Juliano leaves Valorant, returns to CS:GO

Two world champions are making a return to CS:GO, with Zaaz and Juliano returning to G2 Esports’ CS:GO team, giving the organization championship rosters in both Valorant and CS:GO.

G2 Esports has announced its new Counter-Strike: Global Offensive women’s roster, and there are two very familiar faces who will be sporting the signature black and red of one of Europe’s biggest esports organizations. Julia “Juliano” Kiran was announced as departing G2 Esports’ Valorant roster and taking a slot in G2’s team for rival title, Counter-Strike.

Juliano and Zaaz join G2 CS:GO

On March 7, 2023, G2 Esports announced the departure of VCT 20222: Game Changers Championship winner Juliano from their Valorant Game Changers team. Shortly afterward, the organization announced that both Juliano and Zainab “Zaaz” Turkie would be joining the team’s CS:GO roster. Zaaz previously played for G2’s Gamechangers roster as part of its Game Changers-winning lineup.

The team will be called G2 Oya, and will be composed of Juliano, Zaaz, Anastasiya “kr4sy” Kholystina, Oleksandra “manka” Kruspe, and Aleksandra “kyossa” Tychanska, with Jimmy “Jumpy” Berndtsson as the coach. The team name comes from Oya, an African goddess of wind, lightning, fire, and magic. This is G2 Esports’ third women-only roster, building on the success of G2 Hel and G2’s Valorant Game Changers roster.

The roster’s announcement comes on the tail of promising rumors that CS:GO will finally move to the Source 2 engine, a much-anticipated step for the modernization of the decade-old game. CS:GO continues to go strong ten years after its release, clearly so with two Game Changers world champions returning to their roots, swapping a Spike for a bomb, and going back to CS:GO.

Given their recent success at Game Changes, G2 Oya have high expectations in store ahead of the anticipated Source 2 engine change that is rumored.