G2 Esports has made the call on the squad’s Counter-Strike 2 coaching role, replacing the outgoing Jan “Swani” Müller with legendary Polish player and former Virtus Pro virtuoso Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas.
The 37-year-old, who only wrapped up his stellar 20-year career in March, will join the team this week in Abu Dhabi for the BLAST Premier World Finals and take over the position in 2024 after Swani’s farewell. The organization made the pickup official on Dec. 11, meaning the tall task of overseeing G2’s new era is now in the hands of the Polish mastermind.
TaZ’s shift to the G2 coaching position comes nearly eight months after his official retirement from competitive Counter-Strike. He’s the second of the legendary VP core to land a coaching gig post-retirement after NEO joined FaZe Clan in July. Alongside Snax, who continues to compete in CS2 at GamerLegion, the fact the VP core has remained relevant so long after their historic escapades throughout the mid-2010s is remarkable.
TaZ brings over two decades of experience to the helm at G2, including one Major Championship from 12 appearances at the pinnacle tournament. He hasn’t seen the Major stage as a competitor since 2018, but with G2 he’ll have the chance to return to such heights in 2024.
His job won’t be easy, however. Swani has overseen G2’s rise to the top of the Counter-Strike world throughout 2023, which has included four S-Tier titles including wins at both IEM Katowice and Cologne. Swani’s departure also comes during a particularly tumultuous period for G2 as the international squad struggled to adjust to changes following the addition of Nemanja “nexa” Isaković for Aussie Justin “jks” Savage.
Since jks’ benching, G2 has suffered some heavy defeats to teams ranked far below them, including Aurora Gaming and Guild Eagles at CCT Online Finals Five last week. While it’s just an offline event and the squad is still getting to grips with nexa back, it’s not a great sign given the pedigree of opposition they’ll face this week.
His reign kicks off in 2024 but TaZ is helping oversee the team at their final event for 2023 in Abu Dhabi, with the BLAST Premier World Finals beginning on Dec. 13.
