Amid growing speculation surrounding the reigning VCT champion roster’s future, Evil Geniuses’ star player Max “Demon1” Mazanov has confirmed he’s finally out of the organization’s absurd contract jail, indicating he’s free to make his next move in the professional VALORANT space.
“Holy shit im free,” Demon1’s tweet on Dec. 22 read, alongside a popular GIF from The Simpsons showing a contract being signed. Max’s tweet comes a week after his teammate Ethan “Ethan” Arnold posted a GIF showing him breaking out of EG’s contract jail. Considering all the rumors we’ve heard so far, it doesn’t take an expert to speculate the duo might be cooking up an interesting announcement in the days to come—now that they’re “free.”
In case you weren’t aware already, rumors arose of Demon1 and Ethan being in talks with NRG to complete its professional VALORANT roster, alongside crashies, Victor, and Marved, based on one of the organization’s recent tweets.
Days after Ethan’s jail break tweet, NRG teased saying it “got ‘em” in a tweet and attached the amusing “Ladies and gentleman, we got him” meme. While NRG’s highly indicative tweet did most of the work, comments from reliable insider George Geddes, Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen—who’s also rumored to have reached a verbal agreement with NRG after his 2023 stint with Sentinels—and present NRG coach Chet Singh only added more fuel to the speculation.
Back in Sept. amid the roster mania for VCT 2024, rumors of EG permitting its Champions-winning roster to look for other options or face a considerable pay cut sparked major discussion regarding the organization’s incompetence in esports. To make matters worse, further reports of the organization holding its players in a contract jail, and turning down massive offers for Demon1 and Ethan from NRG and Boostio from 100 Thieves, showed up a few weeks later, taking its reputation down the drain.
Demon1, Ethan, and Kelden “Boostio” Pupello didn’t shy away from voicing against their team’s moves either, repeatedly indicating their frustration in tweets and on Twitch streams. Their body language, coupled with proof of EG practicing without Demon1, Ethan, and Boostio on Demon1’s Twitch stream on Nov. 17, made it increasingly evident that they’d be leaving the team eventually.
While the rumors of Demon1 and Ethan joining NRG’s VALORANT roster are definitely juicy, it hasn’t been confirmed yet, so you might want to take it with a grain of salt.
