by Evil Geniuses could lose two of their key players in a few months. The end is neigh for Tsvetelin Dimitrov “CeRq” Mangalski and Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte, as both players have refused to extend their contracts. With their contracts expiring in the coming months, they could exit the franchise in September.
According to HLTV, Brehze was ranked the eighth-best player in 2019, while CeRq was the eighteenth-best player. They are the longest-standing members of EG’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster. EG signed them both on September 29th, 2019 and they have been with the franchise since then.
They were formerly players for NRG Esports until EG acquired the esports franchise alongside its roster. The acquisition was done ahead of the ESL One: New York, in 2019, which the franchise won by defeating Astralis. Being the first event, EG became the inaugural champions of the tournament, with CeRq and Brehze amongst the winning roster.
EG unveiled what was described as the “blueprint” project. The project saw the franchise acquire the rosters of two top esports organizations. The players of the two teams – Carpe Diem and Party Astronauts, alongside EG’s roster make up a 15-man flexible CS:GO roster with CeRq and Brehze inclusive.
With such a robust roster, the franchise will be poised to field different teams, depending on their recent performances. However, the performances of the duo have been shaky in the year thus far.
In the last three months, the North American has posted a killing accuracy of 0.72 kills per round and a 1.05 rating. CeRq, on the other hand, has been worse with 0.64 kills per round and a rating of 0.99, with 30.3 percent headshots and 67.4 percent rounds.
EG have had it tough despite the signing of the star-studded lineup, including RUSH, Stewie2k, and automatic. The franchise made early exits from the 2022 BLAST Premier Spring Group Stage and the ESL Pro League Season 15. They also failed to qualify for the PGL Antwerp Major, Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2022.
Many have linked the refusal to extend their contracts by CeRq and Brehze to the players not buying into the franchise direction.
