Evil Geniuses enters VALORANT with mixed-gender team

Yesterday, global esports organization Evil Geniuses made headlines when it announced the roster of its new VALORANT team which is composed of mixed-gender players of both male and female.

You know we couldn’t sit this one out.

Introducing our official @ValorantEsports Champions Tour roster: @omgitspotter@aleksandarosa@claudiache12@TemperatureCSGO@OsiasPH

The team will be kicking off their 2021 season TODAY in the VCT Open Qualifier. #LIVEEVIL pic.twitter.com/q5Ry4Ox4iU

— Evil Geniuses (@EvilGeniuses) January 27, 2021

Evil Geniuses VALORANT

This new team consists of a mix of different gaming professionals coming together. The lineup consists of Christine “potter” Chi, Claudia “clawdia” Che, Ronan “Osias” Jeremiah Javelona, Aleksandar “aleksandar” Hinojosa, and Nolan “Temperature” Pepper.

Team captain of the Evil Geniuses VALORANT squad will be potter, who joined the competitive scene in summer and competed in the FTW Summer Showdown. At the event, she competed and grew chemistry with clawdia. On the other hand, aleksandar and Temperature previously played orgless together under Moon Raccoons. Lastly, Osias played for Mamba Mode Gaming before being picked up here.

Women in Esports

A notable shock that came to some fans was the fact that this mixed-gender roster is composed of both males and females. Nearly every competitive esports team is fully composed of male players. Cloud9 changed the game for VALORANT when it revealed a non-male C9 White, it’s second VALORANT team. Though it’s not the first team to field female esports players, Evil Geniuses is one of few major orgs to do so.

Evil Geniuses CEO Nicole LaPointe Jameson spoke briefly on the big VALORANT roster move.

“I don’t care where you come from. Nor your creed, gender, religion, class, past industry, or sexual orientation,” Nicole said. “If you are the best of the best, you have a home here at Evil Geniuses.”

To clarify for the people in the back that didn't catch it the first time…

I don't care where you come from. Nor your creed, gender, religion, class, past industry, or sexual orientation.

If you are the best of the best, you have a home here at @EvilGeniuses . https://t.co/zTRQtoUr6L

— Nicole LaPointe Jameson (@totheLaPointe) January 28, 2021

Now that another top tier organization announced a mixed-gender team, it helps normalize women and other genders in esports. CS:GO esports player and representative Stephanie “missharvey” Harvey spoke to Esportz Network on women in gaming before. Despite current barriers, she believes that the imbalance in the esports industry will change.

Evil Geniuses will continue to succeed in esports, even in other titles like Dota 2, where it recently succeeded with two new SEA players. Fans can’t wait to see how far EG’s new VALORANT team goes. The new team will showcase themselves in the VALORANT Champions Tour qualifiers.

Written by Justin Amin

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