G2 Esports are reportedly ready to change a winning formula. According to Sheep Esports, Team Vitality jungler Linas “Lyncas” Nauncikas is set to join G2 for the 2027 LEC season, replacing Rudy “SkewMond” Semaan after a year in which G2 won every domestic title on offer.
Neither G2 nor Lyncas had confirmed the move at the time of writing, and it cannot become official just yet. Lyncas is under contract with Vitality until November 26, so he is expected to sign with G2 only once he becomes a free agent later this month.
Why G2 are breaking up a lineup that swept the LEC
On paper, the decision looks like a bold one for G2. With BrokenBlade, SkewMond, Caps, Hans Sama and Labrov, G2 won the LEC Versus, Spring and Summer titles in 2026, and SkewMond was named MVP of the Spring Finals after the 3-2 win over Karmine Corp.
International results told a very different story, however. G2 finished second at First Stand and fourth at MSI, went out early at the Esports World Cup and then left Worlds 2026 in the Swiss Stage with a 1-3 record after an unfavourable draw.
G2 have answered international disappointment this way before. After the 2024 season, the organisation moved on from jungler Martin “Yike” Sundelin and support Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle despite dominating Europe, and SkewMond and Labrov arrived in the lineup that followed.
This time, Sheep Esports reports that SkewMond will not continue on G2’s active roster in 2027, even though many regarded him as the team’s best performer this year. His contract with G2 runs until November 2028, according to Leaguepedia, so where the Frenchman plays next is still an open question.
Lyncas follows coach Pad from Vitality to G2
The move also keeps Lyncas alongside Patrick “Pad” Suckow-Breum, who has reportedly joined G2 as strategic coach. The Danish coach spent almost three years at MAD Lions before arriving at Vitality in December 2023, and he was promoted from strategic coach to head coach for the 2026 season.
Their bond goes back to the start of Lyncas’s LEC career. According to Sheep Esports, the jungler left Karmine Corp Blue midway through 2024 specifically to work with Pad, and he told the outlet in February that the two of them are “very close”. Pad had made his ambitions for the jungler clear early in the year. Speaking to Sheep Esports in February, he said one of his goals was to “help Lyncas cement himself as a top jungler in Europe”. A starting spot with the European champions would go a long way towards that.
At 22, the Lithuanian has taken a long route to the top of European League of Legends. He played for more than a dozen teams across Europe’s regional leagues from 2019, including MOUZ and Team GO. He then won the LFL Spring Playoffs with Karmine Corp Blue in April 2024, only weeks before Vitality brought him into the LEC.
His 2026 season showed both his quality and Vitality’s familiar limits. The Bees topped the Spring regular season with an 8-1 record and finished second in Summer at 7-2. Yet they finished fifth in both playoffs, losing 0-3 to GIANTX in Spring and 2-3 to Movistar KOI in Summer. They also missed the Esports World Cup after a 0-2 defeat to Shifters in the EMEA online qualifier.
Lyncas still earned individual recognition along the way. He made the third All-Pro Team for the Spring Split behind SkewMond and Yike, and he also represented Lithuania in the Esports Nations Cup qualifiers in June. His year then ended at the Demacia Cup Global Invitational, where Vitality won the first two games against KT Rolster before losing 2-3.
That form made him the most sought-after jungler of the off-season. According to the same report, GIANTX, Vitality, Team Heretics and Fnatic all showed interest in him, with some of those teams going as far as discussing salaries and conditions before he settled on G2. Vitality were among the teams trying to keep him, which makes the loss harder for the Bees to take. If both reports are correct, they will head into 2027 without their starting jungler and their head coach, after the pair spent more than two years together at the club.
If the deal goes through as reported, Lyncas will join BrokenBlade, Caps, Hans Sama and Labrov in a lineup that won all three LEC titles in 2026. The aim for 2027 is clear enough, which is to finally turn that domestic dominance into a deep run at Worlds.
