G2 have shown promise since adding Artem "r1nkle" Moroz in the off-season, making top-eight at Esports World Cup before now taking down Aurora and Natus Vincere in their BLAST Open Porto campaign.
"I'm super happy that we bounced back after a hard loss against Spirit, where we didn't show up at all," Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač said of his team's journey in Copenhagen thus far. "Especially because we were struggling against NAVI a lot of times, at least me in my career. Very happy that we won that confidently."
Whilst G2 still have one game to go before they can secure a playoff spot, huNter- is "not worried" about facing either M80 or Aurora for a spot in Porto. In fact, huNter- feels his team have all the tools to kick on and become a top-five squad.
"I think we have the right pieces," he said. "We had before, it was just about confidence I think. We just need to build confidence, especially individually, because I think we trust each other and overall as a team, we have a lot of tools and a lot of things. Our strat book is amazing and we have everything that we need to be a top team."
You can listen to the interview here.
Yes, first congratulations. What are your first reactions after that series?
I'm super happy that we bounced back after a hard loss against Spirit, where we didn't show up at all, today against another good team, Natus Vincere. Especially because we were struggling against them a lot of times, at least me in my career. Very happy that we won that confidently.
I wanted to ask about Inferno. It looked like they were starting to build together a bit of a comeback. What allowed you to get it over the line, do you think?
I think first of all, we were having a problem with our economy. We didn't have too much money at the beginning of the half, and Inferno CT is never easy to play if you don't have full utility. But then after, we were 3 on A two times they came, we were just having bad setups, and we didn't have utility to block them, and that was the main issue.
Then after our coach took a timeout, and he told us that we should keep some utility for short because they like to hit short and A, and A overall. He just told us to stay composed, that we have a good lead and we should just play confidently and play our game, and that's what we did at the end. I'm happy that we closed it out.
Inferno is a super reliable map for you. The individuals look comfortable, you look very comfortable calling on it. What is it about that map that's so good for G2?
I just think we understand the way that we should play the map, and we play the way that fits us I would say, and everybody's comfortable in the way we are playing. We have a lot of tools, we can play fast, we can play slow, we can do pops and surprise people as well. So yeah, we have a lot of tools and I cannot tell you now more details [laughs], but opponents need to be ready for anything when they play against G2 on Inferno on their CT side.
Do you think you're the best team in the world on that map?
I don't want to say that because I don't know who is closer to us as well, so we need to fight against that team. I never want to talk that good, about us being the best in the world on some map, I just want to grind the map and still. If we play it bad and if we lose it sometimes, of course it will come, then we try to make it better and see why did we lose and those kind of things. But yeah, we are one of the best, let's say that.
So M80 or Aurora up next. I'm sure you're confident, but what are your thoughts on those two teams?
Yeah, we played Aurora a couple days ago and everybody knows that it's not easy to beat the same team in the same event, especially in the group stage in a couple of days. M80, we played a lot lately against them, at Major and then we played EWC as well. We were always winning them, so of course both teams will be hungry, whoever goes against us, to win and it's a spot for the playoffs. So I don't really care, we'll be hungry to win. We just need to focus on ourselves and do what we did today and I'm not worried.
A lot has been said about the addition of r1nkle to the team. We've spoken to sAw about it, we've spoken to r1nkle himself, so I just wanted to ask for you as the IGL, what does having an AWPer like him do for you calling-wise?
I think he's really good. He's young and a bright future is in front of him definitely because the way he works, he's listening to everyone and he's a proactive AWPer. That's really important being young, not only just calling for picks at the beginning of the round but as well mid-round trying to take initiative and call things, offer things, and that's super important to me. Sometimes it's even too much, so I should sometimes stop him a bit more [laughs], but I'm really happy to have him in the team.
I just think that if he continues working like he worked so far since he joined the team, that future is bright, bright for us and for him overall. He's bringing a lot of things to the table and now I cannot say one or two things, I think a lot of things. He's super calm, positive all the time and, yeah, just all positives for him to be honest. Nothing, nothing bad to say.
G2 for a little while have been one of those borderline teams. I think a lot of people have been waiting for you guys to take the next step and break into that top five, but you haven't quite managed it. Do you think now you've got the right pieces and the right tools to move forward and maybe do that?
I think we have the right pieces, and we had before, it was just about confidence I think. We just need to build confidence, especially individually, because I think we trust each other and overall as a team, we have a lot of tools and a lot of things. Our strat book is amazing and we have everything that we need to be a top team.
Since we brought NertZ, I think we played almost all events playoffs, except this Rio, because I haven't played. But I don't count that one. So yeah, the next step is obviously to try to play more finals, to fight for trophies, and I think we are capable of that 100%. It's just about us and it's just about building confidence and fixing mistakes. It's not about playing deathmatch, FACEIT or whatever, it's just about rewatching games, rewatching practices, fixing our shit, and that's how we'll get better.
Nemanja 'huNter-' KovačPast 3 months
Natus Vincere
Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen
Mihai 'iM' Ivan
Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy
Ihor 'w0nderful' Zhdanov
Drin 'makazze' Shaqiri
Andrey 'B1ad3' Gorodenskiy
Artem 'r1nkle' MorozPast 3 months
M80
Fritz 'slaxz-' Dietrich
Michael 'Swisher' Schmid
Elias 's1n' Stein
Josh 'JBa' Barutt
Mason 'Lake' Sanderson
Rory 'dephh' Jackson
G2
Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač
Guy 'NertZ' Iluz
Artem 'r1nkle' Moroz
Nikita 'HeavyGod' Martynenko
Matúš 'MATYS' Šimko
Eetu 'sAw' Saha
Aurora
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş
Özgür 'woxic' Eker
Jimi 'Jimpphat' Salo
Damjan 'kyxsan' Stoilkovski
Ali 'Wicadia' Haydar Yalçın
Ashley 'ash' Battye