The European League of Legends team G2 Esports surprisingly finished third in the playoffs this spring. In retrospect, the players have been self-critical. According to them, they were used to winning all the time.
What happened? On April 10, the G2 Esports team faced the competitor Rogue in the Spring Playoffs 2021. Both teams were in the so-called Loser Bracket and G2 Esports was considered the favorite. However, to the surprise of many, the “European Super Team” was eliminated.
The supporter Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle has since given an interview to the website Dot Esports. In it, he expresses a lot of self-criticism.
Mikyx talks about how the players were used to winning the playoffs and therefore approached the situation too carelessly. They have now paid the price with their elimination. However, the supporter sees it as a wake-up call to step up their game even more in the summer.
G2 Esports struggles with the meta, but also shows self-criticism
What exactly does Mikyx say? At the beginning of the interview, the supporter explains that the defeat in the scrims – matches where teams play against each other for training purposes – had been evident. G2 has not played optimally there for a while.
One reason for this, Mikyx sees in the current meta, which has played into the hands of the other teams. The idea of playing Karma on the top lane is said to have been rather negative for the team. This strategy had obviously worked well in the scrims, but they lost many games with Karma in the playoffs.
However, Mikyx also showed self-criticism further along in the conversation:
I think we just became a little complacent. After winning everything for a while, we took it for granted that we would win anyway and perhaps didn’t put in as much effort.
But now that we have lost, I think everyone will take it much more seriously in the summer, and we will be much better.
Indeed, G2 Esports has dominated LoL in Europe over the last few years:
- They won all 4 titles available in spring and summer 2019 and 2020.
- They even won the Mid-Season Invitational 2019 internationally. The tournament was canceled in 2020 due to COVID.
As early as 2016 and 2017, G2 won all titles at the European level. Only the year 2018 was somewhat weaker. At that time, the competitor Fnatic won both playoffs.
More time with his bot lane partner: A further positive aspect Mikyx sees in the entire situation is the time gained to establish synergy with his bot lane partner Rekkles.
He was signed by Fnatic in November 2020 and was supposed to strengthen G2 Esports for international competition:
We don’t really play much duo queue since it was removed [above Master rank]. I have been thinking about making smurfs (new accounts without ranking) and using the dodge trick to let people reach Master tier and then avoid the promotions.
This way we can practice our 2v2, try out new champion combos and, to be honest, we are very different. He wakes up very early in the morning and I go to bed very late. If he or I adjust our sleeping patterns…
You can watch the complete interview with Dot Esports in this video:
LoL nerd explains why coaches and pros have no idea
As Mikyx already explained, G2 Esports was not suited to the current meta. The LoL team also did not make a good impression during the drafts – the selection and banning of champions. In the previous match against Schalke, there were some issues, allowing them to fight back to a 2:2.
This, in turn, should not surprise the analyst Nicholas “LS” De Cesare. He recently explained that the draft is like a strategy game of its own, where most pros and coaches fail, in his opinion.
You can find the complete story and explanation from LS here: LoL nerd explains that coaches and pros have no idea about a central aspect of the game.
