In League of Legends the European team G2 was once regarded as a bunch of master trolls who took nothing seriously, and who often threw away easy games in LoL out of sheer arrogance. But 2023 was supposed to be different: for a year, they were in “Tryhard” mode, the manager writes. G2 was determined to become world champions. In the end, it was in vain.
Why does G2 have such a reputation as trolls?
- The most successful lineup of G2 consisted of 5 players who played together for two years from 2019 to 2020: the leader Perkz, the WoW junkie Wunder, the hyper-talented Caps, along with the supporter Mikyx and the cynical jungler Jankos.
- The 5-man combo was considered the best that Europe has ever produced but also as a team of loudmouths, who took nothing seriously. They were led by manager Ocelote, himself a hothead, who constantly fired off quips. In the end, a friendship with Andrew Tage became his downfall.
- G2 was known as a “Living Meme Machine” that was willing to lose a match just for a good quip. Wunder, according to the image, was always in a bad mood and only wanted to play WoW – Caps had days when he shined or completely messed up; then it was said, his twin brother was playing: Craps. Perkz flamed on Twitter about everything and everyone: their voice calls shared after matches were legendary.
This lineup made it to the finals of the Worlds in 2019, but had to concede to a Chinese wonder team.
G2 embarrassingly eliminated against supposedly weak opponent
This is what happened this year: At the Worlds 2023, G2 was actually seen as the best team in the West, and even managed to beat a team from South Korea and looked relatively good after the first 3 matches.
But then they lost game 4 clearly against a team from the USA, a disgrace.
Before the match, all experts considered the game a sure win for G2, but then everything went wrong.
In an interview, ADC Hans Sama said they just exploded, didn’t play precisely enough, and the opponent was full of confidence (via youtube).
Game 5 was also lost, and thus G2 was eliminated with 2:3 already after the group stage: the worst result for G2 and for the entire region of Europe in years.
Manager says: G2 was in Tryhard mode for 50 weeks
What is different this year? Now one could say: typical G2. Underestimated yet again a weaker opponent, failed because of their own arrogance and got eliminated. But the opposite is supposed to be true.
As General Manager Romain Bigeard explains, G2 has been in “Tryhard mode” for 50 weeks, doing everything to win the Worlds.
They have played 900 practice matches, studied videos, trained daily 1vs1 situations, constantly tried to get players out of their comfort zone, and discussed every detail.
For 50 weeks, the game and the team lived only LoL, vowed to give their all to win the Worlds.
Now they don’t even know why they were eliminated and what happened.
To lose is part of the process. After the Spring Split and after the MSI tournament, we came back stronger and more disciplined. We won the LEC. But when we had the chance to show what we could do when it mattered most… we failed. Hard. So ridiculous. After almost 50 weeks of grind, it’s over, we’re out.
For 2024, G2 wants to work on their methods, refine them, and try again.
How is this being discussed? It’s a bit disillusioning. No one on reddit wants anything bad for G2, they are generally appreciated. Only a few Americans mock – but that’s to be expected.
Nevertheless, it is noted that G2 simply had a really bad day against NRG and such a bad day is something you have to be able to afford if you are a top team. The true top teams are characterized by being able to remain stable and win their matches even on bad days.
G2 has the problem of being able to reach a very high level on good days, but on bad days they drop so low that they get eliminated: It is said. G2 has a high ceiling but a too deep basement.
A top team is characterized by being good enough to beat weaker teams even in the worst case.
That is probably the cold logic of such tournaments: You can give everything for 50 weeks, but if you lose at the decisive moment, you are out. The 900 practice matches don’t count.
Caps and Mikyx are the two players from G2 who were also part of their run to the finals in 2019. But even the people who are no longer with G2 have little to laugh about:
LoL: Europe’s biggest player gets his own “super” team, completely fails – now probably going
