After a promising showing at FISSURE Playground 3 G2 have been in freefall in recent weeks, picking up a single series win in their last six matches. Their latest loss to Aurora at PGL Masters Bucharest typified their recent form, as the European combine contested two close maps but ultimately lost.
“There’s no prize in getting it close and then losing,” Eetu “sAw” Saha admitted when reflecting on his team’s most-recent defeat. “Tough matches, good opponents, and it’s also tough the way we are losing some of the rounds. Like now you had woxic clutch 2v5. Then in one of the rounds, 3v5, you have kyxsan at Sandbags getting a multi-kill when we’re basically not on the same page.”
The latter point was one sAw continued to highlight when discussing G2’s struggles: a lack of cohesion in late-round situations. “We need to be making better decisions individually, and then of course as a team also in connecting these last final seconds or moments of the round, closing it out, being patient and having the trust that we will close it out instead of doing an individual decision.”
Facing an uphill struggle to qualify for the PGL Masters Bucharest playoffs, sAw spoke in depth with HLTV about his team’s recent form, the issues he feels are plaguing them, and the ongoing process of integrating Artem “r1nkle” Moroz.
You can listen to the interview here.
Obviously two losses, not the start you would want. What are your thoughts on G2’s run so far in Bucharest?
It’s been four close maps so far in two series. Obviously we lost 0-2 both of the series, and there’s no prize in getting it close and then losing, so it’s tough. Tough matches, good opponents, and it’s also tough the way we are losing some of the rounds. Like now you had woxic clutch 2v5. Then in one of the rounds, 3v5, you have kyxsan at Sandbags getting a multi-kill when we’re basically not on the same page about someone reacting, someone else not reacting, these kind of situations.
And yeah, giving them rounds when the score is so close, it’s difference maker rounds a lot of the times and that’s the way we are losing these matches. But in the end, like I said, there’s no reason to think about. Yeah, we get it close but it is losses, we are now 0-2, backs up against the wall. The only way to go is grind back and try to reach playoffs game by game, and turn some of these winnable situations actually into wins.
Yeah. So does it not concern you so much because it’s not like you’re getting blown out, or it’s not like the game plan is a complete disaster? Does it give you hope that you can turn that corner at this event?
It’s always possible. Even in EPL, we went out 1-3, but when we look back at the matches, when you look at the after plants, the XvX situations when we have advantages, we need to be able to close them out better. Obviously, it’s a positive side that we can get into some of these situations, but at the same time we need to be better.
We need to be making better decisions individually
We need to be making better decisions individually, and then of course as a team also in connecting these last final seconds or moments of the round, closing it out, being patient and having the trust that we will close it out instead of doing an individual decision that, ‘Okay, I need to peek because I want to finish the round. I don’t have patience to play it with my team,’ or something like this.
So it’s these kind of moments and obviously it was a talking point for us after EPL, maybe more, especially after plants after EPL. But now it’s in some way very, very similar, close maps. Like I said, no time to cry about it. Just need to go next match and try to fix what we can in this short period of time today and focus on tomorrow.
So do you put it down to… Like you say there, sometimes people may be feeling like they need to finish the round. Do you put it down more to a mental thing or a gameplay thing, or a bit of both?
A bit of both. It’s not only that everyone wants to finish it, especially since we are talking about it, but it is also a gameplay thing in this way that we might not exactly understand what’s happening and it might be a communication issue here and there. But yeah, in the end it’s a lot about playing it, being on the same page and understanding the situation as a team. It’s team play things, many of these situations, because you need to trade efficiently or finish the round like that instead of finishing it like we do. So a lot of examples to go through at least, but different scenarios in some of them.
You can generally talk about how you should play […], but most likely the exact same scenario is not going to happen
As a coach, do you find it easier to deal with this kind of situation where it’s so close and it’s the little details, or is it easier when things are going horribly wrong? Maybe they’re easier to fix.
It’s easy to see the overview, how some of the game plans work and some of the situations work. What’s harder in some of these later on situations is that many of the details will change.
Sometimes you have one guy low HP, sometimes you have one guy with a smoke, sometimes you have AWP, sometimes you don’t have AWP, sometimes you have map control, sometimes you don’t have map control. Situations can vary and the teammate you’re going to play the situation with is going to vary. So it is different situations and you can go through them.
You can generally talk about how you should play and you can go through the details, but most likely the exact same scenario is not going to happen the same. Are we going to see tomorrow a similar kind of 2v5 from woxic retaking banana or kyxsan at Sandbags? Most likely not exactly the same. It’s going to be something different if something happens, so different things. But as a team we still need to keep our focus on this thing and try to fix it while remaining on some of the things we are doing better, how we can get into these situations.
There’s always worry because we want to take steps forward
But obviously we have also some of our own clutches that we were able to win, especially start of Inferno T side. Especially MATYS and HeavyGod stepping up, winning a couple of first full buys on T side. So it can go both ways, but yeah, crucial moments, these kind of situations seem to haunt us a bit.
Would you say overall you’re not too worried about the team’s level of play? Because I think you could look at… obviously FISSURE Playground was quite a good tournament for you guys, you came second. Now you’ve had one win in the last five matches or something like that, but it seems like you’re not too worried overall about where G2 are at.
No, there’s always worry because we want to take steps forward and right now it’s like we’re stagnating or maybe even took a couple of steps backward in that way. Of course, most of the matches is good teams who we played, but still you don’t want to be in this situation where, yeah, we want to keep it the same. You want to take steps forward, you want to see improvement, and right now of course we had some time to practice from home, so you wanted to see more improvement. Going out in EPL groups gave us that time. We were able to practice more, so you want to see more improvement. You want to see it faster, otherwise you generally have a feeling things are not working as you plan them to work.
Of course it’s more than just these situations as well. You want to think about roles, you want to think about everything, but it’s a puzzle that you need to go with what you have at the moment and you’re trying to build it brick by brick in a way, like the whole team game. But there is of course the positive sides of it, which is harder to see when you lose games, but that’s how it always is.
We always knew it’s going to take time. It’s not going to be an easy move that we can make work in one month
I just want to get a temperature check from you: I think the person on your team that gets the most focus is r1nkle. It was a bit of a surprise back when G2 signed him for a lot of people. How do you feel he’s doing? Because it still seems quite inconsistent.
Yeah, from the start we knew it’s going to be a risky move as well. It’s one that needed to be made, of course, in a way that it would have happened, some kind of a change in the team, no matter what. But I think he’s giving a lot of input from his side, what he thinks is good, but then also we are trying to feed him as much as we can without confusing him too much because that’s the balance you always need to think about. How to keep people, especially in officials, in the comfort zone more and then try to still make sure that you are building into something, so you are not just accepting, yeah, okay, your comfort zone is this one place, so repeat it all the time you want, you know? You need to build it that way.
We always knew it’s going to take time. It’s not going to be an easy move that we can make work in one month. These kind of moves, you need to work and you need to try to do everything you can. And of course now we have a lot of officials. It’s again like a test in that way.
But I like the mindset he has. I like the openness he has. He’s doing a lot of the right things in that way, also mentally how he’s approaching the game and everything, so that side is good to see. Of course you want your AWPer to perform as good as possible, both sides, and get the space and everything he can, but it’s still a work in progress in that way of course, so going to continue with that.
