Image: Ubisoft/Kirill B.
G2 Esports’ storyline heading to the Berlin Major was, without a shadow of a doubt, the most exciting one.
At the start of the stage, it was unthinkable that the home team, fan-favorites, could miss out on the August Major. But, with time, G2 started to look like a sinking ship as they only got one win in five games.
The organization announced that Thomas “Shas” Lee’s contract would not be renewed just four matches into the stage and it looked like this was it for the team. However, there was to be a last hurrah for Shas, as the players managed to turn things around and finally qualified for the Major on the very final game day of the stage.
But despite the win, it was hard to believe that G2’s form was for real. After all, they had qualified after defeating the bottom-placed teams in their region, plus an exhausted Heroic roster that subsequently announced the departures of Jake “Sloth” Brown and Georgi “GorgoNa” Stoyanov.
Regardless of their performances in Europe, G2 qualified for the quarter-finals, as the team’s final 7-0 victory against FaZe Clan saw the team skyrocket to first in their group.
But, against Rogue, the team couldn’t extend their victory streak. Two thrilling overtime maps saw the fall of G2 and that marked the end of Shas’ and Prano’s time on the team.
“Minor things and teamplay” were the reasons behind the team’s poor performances against Rogue, according to Kevin “Prano” Pranowitz.
Prano also talked about Jack “Doki” Robertson, who couldn’t perform at his best against Rogue. He was unable to showcase his killing potential, which made a big difference from G2’s group stage performance. Against Rogue, after he was unable to impress himself upon the game, Doki moved to Flores on Clubhouse and Ben “CTZN” McMillan took over the Finka.
“We didn’t have the chance to play along or play together in the last few weeks as much as we would like to prepare for the Major obviously because I am leaving,” explained Prano. “So we didn't have as much time to prepare, so minor things were just missing.”
Prano announced his departure yesterday, just minutes after G2 lost in their quarter-final match. According to his TwitLonger, he made the “decision to leave the team during bootcamp, before the stage even started.”
Considering Shas’ and Prano’s situations, G2’s performance in Berlin is rather impressive. But it’s now time for them to rebuild and come back stronger – if they do it properly, they will be a force to be reckoned with.
“Even though they knew I would be leaving after this Major, we still worked together as a team (...) they did the best to make this work,” said Prano with a smile upon his face.