Wolves Esports would have certainly been confident heading into their matchup against G2 Esports in the lower bracket of the Six Invitational 2023 today.
After all, they had been the ones that had sent G2 down on the first day of the playoffs in 2-0 fashion. They were also a team that had an excellent map veto strategy, so much so that G2 coach Fabian "Fabian" Hällsten stated afterwards that it was not possible to “out-ban” Wolves.
They also started off in very strong fashion, turning a 3-3 attacking half on Bank into a 7-3 map win after starving G2 out of attacking round wins. They also went 4-2 up on the defence of G2’s map pick, Skyscraper, and looked to be in full control.
“I think the game slipped away on Skyscraper,” said Wolves Esports player Valentin "risze" Liradelfo in a post-match interview with SiegeGG. “We had a good momentum, but once we started in our attacks we couldn’t really capitalise on all their mistakes completely.”
Things fell apart after that first half on the second map, as they did not win a single attacking round in the next 11 attempts. They lost Skyscraper 4-7 and went down 0-6 on the final map of Oregon and eventually slid to a dismal 2-7 loss.
“They realised that they could actually, like, win every single gun fight they would take,” said risze. “It really made them realise that they would be stronger in duels than us.”
While G2 ran riot against them, risze asserted that his taem “never really gave up”, even when faced with the prospect of a 0-6 loss. However, he admitted that his team’s confidence was affected to a point where it was “difficult” to make a comeback happen.
Wolves captain Bastien "BiBooAF" Dulac agreed, sharing that he did not feel his team was outplayed in terms of strategy -- just in gun skill. He also felt that his team was not outplayed in terms of map vetoes, though he and risze agreed that G2 picking Skyscraper as their map gave them just the edge they needed.
“I think it was the right move for them, obviously, but I also think we had the means to actually win the map,” said risze. “I think it was the best move for them, but it’s not a [master-stroke] of a move. We expected it.”
BibooAF echoed the sentiment, stating that Skyscraper was in no way a “free win” for G2.
Additionally, while Wolves are now out of the Six Invitational 2023, they have successfully shaken off their BO3 jitters that saw them struggle to win in the format until they beat Dire Wolves 2-0 in the group stage.
While risze had stated that his team “definitely (had) something with BO3s” in an interview with SiegeGG ahead of the Six Invitational, BiBooAF disagreed with that assessment. Instead, he argued that his team did not lack the map pool required to play in and win in the longer format and was perhaps affected by the “pressure” in each of their three top-flight BO3s prior to the Invitational.
“Everyone says that our map pool is quite weak…” said risze. “I understand the idea, because our two first bans are always the same, but people need to realise that we are feeling, like, super confident on every other (of the) seven maps.”
Risze also agreed that “pressure” was a potential factor in their previous BO3 matches. Two had been on Major stages and one had been in the EUL Finals against an MNM that won all of their Six Invitational 2023 group stage games in 2-0 fashion. Furthermore, three of their players had never played internationally before 2022.
“I think we really clicked at this event, it really made us be a better team,” said risze, with BibooAF agreeing that it was the “right timing” to take the “next step” towards a title challenge.