Alongside Heroic and FaZe Clan, G2 were one of three unchanged sides coming into BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2023. A mild surprise following their disappointing exit from the BLAST.tv Paris Major and failure to reach the final of either IEM Dallas or BLAST Premier Spring Final, a lot was expected from them coming into Fall Groups.
Expected to take advantage of teams still enduring growing pains in their first tournament as a new roster, G2 would seem off the pace for the entirety of their time in Copenhagen, and, as a result, will now require the Fall Showdown in order to return to Copenhagen for Fall Final in November.
Handed what many would have predicted to be a favourable opening match up against the new Liquid team, G2 disappointed from the get go by falling 2-1 to YEKINDAR and the boys.
A series that could have easily ended 2-0, they required a Mirage masterclass from their talisman NiKo to win the map in overtime. The team never looked comfortable across the series, and it was a sign of what was to come for them in an event they sorely needed to rebuild confidence as a unit.
G2 did go on to win their next game however. Another favourable match up against OG's revamped roster, the IEM Katowice winners would close out the series in two maps in dominant fashion. Two 16-6 scorelines on Ancient and Inferno, OG never got a footing in the series as m0NESY starred with 45 kills and 23 deaths in the series.
Advancing to face FaZe in Group C's Consolidation Final, G2 would return to their struggling ways.
Only huNter- could muster above 30 kills in the series, his 40-36 statline meant he was the only player to go positive for G2 across the two maps. 16-7 on Nuke and 16-11 on Mirage, G2 will be more worried about looking so shaky on Nuke, a map that previously looked so comfortable for them.
Knocked down to the Gauntlet, G2 were expected to crush their next opponents, Evil Geniuses. No made up mostly of the recently promoted Evil Geniuses Black roster, the series was anything but comfortable, and had EG not choked a 15-10 lead on the third map, Mirage, G2 would have suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the NA team.
Still, they managed to win the series, and now advancing to the final of their Gauntlet bracket, they would face off against a refreshed NAVI roster featuring former G2 IGL, Aleksib.
Bosnian cousins NiKo and huNter- did all they could on the side of G2, the duo combined for 100 kills across the two maps played, but s1mple's best performance of the event was buoyed by strong performances by both b1t and jL as NAVI won both Inferno and Mirage 16-14.
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