HooXi: "A year in Counter-Strike feels like ten years in a normal life"

"I'm not in charge of the roster moves, that's obviously NiKo!" laughs HooXi. The leader was in good spirits as he spoke to BLAST.tv ahead of the World Final, even if he believes G2 don't have any "result-based expectations" going into it.

"Everything with MR12 and CS2 still being kinda new, it's super random. I think, for me, it's just about effort. I think if we put in what we normally do with keeping up the mood and making sure we don't lose to ourselves and we stick to what we know from practice and learn something from it, I will be happy. I think that's it."

Perhaps that is why; freed from the pressures of trying to grind out results in any way possible, HooXi is able to chase the high of enjoying playing Counter-Strike again.

Even the results in online tournaments in the last month or so are simply just learning opportunities, it turns out.

"Well, we didn't put much into the CCT experience, it was mostly to have some practice where we tried to play to win and just have a bit more footage where we can actually see how the opposing team reacts. We went into it with a mindset that we were practicing, so that's all good. I think it was productive. I don't know what to expect, you know, I think CS2 is still a bit random as a game in general and I don't know how we match up against the other teams to be honest."

It helps that no matter what happens here in Abu Dhabi, HooXi will have achieved two huge trophies this year, and feels that he and his squad can look back on the year with pride.

Credit: Stephanie Lindgren

"I think that we can be happy with what we achieved. There's always ups and downs, a year in Counter-Strike feels like ten years in a normal life, like a dog life in a way! (laughs) It's hard to look back on a whole year but obviously, three trophies and two of them being huge trophies like Cologne and Katowice, I think we should be happy about what we achieved. But we are perfectionists, and we are competitors and we want to do better at Majors especially and I think that will be the goal, especially for me. It's in Copenhagen and I really want to do good but it's going to be tough in a new game with so much randomness going on."

G2 are in something of a transition period. After the sudden benching of jks, and the rekindling of the nexa relationship as well as a change in coaching staff, things are a little weird for them right now.

Credit: Michal Konkol

The change hasn't been universally revered, though, and it's no surprise that plenty of the questions aimed at G2 players from the press were about the departure of the popular jks.

HooXi, though, believes the change is one that will benefit the team emotionally.

"I think most people would agree that we already have enough firepower, and I think that we needed a bit more stable communication and (laughs) I think most people might have seen already that Justin (jks) is pretty, I would say stable when it comes to mood. He's just always... never too high, never too low and we needed someone who could bring up the mood a bit and be a bit of a hypeman so it's not only me.

"I don't expect nexa to be as consistent individually, especially not in the start because he came from being IGL for almost four years I think, but nexa I think with time will step up individually. I don't see it as a problem."

When it came to the reason nexa was signed ahead of some of the other available players, HooXi was only able to speculate on the reasons why, saying that he "wasn't in charge of roster moves", adding jokingly that "that's NiKo, obviously!" with a quick chuckle.

Credit: Stephanie Lindgren

"We know what he brings, the other guys played with him before and I think that everything is very unstable and he's a guy we knew we could get for certain and it's always nice to know what you get instead of gambling, and last minute you get fucked over by something you know! I can't tell you what was exactly the reason because that's the staff who decides."

Indeed, HooXi makes a point of the fact that the staff at G2 have the final say, which he considers a "good thing". He told us that the org listen to the players' feedback, but ultimately make the decisions.

"I'm sure that everyone vouched for nexa, and we can all see what he brings, and the other guys knew it already. I'm sure everyone said he will be a good pick-up, and I'm sure G2 staff said the same."

When it came to Swani's departure, though, HooXi had even less say in the replacement.

"Basically I got told about two weeks ago that Swani would not continue with the team afterwards, and then there was a few days where G2 were considering other options that we had and reached out to a few people and I guess they ended up liking TaZ the most."

It should be said that he was excited to work with the legendary player-turned-coach, but he also had a lot to say about the outgoing Swani.

"I respect Jan's (Swani) decision and I understand that you have to put your mental health and your own wishes first and we totally agree on it. We found a good solution with TaZ, so overall I'm happy with it because that's what he wants and we seem to have found a good solution."

Credit: Michal Konkol

He was keen to dispel rumours surrounding Swani, who has chosen a simpler life than the one of trying to deal with the ups and downs of being part of G2.

"Overall, not much to add honestly, but I want to clarify because I see a lot of people ask on social media that we're not going to keep him in any way. He's going to have a (laughs) 9-to-5 job, like a normal job, he's not staying in CS. Of course we would be open to work with him, but that's not what he wants, so we respect that he doesn't like all the travel any more and he just wants a more traditional, normal life."

HooXi, and G2, begin their campaign tomorrow in the final game of the day against MOUZ at 19:00 local time, or 16:00 CET.