MATYS: "It's working a lot better than the roster we had with malbs"
Although G2 announced themselves post-rebuild with a win at BLAST Open London last year, they haven’t kicked on quite as people expected them to following the event.
Playoff appearances have been hard to come by, and malbsMd was ultimately swapped with NertZ, leaving G2 feeling revitalised ahead of the IEM Cologne Major.
At BLAST Rivals Fort Worth, we sat down with MATYS to discuss the change, how much more competitive CS has gotten, and whether or not he thinks Cache should return to the map pool.
“I feel there’s a high chance they could add Cache before the Major”
There was a gap in tier one action for G2 after picking up NertZ; how are you feeling now that you're getting back into it after Rio?
I'm happy to be here; it was a long time coming, so we want to reach the playoffs. We've been close many times since the last event we won, and it's been a bit disappointing when we haven't.
We're trying to grind our way back now that we have a new addition, and we're feeling very confident right now, so we'll see how it goes in this event.
How has it been adjusting to the addition of NertZ?
It's a different dynamic. NertZ and malbs are both aggressive, but they have very different personalities. We knew it would change, though, so we're just trying to adapt to both how he plays and how he is with us. We're combining his ideas with ours, and so far it's been working well.
It's working a lot better than the roster we had with Malbs. It's not a good thing or a bad thing, but in general, when you change a player, it's a big change, especially when the new guy is more vocal.
You mentioned how close you've gotten to playoffs. What's been the thing stopping you guys from getting there?
Lack of calmness in specific scenarios. It happened again in Rio, we were in a very good position against Vitality, 12-10 up on Inferno, and at 5v5 against a force buy, we lost the round. It wasn't fully chaotic, but the pressure got to us.
We understand that we're very close to the playoffs, and there's no real specific answer, but we want to go deeper because outside of Vitality, a lot of teams are 50/50 on whether they win games. No one is that consistent.
Going back to BLAST Open London, you guys won there, but the playoff struggles happened after. Did winning that event just create more pressure? Or overconfidence, maybe?
I don't think it's either, certainly not overconfidence. We just knew that it was our peak in terms of momentum and what we had practised, and the timing of it all was very good for us. We knew it would be difficult to repeat it; there were a lot of different positions that had to be switched after, and the same for the other guys, too. That switched the whole team dynamic a lot, and we were struggling to find form after.
As a result, confidence turned into doubt, and it became more about the mindset of individuals, and I don't think that helped us.
When you look back on that event, is it something that gives you confidence because you know what the peak is?
I think a big factor after that event is that we started to overthink a lot, that the enemy would know more about us as individuals and as a team. We failed in that regard; we were thinking way too much about the enemy rather than focusing on ourselves.
It will help, though. I remember every match in that event and how clearly we were thinking throughout. That can definitely help.
Is part of it also that CS has become even more competitive since then? Back then, we didn't have FUT and PARIVISION in tier one, and others have gotten stronger, too.
I think that's a big factor, 100%. Other teams have gotten way more competitive.
But also, CS2 was way more unstable before. I think these recent updates will help a lot; it'll be more stable and make some teams more stable. Hopefully, at these events, we'll be one of them.
The new kids are using the game as it works. zweih, BELCHONOKK, they came as new guys and have done a very good job, but it's been hard for them to replicate it after winning Bounty, and they've struggled the same as we have.
How are you feeling about the AnimGraph 2 update?
For me, individually, I'm fucking happy, it's crazy. I understood pretty quickly when the update came out that you can finally hold angles a bit, and outposition enemies who are just swinging. It used to be a big risk, but now it's more stable.
And what about Cache, what are your feelings?
The question is what they're going to bring out of the map pool for it. There are multiple choices. It could be Anubis because it's one of the least-played maps, but Anubis was added last time, so it doesn't make sense. We're curious as to what happens.
There's also the question of when they're going to add it to the map pool. They could do it before the Major or after, and because the Major is still a month away, I feel there's a high chance they could add it for tournaments soon. It's not scary, but it's interesting.
I'm really happy it's back, though. It can be a good map to play again.
