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[EXCLUSIVE]“Both of them are really good” G2 Leaf talks about VCT Americas Kickoff Play-in opponents

[EXCLUSIVE]“Both of them are really good” G2 Leaf talks about VCT Americas Kickoff Play-in opponents

Valorant
26 Feb
Ganesh Jadhav

After a heart-breaking loss against Evil Geniuses, G2 Esports faced KRU esports for their last chance at the Playoff contention. In the Group C opening game rematch, G2 Esports breezed through the two maps and secured a Play-ins stage qualification.

After the game, we had a quick chat with Nathan “leaf” Orf to chat about the Kickoff games, adjusting to the The Guard core and the VCT Americas season.

The Rematch

G2 Esports took down KRU esports in the opening game of VCT Americas Kickoff Group C. Unfortunately, they could not close out against Evil Geniuses and had to face KRU once again for the tournament contention.

In the previous game, G2 had trouble taking down KRU, but made easy work of them to qualify for the intense Play-ins stage.

“We had more experience against them individually”

Congratulations on your win! How are you feeling? What are your thoughts on the game?

I am really happy we won. We were able to show what we are capable of in our dreams. We maintained our composure and showed our best version.

Both the games today, you guys looked pretty decisive. There were hiccups but it was pretty smooth sailing 2-0 for you. Would there be something you’d want to improve on after today?

We just need to make sure that we do the same thing that we did today in terms of mentality and we just need to make sure we take our breaths when we can and just make sure we are relaxed and we are ready for whatever happens because it's just a game of valorant.

So we just need to make sure that whatever is thrown our way, we are prepared as best as we can and we just need to make sure we don't let it get to our heads even if we get 1v5’d and we all peak together. That's the thing that we should focus on is just the fact that we should focus on what we are doing well. So, yeah, that's really all.

In the previous two games. G2 did not look as solid. What was going wrong in the past two games?

I think for the KRU game, it was kind of just everybody getting used to the setup and getting used to the stage and just getting used to the match environment.

And obviously, like not knowing how they are going to play and going into the dark kind of caught us off guard.

But for this game, obviously, we had more experience against them individually. We had more time to look at our mistakes.

For the EG game, I think we just kind of played not to lose instead of playing to win. We got the lead and then we kind of shut down.

But I think that we're in a really good spot. And I think that we just need to, like I said, like we need to make sure that we win the rounds that we can win and we need to make sure that we don't throw away a lead. We need to make sure that we just have everything planned that we can.

You have lost Sunset twice in the tournament, was there a reason you still chose to play Sunset today?

We are confident in our Sunset. I think even in the game, we were in control the whole way, we just kind of let it slip.

But I think in general, I think we are in control when we play that map. And I think that we have a really good grasp and understanding of it.

And I think like we just kind of realize as we played more and more matches that, that is our map basically right now. So we should just keep on picking it and talking about the games tomorrow.

The Playoff War

After playing two consecutive days, Leaf and G2 will play the Play-in stage today. To recap, the Play-in stage will be single-round robin, so the teams will play two Bo3s with short breaks on a single day.

The intense schedule might take a toll on the players and the fatigue might kick in.

“We can't just let it affect us”

You have had a really intense schedule, you played against EG yesterday (24th), KRU today(25th) and then two Bo3s tomorrow (26th). Do you think this would impact/affect the team's performance tomorrow?

I think it will and I think it will affect everybody in the server, you know, later it gets in the day and the more fatigued people are going to be, they are going to need to drink caffeine.

So, it's going to affect everybody as to the severity of how they are going to, it's going to affect people. I'm not really sure, but, I mean, we're just going to have to see, we're just going to have to play through it too.

Like we can't just let it affect us. We just make sure we do the best we can to take care of it, like, in the moment.

Following up on the preparation question. Do you think you would need to pre-prepare anything special?

I mean, we are just going to have to try and change our sleep schedule so that we are just energized at the right times.

Even for today, I slept in a little bit later and I stayed awake a little bit later just so that I'd have the energy for now because crashing in the middle of a match is just the worst thing ever for people who drink caffeine.

We are just going to make sure that we just drink caffeine at the right time so that we don't crash.

So, in terms of preparation against the actual teams in the game, I don't think it's going to be that complex. We're just going to play how we want to play. I think we'll be fine. We just need to be confident.

What are your thoughts on the two teams that you would be facing? MIBR and Sentinels?

I think both of them are really good. They've been looking better and better as the tournament has gone on and I think that goes for most teams that have been playing.

I think that both teams look very confident too in their map picks and just their vetoes.

You can tell that they know what they want in there, in their map vetoes and stuff like that and you can tell they would like to play their comps the way they like to play them.

They don't really adjust too heavily to what other people are doing.

Joining up with the Guard core

After his long stint on C9, Leaf joined G2 Esports during the off-season. Coming into a completely new environment and a new role, Leaf had to adjust to his new team's playstyle.

“It was definitely rough”

You joined a core that has been playing together for almost two years. Did you make changes to how you play? How was adjusting to the G2 playstyle?

Yeah, I definitely had to change my playstyle. I think that I was a lot more aggressive and a lot more risk-taking on Cloud9

Whereas with this team, it's a lot more methodical and a lot more thought out with the stuff that I do and also what they do.

So I think that it just makes me not even necessarily, it just makes me more, more thought out and it just makes it so that if I am having a bad game, then it's fine and I'll be able to still rely on my teammates.

The desk was talking about how your role was more different on Cloud9, where you were more vocal and one of the major ideating voices, a LOUD comm’er. Whereas on G2 Esports, its more Valyn and his game? How was it adjusting to his calling?

Yeah, I mean, it was definitely rough even in scrims and stuff like that and obviously the preseason matches, I think that I kind of took a step back from comm’ing that much and giving that many ideas.

Earlier (on C9),  I didn't have as strong of a voice as I did in Valyn and a guy that just always has the ideas at hand of what he wants to do. And obviously that doesn't say that I can't speak at all, but I just took a step back and just made sure that he can call what he wants to call.

And then I'm just comfortable with what he wants to do and I make sure that I know where I should be and what I should be doing in that spot and stuff like that. But I still have my own freedom and everybody obviously trusts one another.

I just think that it's a lot more on him to set like the scenery and then we just fill in like the adding parts.

We have also seen you OP’ing a much more on G2 Esports as compared to your C9 days. Did you train for OP’ing or you just did not have a chance to OP on C9 and now you do?

I always had the freedom to OP on Cloud9, I just always viewed it as like my rifle is so good that I would just rather rifle because it's, you have to save for the op.

I didn't OP that much in the previous games on this team even, but I'm getting better with it.

I'm just using it more and more and I'm getting more and more used to how to use it. I just feel a lot more confident with it in general. I just need more and more time with it and just more and more reps.

But it's hard because, you know, like I said, you have to have the money for it. And always, I was never the person who liked it. Even if I had money for it, I didn't fully trust in it, so I would never buy it. I would always buy a rifle.

But now I'm just getting used to it.  If I have enough for an OP, I'll buy an op.

The Season Ahead

The VCT Americas Kickoff is just the start of the season, Leaf and G2 have a long season ahead. With VCT Americas ahead of them, Leaf is confident about the Americas league and their chances at the international events.

“We are still the strongest region”

What are your thoughts on the level of competition in the Americas?

I think Pacific and I haven't watched too many China games so I can't really rate them.

I still think the Pacific and China are the weakest in terms of general region strength, but I think EMEA is getting better, there's a lot, a lot of players and a lot of teams that are getting introduced into the tier one scene that are just getting chances to prove how good they are. runner on vitality is probably like the number one example of that, that I would say.

We are still the strongest region. I think the team depth and the team kind of like the meta setting is in America's, you know, LOUD with their off meta picks.

We are even running some stuff that's a little off meta, everybody is kind of running their own thing and is comfortable in their own thing and stuff like that and just all of the teams that are still here and even some of the teams that got eliminated, obviously like 100 thieves

I think if you give them more and more time to identify their styles, I definitely think that Americas is even in an even better spot to win the masters there are for the coming years.

Who do you think are the top teams across the three regions? We recently saw GenG taking down Paper Rex and DRX in the Pacific which was an upset. Who do you think would surprise everyone?

I think GenG  is a good team to be kind of like the dark horses. They have a very strong whole Korean roster.

I think honestly, like individually when I look at those people and as a unit, they just look better than most teams in the Pacific. I think them and PRX are still going to be like the top two of Pacific

In Europe, I think FNATIC is obviously still the team to beat there. Liquid, I think I'm not really sure what their issues are, but I think they are still going to be good over time.

I mean, they have Nats and then Vitality I think is also just another team where I'm expecting and NAVI like all those four, I would expect to be like the top four in EMEA and then the rest of them like kind of like to toss ups, but like Vitality looks really strong, individually, runner, Sayf.

For America, I mean, there's a lot of good teams. LEV is very strong, 100 Thieves, when they get more time, I think Sen will be very, very good and very consistent.

I think us, we are kind of dark horses in a sense because we are just tier two, technically coming into tier one, my core team mates.

I mean, like LOUD too, there's just so many strong teams in America's that it's hard to like point who's going to be like the surprise factor because for all I know there's another team that's just going to be like EG last year where they just come out of nowhere, barely scrape by and then they just surprise everybody with their team dynamic.

Any team in particular you want to face during the rest of the season?

I want to face Leviatan, Sentinels, I always like playing at Saadhak, so LOUD. I think all those teams are a team to beat for us and I think it’d be a very, very good game.

Today, G2 Esports faces Sentinels and MIBR in a round-robin VCT Americas Kickoff Play-In stage. You can follow the games on Twitch and YouTube

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