Kenny "kennyS" Schrub is considered one of the best AWPers in the world and he's a core component of G2 Esports' place in the ELEAGUE Premier playoffs.

Ahead of his quarterfinal game against Cloud9, kennyS answered questions from theScore esports about the state of the team and the potential of the French CS:GO scene.

Since 2017 is coming to a close soon, how would you sum up the year?

Well, I would say that it’s a mixed feeling so far, we’ve won a few tournaments at the beginning (DreamHack Tours and the last ESL Pro League season) and of course more recently DreamHack Masters Malmö. All of this is quite satisfying, but unfortunately we also had a bunch of disappointing performances with Cologne and Kraków Major on top of them.

As a conclusion, I think that our inconsistency is mostly a result of our mentality and approach of CS in general. We discussed this at length with our management and we made a few arrangements. At this stage we aren’t even close to be satisfied of our results, but what we’ve shown offline over the past few weeks is encouraging.

It’s too early to judge our 2017 season, but if we win at least one major tournament by the end of the year, I would think that it was a great season.

After the Kraków Major, you guys attended far less events than some of the other top teams, how much of that was a conscious choice?

It takes too much energy to go at tournaments three or four weeks in a row.

Also, we noticed that it was obviously harder to get individual and team training, which cost us many tournaments this year. The biggest proof of this was between June and July, where we had three tournaments and three poor performances.

Can that be attributed to the good form you guys have had lately?

Having more time to practice, and even a few days home before some tournaments is great and we tried to sort out our schedule better than we used to in the past.

Feeling prepared and rested is maybe more important for us than any other teams, though everyone gets exhausted playing a string of multiple tournaments.

You guys are one of the teams that keep a pretty traditional training method, whereas others have put emphasis on mental and physical training, alongside the usual technical training. Does G2 have plans on putting focus on physical/mental training?

The best example seems to be Astralis and I think it’s working out pretty well for them. I think we definitely know the benefits and we will evolve on these methods in the close future.

RELATED: Astralis' gla1ve: 'There is no doubt that the structure, the attention to detail, the measuring and the organization around us does help us to improve and handle a slump'

On a similar note, it’s been known before that Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz (and possibly other AWPers) have made use of advanced statistics, such as heat maps, to up their game. Do you put much stock in that kind of training?

No, but I do have a staff member who helps me a lot about other AWPer movement and tricks. I might take some things from them but it’s not the way I like to work/play.

I am trying to set my own game style and I also work a lot with my instinct. And to be honest, I have played the tier one AWPers so much for many years now that I know them perfectly.

Oddly enough, one of the teams you guys seem to struggle against (at least lately) are your fellow Frenchmen on Team EnVyUs. What is it about that matchup that gives you guys trouble?

e n i l n o



Nice 2-0 vs @G2esports in EPL — Vincent Schopenhauer (@nV_HappyV) October 3, 2017

Those kind of matchups have always been difficult to play, we all know each other perfectly and it makes us overthink. I also think that whatever the gap between our two teams, we will always have tight games.

It is what it is as we have a lot of pressure during those games.

How much of a factor is that being “just online CS”?

It has nothing to do with online or offline conditions because even though we are winning most of the time offline, it remains always close games.

What are your thoughts on the French scene overall? Could the French scene be what the Danish scene is currently?

We always had one of the most talented scenes. The hardest point is to make our individualities play together. Today, the clubs have more resources for that, our management in G2 for example.

What about LDLC, who have pulled off some upsets?

I’m not surprised about LDLC. Ex6TenZ [Kevin "Ex6TenZ" Droolans] has always been a good leader and he knows how to make his players progress.

He might be the player who taught me the most in CS. He has his flaws, but being so perfectionist also has his benefits; most of the LDLC players improved a lot since they started playing with him. It took time and they also needed to find a kind of balance but it seems like they are in the right direction with DEVIL [Timothée "DEVIL" Démolon].

1-1 against @G2esports but only 2 points. Weird second map, we didn't play well and throw some rounds at the begining of the side. GG WP! — Ex6TenZ (@LDLC_Ex6TenZ) October 5, 2017

What are your thoughts on the changes to pistols and reduction in unarmored aim punch? Do these changes impact the meta overall or your own game plan?

I don’t know to be honest. I don’t really see a big difference with the aim punch, but I guess reducing it is a good thing; I know the aim punch used to drive me crazy.

The changes of the pistols is slightly different and impact me a little bit more. I was using the Tec9 a lot as a secondary weapon and I am not gonna lie, it helped me a lot. I understand it was really powerful but I need to get better with the P250 afterwards, which isn’t a bad thing either, haha!

So yes, none of those changes had a big impact on the meta and in my own game style, as long as I have a good pistol to use as a secondary weapon!

Going into EL Premier, you guys will face Cloud9, who you’ve defeated previously but this is a pretty different roster than before. How will you guys approach that set?

This is a different roster, as you said, their results so far were a little bit shaky but they had to get used to many changes.

They’re definitely dangerous and I think they're a tough opponent; it will be a tricky game. I was not really happy about drawing them even though it doesn’t seem to be the hardest matchup, I think we gotta have to be very careful.

Our approach is quite similar to the other matches, we will mostly focus on us, because we know that our biggest opponent is ourselves.

This interview was conducted prior to G2's quarterfinal match against C9 at ELEAGUE Premier 2017. It has has been edited and condensed for clarity.