G2 Esports

Richard ”shox” Papillon

Alexandre ”bodyy” Pianaro

Nathan ”NBK” Schmitt

Dan ”apEX” Madesclaire

Kenny ”kennyS” Schrub

Edouard ”SmithZz” Dubourdeaux (Coach) Richard ”shox” PapillonAlexandre ”bodyy” PianaroNathan ”NBK” SchmittDan ”apEX” MadesclaireKenny ”kennyS” SchrubEdouard ”SmithZz” Dubourdeaux



shox is looking to break his major curse.

Out of all the challengers, G2 boast by far the highest ceiling. They struggled online when the team was put together after the ELEAGUE major – and some foolishly thought they would never put it all together – but have showcased good results offline since the get-go. At SL i-League StarSeries Finals shox’s side lost a close series to FaZe in the quarter-finals, with a disappointing defeat at Gambit’s hands stinging from DreamHack Open Austin – an event they were clearly favoured to win. The Frenchmen bounced back with titles at DreamHack Open Tours – albeit versus weaker opposition – and ESL Pro League Finals, where they took down SK in the semi-finals and North in a best-of- five final. They qualified for the major with an undefeated 3-0 record, but surrounding it went out in a lop-sided loss to FaZe at ECS Finals – in a ridiculously tough group, featuring both SK and FaZe – and most recently were somehow upset by Na`Vi despite leading 11-2 on overpass and 13-10 on nuke, both on defense.All the tools are there to hoist the trophy. Both kennyS and shox remain some of the best players on the planet, NBK is likely the most overqualified role player in the world, and both apEX and bodyy are capable of taking over games at times. G2 are also SK’s kryptonite, boasting a 5-1 record against the world’s number one team, but often failing to reach the later stages of tournaments where FalleN and company await. Following their quarter-final exit in Cologne, shox told HLTV.org in an interview that G2’s problems are largely mental – which makes a lot of sense, given the history of French teams. There is a little time to sort issues out in-game before the major, but mental issues are different – sometimes they persist forever, and at other times a simple conversation can sort them out. And it is, of course, completely impossible to even try to gauge where G2 are from the outside.G2 are possibly the world’s best team on cobblestone and nuke. Their first offline loss on the latter came from 13-10 lead versus Na`Vi last weekend, and they boast a ridiculous 10-1 record on the former. Curiously they have not found a recipe for consistent success on cache, a map shox’s teams have historically done well on, and despite kennyS’s AWPing prowess have struggled on train, where their only win has come against Tricked. G2’s permanent veto is mirage, and they can compete on overpass and inferno – likely the two maps that will determine their fate in Krakow. Teams should not let them play cobblestone or nuke, and they are all-but guaranteed to veto mirage and train.Despite their recent issues, G2 should finally end shox’s ridiculous five-major run of exiting in groups – ditto for the three-major run of kennyS . These are some of the best players in the game’s five-year history, and they are due another deep playoff run after hoisting the trophy separately under LDLC and EnVyUs banners at DreamHack Winter 2014 and DreamHack Cluj-Napoca 2015. It would be a shock for G2 not to go through the group stage, and I would expect them to lose one game at most. Swiss system will yield random match-ups and upsets can complicate things, but G2 are playoff-bound and could well be competing for the championship on next week’s Sunday.