esports
Will 2020 be another stellar year for G2 Esports? Only if they can overcome these hurdles in the Summer Split – from complacency to the meta, get familiar with all the things they'll face right here.
G2 Esports have been at the top of the European League of Legends scene for the last couple of years. In 2019, they won both the LEC Summer and Spring Splits, the Mid-Season Invitational, and made it all the way to the 2019 Worlds grand final. In 2020, they’ve already won the Spring Split, besting rivals Fnatic 3-0 in the playoff final. Now, they’re heading into summer looking to make it four LEC titles in a row.
They’re the odds on favourites to do so, but anyone can tell you that the incumbent's advantage can vanish in an instant. These are the pitfalls the G2 squad will have to avoid if they’re to maintain their winning ways.
1. Complacency
Winning has become a routine for G2 since the start of 2019. They can’t make the mistake of thinking they’ve already won the 2020 Summer Split, though. There are always a handful of teams waiting in the wings to take the European crown from them (Fnatic, let us not forget, reached the finals of Worlds themselves in late 2018), and a few bad games can make all the difference if they come at the wrong time.
They’ve had a couple of scares along the way, including a loss to MAD Lions at the start of the 2020 Spring Split playoffs, and of course the heartbreaking loss to FunPlus Phoenix at Worlds. G2 also had an incredibly close series against Fnatic in the 2019 Summer Finals that could have gone either way.
If there’s one thing that drives any League of Legends professional, it’s the desire to win, so it’s unlikely we’ll see G2 resting on their laurels in the coming months. They know that other teams are already coming up with new strategies just to use against them, so will need to be ready for anything.
2. New opponents
We’ve seen a handful of roster swaps in the 2020 mid-season, and while teams are always confident their new signings will be able to make an instant impact, G2 will have to be wary of new talent all the same.
The biggest news is the return of Kasper ‘Kobbe’ Kobberup to Europe after spending the Spring Split in the LCS with Team SoloMid. He’s regarded as one of the top AD carries from the region (taking on the role of Misfits bot laner), and will be joined by another new face in Mads ‘Doss’ Schwartz on support. Will they be able to provide a new challenge to G2 this split?
Excel Esports have made roster moves too, with Felix ‘Kryze’ Hellström and Joran ‘Special’ Scheffer joining the main squad for the Summer Split. Excel were teetering on the brink of being a contender last split, so could they also become a threat to G2?
3. New innovations
G2 were known as the master innovators in 2019, with their off-meta picks and seemingly being able to play any champion in any position. Now that the rest of the world has caught up to their game-changing style, will G2 continue to be able to flip the script?
The other LEC teams are fully aware of how dangerous G2 can be, but they’re not unbeatable. They’ll all be coming up with their own ways to combat G2 in one way or another, so G2 will need to be on their guard, or subvert expectations once again in order to come out on top.
4. The role swap
Even if there's no grand innovation, the role swap is always something G2 have up their sleeve to keep other teams guessing. Luka ‘Perkz’ Perkovic and Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther are once again changing lanes for the Summer Split. When Caps first joined G2, Perkz went down to the bot lane from mid. At the start of 2020, they swapped it around, with Caps venturing bottom. Now they’ve reverted once again.
It makes planning for strategies and specific players difficult. The other LEC teams have been playing against one style in spring, and now have to play against something completely different.
But continuity is always a good thing in esports, especially when you’re winning. Does swapping so often mean that Caps and Perkz are losing some of their proficiency in their roles? They'd tell you that it definitely doesn’t, but they'll have to prove that on Summoner’s Rift.
5. The meta
As an extension of the innovation and role swap issues, G2 will also have to contend with an ever-changing meta, as always. The last time Perkz was playing in the bot lane, it was Worlds 2019 and he went undefeated in six games on Xayah. These days, the likes of Aphelios and Miss Fortune are the more meta picks, so we’ll have to see if he’s as comfortable on those champions.
G2 have proved they’re masters of the meta, or even breakers of it, over the past year and a half. They’ll need to continue that trend in the Summer Split in order to win yet another LEC trophy.
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