esports
Why G2 decided to role swap Perkz and Caps in their quest for more gold in 2020 – catch our interview with the team while they were at the Red Bull Athlete Performance Centre.
Last year was a historic one for European League of Legends as G2 Esports and their players secured their legacy following a spectacular 2019. The season saw them take home the Mid Season Invitational trophy, as well as two LEC titles and even reach the World Championship final.
The eventual loss in Paris was a blemish on an otherwise perfect year, but in the players’ minds will likely outweigh everything else they accomplished. Becoming the first team from Europe to lift the Summoner’s Cup since Season One has always been the goal of this elite squad and is a major reason why they've stuck together going into Season 10.
I've always been an open-minded kind of player, I've been playing a lot of weird stuff and different roles in solo-queue
However, things aren’t quite the same this year as for the second season in a row, G2 have decided to try a risky role swap. In 2019, Luka ‘Perkz’ Perković shocked the world when he announced he would be moving into the bot lane in order to make room for his mid-lane rival Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther. It was a groundbreaking move and G2 reaped the benefits, but rather than rest on their laurels, the players have decided to make another change. Caps will make his bot lane debut in 2020 with Perkz returning to the mid lane.
Speculation has run wild online, with many believing G2 are trying to play mind games. Some even believe the swap won’t actually happen. However, it most certainly will, as Caps confirmed to us at the Red Bull Athlete Performance Centre in Salzburg, Austria that a lot of it was his idea: “I've always been an open-minded kind of player, I've been playing a lot of weird stuff and different roles in solo-queue. Perkz obviously role swapped last year and he was really insane at it, but he also didn't like bot too much, it was a very different role and it can be really frustrating to play. I saw that at times he was really unhappy with it and since I really wanted our team to stay together and no one to be too frustrated or sad, I wanted to try out being an ADC instead. I think in mid, Perkz will be a lot happier and I think I can be just as strong ADC as I can in the mid lane, plus I'll enjoy it more.”
Someone who's affected by this change is support Mihael ‘Mikyx’ Mehle who already had to help Perkz adapt to a new lane last year. Now, the Slovenian will have to do the same for Caps, but is already confident in their partnership: “I'm really looking forward to playing with Caps because I think we're very similar in how we think and how we act outside of the game so we get along really well. We also both like to innovate and play weird champions, we're really down to test anything so I think that's my favourite part. So far, we're doing pretty well and I think we'll do well for the whole year.”
It will equally be as tough for Perkz to return to the mid lane after hardly playing the role for a year, but it’s a challenge he’s relishing. The Croatian star admits it’s a position that will allow him to have a bigger impact on the game but, like when he moved into the bot lane, the major motivation behind the move was to benefit the team: “To be honest, the reason behind the role swap is really in-depth, there are many logical reasons within the team why we we're doing it. But, the one that is easiest to explain to the public is the fact that this way, Caps can get a new challenge and I can get a chance of performing well in my old role as well.
“We can, basically, have a honeymoon phase as if we're a new line-up, even though we have the same roster which is something no other team in the world can have. We have this luxury of extra motivation to kind of learn the game and maybe build up some new habits because last year we've built on some bad habits. So, the fact that we can have a new team can be really beneficial for every single team member in terms of not getting complacent, I think that's probably one of the strongest reasons.”
Complacency is the key term there as it'll undoubtedly be difficult for the players to move past last season. G2 were able to take down some of the world’s strongest teams in 2019 but Martin ‘Wunder’ Hansen insists they must first focus on what’s in front of them:
“I think it's very important since we've won MSI and got to the Worlds finals that we don't forget how we should play in the LEC and that Europe can be a strong region. Even in the Summer Split, we had to go 3-2 against our then main rival Fnatic two times to actually make it as the first seed. Of course, you can qualify as second or third seed, but you want to give yourself the best chance and always stay on top so we all just have to go in with that mindset. There'll be weeks where motivation goes up or down and there'll be weeks that are rough but I think we just have to stay grounded and remind ourselves that if we want to compete internationally we have to improve against the European teams as well.”
It’s safe to say that G2 will be favourites to lift the European trophy when the LEC returns later this week, but the players are taking nothing for granted. The squad has been busy bootcamping in preparation for the season, becoming the first esports pros to ever attend the Red Bull Athlete Performance Centre to ensure their practice is effective.
Jungler Marin 'Jankos' Jankowski is confident G2 will come out on top once again but is well aware of the competition chasing them: “I think our main rival this year is probably going to be Origen or Fnatic, I don't know which team is going to be better, but it hasn't really changed from 2019 as both teams performed well that year. I think the dark horse could be Rogue, I don't expect them to do super well but with the bunch of rookies that they have, and how eager they are to win, I'm pretty excited to see them play.”
