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G2 Esports, being one of EMEA's top contenders, returned to the VCT 2022 EMEA Challengers in Stage 2 as one of the region's top 12 teams. After a tense matchup against their newly promoted opponents, FOKUS, G2 kicked off their Stage 2 campaign in a rather positive manner.
FOKUS' debut in the EMEA Challengers almost vanquished G2's efforts. However, after two intense outings on Fracture and Icebox, G2 managed to take home a victory. While FOKUS succeeded in pushing Fracture to overtime, G2's efforts helped them seal the map on a 14-12 scoreline. Similarly, G2 were pushed to their limits on Icebox, claiming the map on a 13-11 score.
G2 Esports aims to return to the pinnacle of competitive Valorant through their performance at the ongoing Stage 2 EMEA Challengers. Currently, after two weeks of matchups, G2 stands 4th in Group A of the Group Stage.
pipsoN shared his thoughts on G2 Esports' performance at VCT 2022 Stage 2 EMEA Challengers
In a conversation with Sportskeeda Esports' Adarsh J Kumar, G2 Esports' head coach, Daniil "pipsoN" Meshcheryakov, spoke about the team's performance at the Masters: Reykjavik and their return to VCT 2022 Stage 2 EMEA Challengers.
Q: G2 Esports returns to the VCT Challengers Stage after a short campaign at the Stage 1 Masters: Reykjavik. Coming into the opening matchup of Stage 2 EMEA Challengers, how do you think G2 performed against FOKUS?
pipsoN: I do think that we played pretty decent compared to how we played in Reykjavik. We showed a lot more discipline and we're starting to get back. We knew what the problems were, and we knew how to fix them. But FOKUS also played really well. I do think that they will surprise a lot of teams in this tournament.
It felt really good to play them. It felt like that only once in scrims where you play the team and it feels like you're playing in CS: GO, like with DRX from Korea. I do like how these guys are playing.
Q: G2 finds itself in the toughest group in the Group Stage, alongside some of EMEA's strongest teams. Which team out of those are you the most excited to face, and who would you consider your toughest opponent?
pipsoN: We're not excited to face anyone. If you want to win, you have to face everyone. But our group is quite hard. FPX is hard, Acend is hard, Fnatic is always a tough opponent, and OG LDN UTD is a tough opponent as well. I feel like there isn't really a free game or easy match in our group.
Q: We are yet to see someone from G2 pick up Fade, the new Valorant Agent. What do you think about the Agent, and how effective do you think she is in a competitive environment such as the VCT?
pipsoN: I think she's viable, but we tried to play with Fade and I don't see her as a big threat. You can play some good combinations with her, like how Liquid did against BIG on Icebox.
But to show the real potential of Fade, you have to focus on executions a lot while on attack, or by playing combos with other Agents, making the game a bit more static and less dynamic. That's not something we like.
Q: G2 Esports had roughly 3-4 weeks after the VCT Masters: Reykjavik to prepare for the Stage 2 EMEA Challengers. With no changes to the roster, how did G2 gear up for the tournament?
pipsoN: We changed our gameplan on almost every map. We started to fix the problems we saw in our previous preparations and we talked about that. We are trying to work on that, so we are only going to get better and better. We have just started, but we've basically tried to completely rework the way we played the game before.
Q: G2 Esports managed to claim a valuable victory in the tournament's opening gameweek. What can we expect from the team for the remainder of VCT 2022 Stage 2?
pipsoN: We want to qualify for the next Masters. If we do qualify for that, there's a huge chance of us qualifying for the Champions since we'd have attended both the Masters and have enough points to qualify. Our goal is to qualify for Copenhagen.
