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Two of EMEA's premier esports organizations, G2 Esports and Team Liquid, faced off in the VCT 2022 Stage 1 Challengers lower bracket for a last-minute ticket to the upcoming Masters event in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Both teams enjoyed an incredible run at the VCT Challengers, making their way to the top four of the tournament. With EMEA having three slots for the Masters: Reykjavik, G2 and Liquid battled it out in a Bo3 fixture to determine the final entrants of the Lower Bracket Finals.
G2 Esports emerged with a flawless victory over Team Liquid after collecting both Icebox and Split by an overwhelming scoreline of 13-4. G2 went on to meet Fnatic in the tournament's Lower Finals, whereas Team Liquid were eliminated from the tournament.
However, after issues around FunPlus Phoenix's travel restrictions and COVID regulations, Team Liquid was rewarded with an opportunity to join G2 and Fnatic at the Masters: Reykjavik.
Mixwell sheds light on his expectations for G2 Esports after their victory over Team Liquid in VCT 2022 Stage 1 EMEA Challengers Lower Round 2
In conversation with Sportskeeda Esports' Adarsh J Kumar, G2 Esports' Oscar "mixwell" Cañellas Colocho commented on his expectations for Masters: Reykjavik, while talking about the team's performance at the VCT 2022 Stage 1 EMEA Challengers,
Q: G2 has been away from LAN events for a while now, with the last one being the VCT 2021 Masters: Berlin. How excited are you to return to the global stage at the Masters: Reykjavik?
mixwell: I feel great. It's been a redemption for me and I'm really happy for the team. We worked really hard. EMEA is such a tough region, and making it (to the Masters) is just insane.
Q: Team Liquid succeeded in defeating G2 in the upper bracket of the tournament just a few days ago. What did G2 do differently this time around to shift the outcome to their favor?
mixwell: I think that last time, Nivera played an amazing game. He was getting a lot of space and I wasn't playing aggressive enough. After the game, we rewatched and analyzed what went wrong.
I came to the conclusion that I needed to take on more responsibilities, and we fixed some of the stuff that they were doing against us. We understood what their gameplan was and today, we knew everything they were doing and I adjusted to it.
Q: Your win on Icebox today was G2's third consecutive victory on the map since the updates from Patch 4.04 kicked in. In your opinion, what is G2's biggest strength on the map?
mixwell: I think Icebox is one of our best maps. We made an adjustment replacing Jett for Chamber because that way, you can control everything on defense better. Our gamestyle is not dependent on having Jett, so our defense is really strong and our attack doesn't change at all.
This helps us control the whole map with Killjoy and Chamber's traps, and I think that's what makes us really strong.
Q: G2 Esports has encountered several issues over the course of the VCT 2022 Stage 1 EMEA Challengers. After overcoming all of your hurdles and qualifying for the Masters: Reykjavik, how would you describe G2's VCT journey?
mixwell: At the start, I was playing IGL and Duelist at the same time, which was tough for me. We lost the first Open Qualifier, so the team decided to bench me and bring keloqz back to have the firepower he brings to the team.
But after training with him for a while, they opted to call me again and told me that the team will improve more in the long term with me.
I came back from being benched. We switched the IGL role from me to nukkye. I think that was the key to success. Everyone is happy now. We just need to work together and stick together.
Q: Now that G2 have solidified their spot in the VCT 2022 Stage 1 Masters, are there any teams in particular that you would like to play against in Iceland?
mixwell: I would like to play against OpTic since it is my former team. I used to play for OpTic in CS: GO and I know Hector (Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez, founder of OpTic Gaming). I would like to play them in the finals though.
I would also like to play against Pyth (Bleed eSports), ardiis from FPX, and all of my ex-teammates because it's always fun with the banter before the match and stuff. I really like that.
