"It's going to be a spicy week, and may the best win" — SkewMond on G2's Madrid Roadshow showdown
Photo Credit: Riot Games
Fresh off a win over Natus Vincere, G2 jungler SkewMond sat down with RFT.GG to talk through the team's current shape ahead of the Madrid Roadshow. He addressed his matchup with Rhilech, the new patch, what First Stand revealed about the side's ceiling — and his Team France selection alongside Caliste for the Esports Nations Cup.
You just beat NaVi tonight — an important win for you. How are you feeling after the game?
Honestly, we're happy with the win. There are still quite a few things to clean up to make our games smoother, but right now in the regular season I think the most important thing is just to grab those wins. We'll do our best to clean up our play if we qualify for playoffs.
You just played against Rhilech, probably the most impressive rookie this year. As a jungler, how is it to face him?
I think he's pretty good, honestly — especially in a rookie year. He's shown some really good things. In terms of jungling, he has a good read on what he wants to do. I do think their team plays a lot around him, which makes things a fair bit easier for him. But what he's showing, the way he plays — very aggressive — that's great for a rookie.
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I think he has a very good future ahead of him.
Photo Credit: Wojciech Wandzel/Riot Games
You're playing on the new patch. How do you see it from a jungle perspective? You've been able to scrim on it, I assume?
Honestly, we only had one scrim on the patch. But in jungle, I don't think there are huge changes — unless I'm talking nonsense. There's not really much that's shifted.
I noticed a new burn rune. Do you think that's the return of AP jungle, or is it a bit early to say?
I don't think so. If the rune was completely broken, then maybe — and it is a pretty strong rune. I think it suits Brand, who was meta back then. But the bigger issue is the champions around it: the enchanter meta, the AP mid champions — I don't think they really let you play that kind of jungler. So I'd be surprised if we see them. Maybe in a Bo5, you could see those picks — but more in Game 4 or 5.
It's your second year with G2, you've grown into a bigger role and you shotcall a lot. Concretely, do you see yourself as the vocal leader of this team?
Not 100%. In terms of early game and how we transition into mid game, yeah, I do say a lot. But for everything that comes back to pure macro, when games are close — I think everyone has their share in how we communicate during games. And I think that's a good thing.
If I were the main shotcaller at 100% and there's a day where I'm not on it, or I start to fall behind, I don't think that's a good thing for us going into mid game. Now that everyone can take the lead on it, it's a positive.
As you said, G2 has been a bit shaky in regular season for several splits now. We're almost at the end of Spring before the Roadshow. Do you feel you've fixed most of those consistency issues, or is there still a lot of work?
There's still a lot of work, I think. Slow and steady, but accelerating, I'd say. Especially since next week is going to be huge for the playoff race and the top 4. So I hope we can really put ourselves in a position to play well in scrims and learn as much as possible. We'll see — I'm confident going into our next matches, and I hope we can play well.
You're running into the two biggest matches of your season on paper, right at the end of the split, at the Madrid Roadshow. For a team like G2 that loves big matches, big stages, how are you feeling going into the weekend?
Honestly, I feel good. Very happy to be playing those teams in front of a crowd like that. I think every game is going to be hype, ours and the others. It's going to be a spicy week, and may the best win.
Which team do you think will give you the most trouble this weekend?
It’s hard to say — I think every team has their own strengths. I think MKOI are gaining momentum back, even though they didn't have the best start to the season. KC are still as solid as ever — they're the classic strong team almost all the time, very disciplined. And GIANTX is a bit of a flip — they have a 50-50 playstyle. When their champions click and they roll through early game, they can be a really tough team to face. I think all three teams are very, very strong, and we'll see on the day who has the edge.
I hope so — but it would be lying to say we're going to win all the trophies. I think we have a huge amount of work to do, and the performances we put up at First Stand, mine individually or as a team, don't represent what we'll be showing next week, in three months, during Summer, etc.
The most important thing is really to keep our feet on the ground and stay consistent in what we do, in how we do things, in scrims. And I think it'll be very important to adapt to patches and have a good read on the meta, on how to play in general.
But it's certain that we've shown we can break that barrier against the best teams in the world, that we clearly have a chance against them. I hope we'll get another shot — at MSI this split, at EWC, or in Summer or Worlds — to face those top teams again.
It means a lot. It's still early to think about it — it's far into the season — but I'm excited to see what we can do with that team. Representing France colours in esports is not something I expected in my career, so it's something I really hold close, and I hope I can show good things at that tournament.
Photo Credit: Riot Games
People are excited to see the Skewmond–Caliste duo play together. Are you excited too?
Yeah, honestly, it'd be cool to see what I can do with him.Caliste is someone I've known for a while, since the Open Tour (French tier 3 tournament) days to be honest — I think I even did some tryouts with him back then. Since then we've both made our paths and improved a lot.
So I'm genuinely curious to see what playing with him is like. Frankly, it's going to be hype.
