G2 Hans Sama on facing HLE next: "I really want to beat Gumayusi"
G2 are in the upper bracket at MSI. Down 0-2 to Top Esports, the LEC first seed reeled off three straight to reverse-sweep the LPL side and keep Europe's MSI hopes going. The french ADC was frank about the slow start — and already looking ahead to a bracket clash with Gumayusi. RFT.GG caught up with G2 ADC Steven "Hans Sama" Liv right after the win.
You keep beating Asian teams — how do you feel after that reverse sweep against Top Esports?
I feel good. The start of the series was a bit rough — nobody was really in the zone, honestly. We all knew game one felt off: there wasn't enough communication, we were too hesitant, everyone felt the tension. But as the series went on we took control again, and that's nice. I'd say we got good practice from Europe — in the playoffs we were and . Last year we struggled in those moments when we were behind. This time it was different — we managed to come back mentally.
That's the first step: being able to come back mentally.
The most important thing was to win game three, to put in a good performance there so everyone goes, "okay, let's do this." And when I looked at the enemies— not many smiles. So maybe we got ahead of them mentally, which is cool. I'm happy we pulled off a reverse sweep — that doesn't happen every time.
Would you say the mental side is your biggest improvement this year?
We definitely start our best-of-fives a bit slow — over the last three BO5s, we need to be better on that. But on the comeback side, it's clearly there. We're improving a lot mentally, because it's different — we scale into a best-of-five.
It felt like you and Labrov were fine in the bot lane all series; it was the top-side dynamic that swung the BO. How did you feel in the 2v2 overall?
I felt we were good in the 2v2 — confident, a bit more confident at the start of the series than later. In game one we were really tense, really scared, so I was like "okay, I'll just fight and let's see". We fought quite a lot — flip fights, 50/50s bot side. I feel like we need to do that, to grab the pressure back — because if we do nothing the vibe of the game is that we're slowly losing. You have to make things happen, go at them. I was happy we killed them a few times bot side. We made some mistakes — I made some mistakes. And the meta's a bit strange right now — or not strange, but it's shifting a bit.
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There are a lot of mages, but also a lot of proactive play top side. So you see supports going top side much more, and I try to do my best in those moments. I was on Sivir, and for the first minute and a half I was completely alone. It changes the dynamic a bit — but we're adjusting to the meta. They played Ziggs but it didn't worked well.
It's tough to say. These days we haven't really talked much about how to play certain teamfights. We blundered a few moments — there was one game, the Yunara-Lulu one, where I think I was strong. But every time, they managed to take flanks, and in those moments you have to be strategically better. I should have talked about it more. I was much more focused on doing proactive things, because we were sleeping a bit in games one and two — which didn't work.
I'm happy that in game three we could take some playmakers in the bot lane and do a few things. I died once or twice, a bit stupidly, but we carried a lot of pressure — especially onto the Aphelios - Thresh, in lane — Aphelios loses his flash every time, so the guy can't play. Very hard to play.
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You've been Europe's only hope for years, and since First Stand that's felt more concrete. Did you come in with a different status than your usual underdog one — and did that bring the early pressure?
We do have that thought, that First Stand hopium, but we can't let it distract us. Everyone thinks about it, we think about it too, but it can go the wrong way — you really have to focus. When you go up against the LCK second seed and the LCK first seed, there's nothing to stress about; you just do your best, like at First Stand. Maybe against BLG in a final, you tell yourself there's a bit more pressure. But it's important everyone feels free when we play. Game one we were a bit stressed — it's easy to see, I'm sure everyone can tell. We start slow, like at First Stand, where we also started the BO5 slow.
I think I could have played so much better. I'll refocus and come back with better preparation.
I think I'm strong these days; it's just that on stage, I feel I could give more.
Photo Credit: Christina Oh/Riot Games
Next up is HLE — Skewmond told me that he has a revenge to take against Kanavi. For you, i guess it's against Gumayusi. Like TES, HLE tends to play a lot around the top side. Are you confident?
I'm fairly confident. We know how they play, we've played them before, and I'm sure what they've shown on stage is a lot of top-side play — so we can expect that, and at the pick level too.
And I'm very happy to get the chance to take my revenge against Gumayusi — I really want to beat him.
We'll see, it's pretty hype. We'll give it everything.
You tend to put a label on the ADCs you face — their main quality. What's Gumayusi's, and how confident are you in that direct matchup?
I think Gumayusi has changed a bit. Being at HLE this Spring Split, I find he has a more supportive playstyle — he plays a lot of AP-based picks. That's kind of my read on him right now. Sometimes you have an ADC who carries; here it's also his teammates helping him. Their playstyle, in draft and strategy, is top side — I think they'll play more for scaling, clear the waves, and play around the mid-jungle-support timings.
Photo Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
As for the matchup, yes, I'm confident. I want to go into game one with a bit less stress than today. I remember JackeyLove pushing up on his Varus — if I'd been really pixel-ready, I think I could potentially have killed him at level two, because he was abusing his step a bit. I could have done better there. But I want to attack the best-of-five a bit more aggressively against HLE.
