Perkz on his arrival at G2: "I joined and the scrims were very negative it was very shocking for me"
Fresh off G2 Esports' 2-0 elimination at the hands of Dplus KIA at the Esports World Cup, head coach Luka "Perkz" Perković — who took over the team ahead of the summer split — sat down with us to address the loss, the circumstances of his return to G2, the noise surrounding Dylan Falco's departure, and G2's goals for the rest of the year.
How are you feeling?
Difficult question — I didn't miss these questions a lot in esports. [laughs] I'm feeling fine — sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. We did not go into this tournament with super high hopes, because of the fatigue from MSI and the insta traveling. The teams that were not at MSI don't have this fatigue. And it also doesn't help that I was not allowed to be on stage. I'm not saying it would have made a difference, but perhaps it would be just a bit of a difference.
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But it doesn't excuse our play — I think our play has just gotten worse.
Why weren't you allowed on stage?
Because of the admin stuff — the change was very late, so I was not accepted by EWC as the head coach for the tournament. Which obviously feels really bad for me personally, since I am a head coach, but I'm also sort of not a head coach since I'm not on stage.
There's been a lot of noise recently. How did your recruitment with G2 happen in the first place?
I've been away from esports for the past two years, and it's been a good break. I've been chatting with G2, mostly with Alban — every off-season for many years. It feels like the culture and view that Perkz has as a brand, as a player or a coach, whatever, is the same as the one G2 has.
It was just a matter of time before our paths would cross again.
The idea of me coming back to G2 in some sort of way was mentioned before, but I wasn't ready to come back to esports. Then this year, something changed in my life, and I was down to do it again. So I wrote them: okay, I would be down to try a coaching position — assistant coaching, being a bit more laid back, having a bit more free time, not having all the responsibility. Having a bit more of a chill life with coaching.
Then I joined, and the team atmosphere was just very low. The scrims were very negative and not winning. It was very shocking for me, because G2 just 6-0'd Korea at First Stand and lost to BLG. I didn't expect the scrims to be so rough against European teams. So it felt like I had to instantly do something about it. After day one or day two, I felt — I would not say betrayed, but a bit misled. It's like: "oh, things are bad, so we're getting you". I was expecting to chill a bit.
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So I just took a lot of initiative, because I can't help myself. I brought the vibes up — tried my best to bring them up, to make people a bit happier — and obviously focused on game communication, laning phase, all those things I can be helpful with. After basically five weeks of being on the team, I got asked if I wanted to be the head coach for summer split. I was a bit surprised, I guess. I mean it made sense, but I was also a bit surprised. I was not certain if I wanted to be back in sort of a spotlight, because as a coach, you have to be doing these kinds of things [the interview].
But it made sense, from my perspective and from G2's perspective. So after thinking about it for two weeks, I accepted the offer. And I've been preparing and adjusting how I can be the best impact I can be to the team. That's basically the story.
Romain said in his tweets that there was a difference of vision between you and Dylan. Can you be more specific — what was different?
I'm not entirely sure what the different vision was, to be fair. I'm just giving my perspective here, my story — literally what happened.
The whole team got kind of stuck in a way where they were very content with the way things were being done, if that makes sense. There was no push. I came in and challenged the system a lot — but I was basically asked to do that, and players liked it, and I guess the upper management liked it.
Photo Credit: Wojciech Wandzel/Riot Games
G2 is capable of winning LEC a lot of times — they showed it already, they won many, many times, and I think Dylan has done a fantastic job as well. But their aspirations are to push the team to do something more. I'm not saying I'm going to do that, but I will do my best to create constructive feedback, conflict time where people can talk to each other and get on the same ideas — because there's only so far a team can get if you are not on the same page. Everything I'm doing is getting the team on the same page, and it's going to take a while — we're in the same book, but we're not on the same page. Sometimes it will be really insane and sometimes it will not be.
I want to make G2 the more consistent version of themselves
One that understands each other's gameplay, emotions, and the feedback they can get from each other. That's the goal.
At the same time, they 6-0'd the LCK, then beat T1 3-1 at MSI. Given everything that happened, doesn't the timing look weird — at least from the outside?
I can see from a viewer perspective why things look weird. I'm not looking for any gratitude or whatever, but I've been part of the team for the last three months. G2 6-0'd Korea before, right? And it would be very petty of me to say that I think that was a bit of a fluke — but I would say it anyways, because I think it was.I think even the players are aware of that. I'm just doing my best to make us improve at the things we need improving on.
Photo Credit: Liu Yicun/Riot Games
Should fans see this coaching change as a long-term investment — 2027, 2028 — or should expectations for 2026 remain unchanged?
I believe that G2 will keep up good performances at the international tournament to come, which is Worlds. Sure, I like to believe that I'm building a culture that's going to be there long term, but the first goal is Worlds.
I believe G2 did this change in order for us to have a better chance at making a run at Worlds.
#PerkovićIn