"I Want to Bring Europe Back to the Top of the Map" — Skewmond, Spring Final MVP, Before MSI
Photo Credit: Riot Games
Another final, another G2 title — but this one came the hard way. KC pushed them to five games before Rudy "Skewmond" Semaan and G2 closed it out to defend their crown and head to MSI as the first European seed. The Spring final MVP sat down with RFT.GG right after to talk about the comeback, his rivalry with Caliste, Perkz's arrival on the staff, and why he refuses to get ahead of himself.
How are you feeling?
Very happy, honestly.
This BO was clearly much harder than the last final. The last final, I think it was more us making a lot of mistakes — the games were really within our reach. But today, KC played really, really well. They had very good game plans and very good drafts, which made things much more complicated.
I'm very happy with the BO, I think it was very competitive. And I hope we can show good things at MSI — whether it's KC or us.
We saw Perkz with you. What's he doing with the team — is he a coach, is he there temporarily?
Loading comments...
Technically, yeah, like a coach. I think this is the first time he made a public appearance alongside us. We've been working with him for a while, a few weeks I'd say. It's going pretty well. He brings a lot of knowledge, and he's an ultra-smart player, so it's very valuable to have someone like him on the team.
Is he there for the gameplay side, or more for the performance, mental side?
It's more knowledge — really just as a coach on the game and everything game-related.
It felt like KC responded much better to your style and your attempts to get Yike behind, which you'd managed every other time you faced them. Did you feel they learned from their defeats against you?
Honestly, even in our previous wins, we didn't really have a special strategy against them like 'put Yike out of the game.' We were just focused on the gameplay, taking the best opportunities in front of us and playing our game plan. So yeah, when you look at the last games, the big factor in their defeats was just the jungler falling behind and not being able to help the lanes. I think today they just played better in general. I don't think there was anything special in detail — maybe I need to review the games and I'll have some answers. But I think they just played better as a team, and as usual KC is a team that clicks very well in teamfights, so that's where it's a bit dangerous against them. They played very well that day.
Did you at G2 expect them to show a different face than what they'd shown against you so far?
And on their side, they definitely wanted to take that revenge — because the wins we had in the regular season, in playoffs and at the EWC, nobody cares if you win the final in the end.
So I think they had that mindset of just taking revenge and coming in with a lot of rage. They showed it well today, but unfortunately for them, fortunately for us, we still managed to win. I think it was a really beautiful BO5.
What happened after game three? Did you have to readapt, did you have a discussion, did you go to another plan? How did you turn it around in games four and five?
Honestly, I just think the two drafts weren't the easiest to execute. KC chose the more classic front-to-back, first-target approach. For game three in particular, I just remember a few moments where we got caught right before having a good fight, which made the game much more complicated than expected. I think we were really on a good roll in the early game when I looked at the state of the map. But I think we rushed a bit, and we just calmed our game down in the next games and it worked well.
Loading tweet...
I want to come back on this rivalry with KC — three finals against each other out of five played since you arrived in the league, notably with Caliste. Would you say a real rivalry has settled in, something that pushes you both higher, where each of you wants to be the new standard-bearer of Europe?
Yes, I think so necessarily.
I can really speak from experience because I've been playing against Caliste since 2022 — I think I'm the player who has played against him the most ever. Every year I play against him, and honestly it's beautiful to see how we've taken our respective paths but always found a way to face each other in finals or in the big moments.
It's really nice to see. He obviously has all the talent to become a great, great player, so I wish him the best on my side. And I'm sure on his side too, this kind of healthy rivalry just pushes us to give it our all and become the best in our respective roles.
It feels like G2's wins often go through you, through getting you ahead one way or another. Caps even told me he had to adapt to your arrival and Labrov's, becoming more of a facilitator. Would you say playing through you, on your conditions, has become G2's way of playing?
Again, I just think every game is different and we don't really have that mindset. We never sat down one day and said 'ok, let's give resources to Skew and just win the games.' We never did that — we just play our game, and since I'm the jungler I take a big part of the communication, at least in the early and early-mid game. What I see in the games, I'll call it, and if it's a good play, I'll just go for it. And I think that's also one of our strengths — we're able to carry from every role, honestly. It depends on the game, we won't carry with a Sion top, but it depends. Everyone can take over games.
There was not a moment — maybe last year after the two lost finals and the MSI disappointment — where you reviewed how you play, where you guys decided to focus resources on you or to have clearer conditions? Or was it really natural?
Oh no, we had a very, very, very big talk especially after MSI. I think you saw we started playing better after EWC — because honestly, it was mistake after mistake, whether it was the Winter final, the Spring final, into MSI...
We were just playing like clowns, we really weren't playing well. But again, it wasn't a talk about making this or that player carry. We just sat down to play League of Legends better, simply.
To look at our faults, our mistakes, and how we want to play the games. We focused a lot on communication and a lot of other details like vision, which helped us a lot.
Photo Credit: Liu YiCun/Riot Games
On the individual side — you joined the league last year as a rookie, since then six finals, three won, a Worlds quarterfinal, a 3-0 against Canyon... If we went back to ask the BDSA-you, would he expect it to go this fast?
Honestly, I couldn't say. What's certain is that I knew when I joined the team that it wasn't going to be an easy task.
Everyone might think that if someone else were in my place, joining a roster that won 8 LEC titles out of 7 before my arrival — that you play with Caps, it's going to be very simple to just move forward and win.
But then you realise you're in that roster and you need to be good as well to win, you need to be very strong, you need to adapt to your surroundings, your team. It clearly wasn't an easy thing, and honestly I expected that. I think the fact that we started with two lost finals and that disastrous MSI helped us a lot to wake up. Looking back now — at the time it was very hard — I realise it really helped us. And on my side, individually, I just wanted to make sure I reached the level required for this team. The things that come after, all the better. If we can beat Korean or Chinese teams, it'll just be the fruit of the work I've put in and we've put in as a team.
Are you proud of everything you've accomplished since you arrived? Have you had a moment to step back and realise it?
Not that much. Obviously winning titles is cool, it's a really nice moment, and having good performances at internationals is very important. But I haven't really stepped back. Not in the sense that it would inflate my ego or anything — I'm happy with what I've accomplished, of course.
But my goal, without being delusional, is to win Worlds or win an international tournament.
So I really try to live day by day. The best example is First Stand — afterwards everyone sees us as an ultra-strong, top-of-the-world team. We come back to Europe and struggle against Fnatic and teams like that. And on my side I'm not playing very well individually. That's why I try to keep that spontaneous mindset — just because I think I played well today doesn't mean I'll play well tomorrow or that I'll be the best jungler in the world at MSI. I need to stay grounded.
Loading tweet...
You're off to MSI soon, with a bootcamp at T1. Are you excited?
Honestly, it's going to be super cool. I've never been to Korea, so it's going to be an insane experience for me — it's really the country of LoL. Just playing at the T1 facility is going to be a first for me, so I hope it's going to be cool and that we can have good performances.
Given what you did at First Stand, can we say that not winning MSI would be a failure for G2?
Failure, I don't know. But obviously everyone has a lot of expectations. And again, I come back to my point — even at First Stand, our first BO5s against Secret Whales and BLG, even though we won 3-0 against Secret Whales, it clearly wasn't the most convincing. It was just the fruit of our work in the tournament, bouncing back and learning from our mistakes, that made us improve.
So at this tournament, we'll try to aim as far as possible and bring Europe back to the top of the map.
But it clearly won't be easy — there will be a lot more teams than at First Stand, and the level generally improves month by month. So the teams will be stronger than at First Stand, and on our side we'll try to keep that level and keep improving.
Do you understand that some people still doubt G2 is a top team in the world after First Stand — that it wasn't enough and MSI need to be the confirmation?
Yeah, honestly I find that normal too. I understand both sides — the fans who expect a lot from us because we did go 6-0 against the LCK, which is very promising. But you always have to be rational. You wouldn't take, I don't know, TPA from 2012, bring them now just because they won Worlds and expect them to play well. I'm exaggerating, because it's only been a few months since First Stand. But the idea is the same — the meta will change, patches will come, so we'll have to adapt again, and maybe there will be gameplay changes too. But in principle, I hope we can do good things and be as competitive as possible.
Loading tweet...
Last question — is there a player you'd particularly like to face there?
Canyon is always very good and it'd be nice to face him. Otherwise, I think Top Esports qualified for MSI, so Tian — historically with G2 it'd be cool to face him and take a bit of revenge there. Only one from AL and BLG can make it, but whatever if it’s Tarzan or Xun it will be some very good junglers. Apart from that, all the junglers, whether LPL or LCK, are going to be great to face.
Honestly, WE were clearly a surprise, but I watched a lot of their games, and I think they won a lot with unusual cheeses. I don't know if they'll get away with it a second time. That's why I don't think they'll qualify — but if they do, it's going to be explosive for sure against Monki, so we'll see.
Rapid Fire Questions
A rapid-fire round to close out — yes/no answers, with optional context.
Summer 2025 is the split you're most proud of individually in your career. → Yes.
It's also the split where you made the most progress. → Yes.
Caps is a top 5 player of all time. → Yes.
You're proud of the El Diablo nickname. → Yes, of course.
KC will make it out of the play-in at MSI. → I hope so — it'll be really hard against a top 2 LCK, but I wish them the best.
G2 will win MSI. → Yes.
Your best quality as a player is your ability to snowball a lead consistently. → Yes.
Is it harder to reach the top than to stay at the top? → No. Staying at the top is really hard.
For a jungler, the early game is the most important aspect of the game. → Kind of, yeah.
You're already in the top 5 junglers in the world. → Not yet — I hope I'll prove it at MSI.
Everything G2 accomplishes this year will be useless if you don't deliver at Worlds. → Probably, yeah.
