"These Defeats Aren't Representative of the Level We'll Have in Playoffs" — Skewmond After G2 Close the Regular Season on a Loss
Photo Credit: Riot Games
G2 Esports close their regular season on a sour note — a loss to GIANTX, their second in a row, finishing 6-3. But with a top-four spot already secured and a BO5 away from Worlds, Rudy "Skewmond" Semaan wasn't hitting the panic button. The G2 jungler sat down with RFT.GG to talk about why these results don't worry him, the internal coaching change, a painful international run, and his personal goals heading into playoffs.
How are you feeling after the loss?
Honestly, disappointed. From what we showed today, I think the games were clearly in our hands and unfortunately we didn't manage to play the game plan well. So it's disappointing. But from another perspective, we've been locked top four for two weeks — a win would only have locked us top two. So it's not a big deal.
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We're near the end of the split, playoffs are in two weeks. Should you start worrying about these bad results, especially after Fnatic last week too?
Yes and no. Clearly it's not the best thing to lose, but I think the most important thing is simply to perform in playoffs. There'll be a new patch. Today was our last game of the regular season — there's still another week of LEC next week, but we won't play at all, so we'll have quite a bit of time to scrim, hopefully adapt to the meta, fix as many gameplay details as possible, and arrive in shape.
I think these defeats aren't representative of the level we'll potentially have in playoffs — at least I hope so.
It's something we often see with G2 — the regular season isn't always representative of playoffs. But what do you think is going wrong in-game right now? Are you not adapted to the meta yet, or is it game plans you struggle to stick to?
I can't even say exactly. Maybe just having better game plans in general in the mid game. We got a Baron in both games we lost — if we snowball well and play correctly around our win conditions, I think we should have won them. There's clearly a fair amount to review there. I just think we need better plans and to be on the same page in general.
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Outside of in-game, in terms of prep — did G2 ease off a bit to avoid burning out before the Worlds sprint? Do you think the meta doesn't suit you? Is there also an adaptation to the new coach and new processes, or none of that?
I think in terms of prep we could clearly have done better, but it was a conscious choice on our side to be a bit chill. Like I said, we were already locked top four even before our game against Fnatic, so technically we know the patch is going to change, the meta is going to change, andthese games don't really have value.
Of course losing is demoralising, but I think we're mature enough not to mental boom over regular-season defeats.
Obviously we'd have liked to win — I'm not going to lie and say we don't care, that we just want to lose. We play the games fully, and if we lose, the team in front was better.
To put it aside — a lot of people wonder, after seeing you tilt a bit on facecams. Do you hate your teammates, Skew?
*laugh* Of course not, but it's always funny to see the reactions. Even I laugh sometimes when I go back and watch a game, because it's obviously not something I'm necessarily aware of while I'm playing — but it's funny to see what people say.
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I wanted to come back on G2's last international run. Before the results — how did you feel in those tournaments? You arrived with a different status than before, when they were your first. You built up a lot of XP, First Stand had gone very well individually. How did you feel there, in Korea and then in France?
For MSI, I think I could have and clearly should have done better. There are quite a few aspects I won't necessarily talk about that I should have done better — gameplay and outside of it. It's a shame, because we clearly had a good chance to go far. We made top four anyway, that's fine, but getting 3-0'd by NA... It wasn't the best ending we could have had. So on that side I think it was okay, but I could have done better honestly.
As for EWC — I don't think I'll even talk about it, it's just something to forget.
And team-wise, did you feel you were on the same page there, that you adapted quickly, the atmosphere was good? Did you feel you used your shared international experience the way you should have?
For MSI, I think it's fine. Again, there were quite a few things we should have done better to prepare well. I think EWC was much more complicated because we didn't have our performance coach with us, and we made an internal change — we changed head coach. We had zero days to prepare for that change. I think that's why EWC was completely disastrous. EWC was the hardest, but it's just our fault.
Photo Credit: Riot Games
How did you personally live through that coaching change? It's already been said the players didn't have much say in it, but you who lived the team environment from the inside — did you understand the decision? Do you feel a shift in dynamic since? Even if the last two days aren't great, you've had a better regular season than usual.
Without saying too much — honestly, I think there was necessarily something we had to change with the team. And yeah, like you said, I think there's been a change of dynamic since the change.
We needed to change something to get off to a good start.
That's the decision we made.
Are you satisfied with the start so far — even if these two games have less value? Is it encouraging for playoffs and the upcoming Worlds?
I think there are quite a few aspects where it's positive, and others where we've clearly regressed a bit. So overall — again, it's barely been a month, I won't count EWC because it was really only three days — but it's been a month since the LEC season started.
So far there are clearly a lot of things that changed, that let us step a bit out of our comfort zone.
But obviously, making such a fast change when we had a coach as great as Dylan, it wasn't easy at the start, and we fully expected that. On one side, I'm more surprised that we had a very, very good start — we were 5-1, and honestly the KC game, we should have closed it.
Having a 5-1, almost 6-0 start — I'd expected the opposite, a real slow start and then coming back strong. That's why I'm a bit mixed, obviously. I hope it goes well, because usually it's the opposite — despite our regular season being decent compared to what we usually have. Usually we have a slow start and keep ramping up until the end of the regular season to arrive in playoffs. Here it's a bit the opposite.
What's your individual goal this split? Beyond lifting the trophy — more on the player development side. What do you want to accomplish or add to your arsenal to arrive at Worlds in the best conditions, on qualities you or the team might lack?
Just being able to be omnipresent in games, being fully focused, being able to shotcall and make the hard decisions in the team.
Especially in terms of macro in the mid game — seeing things others might not see, which lets us potentially be clutch. In general, being decisive on what I want to do and on communication.
Honestly, apart from that, being the best jungler in the league goes without saying, but the most important thing is to be the best team. The most important thing, like you said, is to win the trophy. I hope we'll have good performances.
Photo Credit: Riot Games
Last question — what would make this end of year a success you'd be proud of collectively? And conversely, what would spoil the good year you're having?
It's going to be a bit simple, but just making Worlds— and hopefully winning the split, simply. On the other side, if we don't make Worlds, it would just be a potential disaster. So step by step — and of course if we qualify for Worlds, go as far as possible.
