MSI Preview: G2 Esports, A Samurai Always Gets Back Up

For the first time since MAD Lions dominance in 2021, G2 Esports has missed out on two consecutive LEC titles. Yet they were not far off. With large dominations in the Winter and Spring upper brackets – 3 games lost in total out of 3 Bo5s and 2 Bo3s – the Samurai lost their momentum at the worst possible timing, in both finals. The results were crushing defeats: 3-0 to KC and 3-1 to MKOI. It is with a very different status to that of previous years that G2 is tiptoeing towards MSI.

And it’s not two “unfortunate accidents” that are to blame for these missed finals, quite the opposite. If the Samurai put on a show of authority in the upper brackets, it was all the better to hide the misery they displayed in the regular season. For example, in Winter, G2 got off to the worst possible start with a 1-2 week, including a loss to BDS. But the real wake-up call came when they were close to elimination before even reaching the playoffs, losing BO3 to teams such as GX and BDS, coming in with not much confidence.

Old Souls On The Wane

Speaking of confidence, many might believe that the fault for this irregular and sometimes dysfunctional roster lies with rookies Labros “Labrov” Papoutsakis and Rudy “SkewMond” Semaan. That being said, I believe that it is in the very core of this roster that the culprits must be found, starting with Rasmus “Caps” Winther and Sergen “BrokenBlade” Çelik.

To say that they are bad overall would be an exaggeration, but until 2025, these two were the undisputed best sololaners in Europe, if not the West. As the results of the All-Pro-Team votes of Spring show, those standards seem a long way off now. “Baby Faker” is in the third team, while“The Topfather” isn’t even there. Without his status as the GOAT of Europe deeply ingrained in the collective consciousness, I sincerely don’t think Caps would have had a place in the top 4 or 5 after his regular season.

The #LEC Spring All-Pro Team! pic.twitter.com/ZcZyPIYTkS

— LEC (@LEC) May 23, 2025

The holder of 14 European titles seems to have lost his touch. Last year, when he was voted MVP, he was best known for his sidelane game. With champions such as Azir, Tristana and Yone, Caps was imperial and always dominated 1v1 to offer his team free wins. This year, and with the new meta increasingly geared towards grouped game phases and teamfights, as well as the addition of new neutral objectives in the early stages, the Danish midlaner can’t find his way around and spends more time dying at the start and leaving his team in 4v5 than in clutch situations. And he’s not the only one.

Steven “Hans Sama” Liv was always known for his exceptional laning phases, but also for sometimes losing the thread in teamfights. The Frenchman has been unfortunate this year, with more teamfighting and less laning phase, with lane swaps still available post 4min. But it’s important to note that he has made significant progress in this department, particularly after excessive training on his mechanics and clicks, to finally be able to handle the champions he lacked until now, such as Kai’Sa and Ezreal. The champion pool is also a problem for G2’s illustrious bot laner.

Newcomers Blow Hot And Cold

BrokenBlade used to redefine the world meta in recent years, bringing to the fore a wide range of unexpected picks who ultimately proved to be very powerful (Twisted Fate, Rek’Sai, Zac, Dr Mundo, Galio…). However, this year he seems to have run out of ideas. His attempts have been totally unsuccessful (0% win rate at Spring on Warwick, Malphite, Yasuo, Sett, Dr Mundo), but his style of play is also unrecognisable, as he often plays from behind after the lane. And when he does get an advantage, he has a much harder time converting it on the rest of the map than in the previous three years, when he was known for being able to unravel situations and carry teamfights single-handedly.

As for the newcomers, in my opinion, SkewMond has a lot of potential. The jungler can win games on his own if his team plays for him, as he is very good at getting an exponential advantage over his direct opponent (+418 gold at 15min on average this spring, surpassing the second best with over 200 gold). The worry is that this makes his game – and by extension that of his team – too predictable, allowing more aggressive and creative junglers to take over. That was, for example, the biggest issue G2 faced against MKOI in the final.

As for Labrov, the same problem as with his previous teams is apparent: his inconsistency. On a good day, he’ll find clutch after clutch, especially on the hooking champions he’s so good at. But on a bad day, he’ll be a burden to his team, with repeated deaths while trying to take vision and a total disconnect with his teammates when it comes to the flow of the game.

G2 Esports – Time to pull off the magic

G2 will therefore have to go through the play-in stage before entering the big boys’ competition at MSI, and in my opinion, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. While I can’t see them evolving into a team that’s much more incisive and confident in teamfighting in such a short period of time, the Samurai are known for entering international competitions with a bang.

This is often due to their coaching staff, the creativity of their players, and their lightning-fast understanding of the meta. Qualification for the bracket stage is far from a foregone conclusion, with BLG far superior on paper and GAM potentially surprising them. But in a new Fearless format, with the right ideas in drafts as well as in-game, and players potentially regaining form, G2 could be a threat for Asian teams, just like in the past few years. I’m not banking on it, but I will be happy to be proven wrong.