G2 Vania: “I feel like this year must be our year” – Game Changers Championship 2025

At the 2025 VALORANT Game Changers Championship in Seoul, G2 Gozen once again returned to the international stage with a renewed roster, refreshed energy, and the confidence of a team that recently reclaimed the EMEA throne. Their opening match showcased that familiar G2 swagger: a comfortable win expected by many, but still an important tone-setter for a lineup that spent a significant part of the year rebuilding.

After the series, Hotspawn sat down with G2’s star Controller and secondary IGL, Vania, to talk about the win, her return to Controller, her growth as a leader, the arrival of new talent like Akita, and the struggles that shaped G2’s 2025 journey.

Hotspawn: First off, congratulations on the win.

How are you feeling after that opening match?

Vania: I’m feeling great, but I felt like we were chilling after the win, because we were expecting to win, especially our first match. It was a bit of a warm-up game for us, I can say, because we threw some rounds and it could have been more pressure, but we enjoyed playing.

Hotspawn: It looked like you were having fun on stage. Many expected G2 to bounce back this year after all the role changes, roster updates, and the ups and downs of 2024.

Let’s talk about those changes, starting with you playing Duelist. How was that experience for you?

Vania: In the beginning it felt really good. I was playing and I was shooting. But lately we felt like sometimes I was going inside and I was- normally I was the player that was coaching or helping as a second player or third player, and so the team chemistry didn’t go well with me playing Duelist. And I’m also overthinking a lot when I’m playing. It’s just my game style. I’m thinking a lot while I’m playing. That’s why Controller suits me well, better than Duelist.

So yeah, in the beginning it was good but now I’m glad that I’m not playing Duelist.

Hotspawn: You’re widely regarded as one of the best Controllers in EMEA  honestly, one of the best in the world for the last three years.

What’s your secret?

Vania: I think my secret is I’m always trying to find the bad play. If I play bad in some situation, I’m just trying to fix it instantly. I’m thinking about the situation or the position, and I’m trying to fix in my mind and I’m learning from it. Even in ranked, I’m playing super try-hard.

And always, even in ranked, if I die, I’m just thinking ‘I could have done that instead of this,’ or something. And I believe it made me a better player.

Hotspawn: Speaking of ranked, how much do you all play?

Vania: Normally, before we came to Korea, it’s maybe three or four games — I can say it is for me. But in the past, some days I’m not playing ranked and I’m just playing DMs, and some days I’m playing five or six ranked. But usually it’s like three or four for the day average.

Akita is playing a lot.

Hotspawn: I remember, one time I think she said she played 24 hours straight…

Vania: She’s built different.

Hotspawn: You said the team felt confident going into today.

Do you feel that way against everyone at this tournament?

Vania: No, because I respect other teams as well. I also respected Nova as well, but on paper, I know that we are the better team because I know my teammates.

The other teams I’m watching, and I know there’s good teams as well, and I trust my team. But I cannot say ‘we 100% win this match’, you know, but I just trust my team and I feel like we have confidence right now and we’ll see on the stage — who knows?”

Hotspawn: Winning the last event in Istanbul looked emotional for your whole team.

How was playing at home again?

Vania: I played on that stage like every year in Istanbul. I feel like I’m at home, and I’m playing, and I have some mates cheering for us. Especially this year it was a bit easier for us to play because we had the experience from last year, because we also played on the same stage. Yeah, we had experience and we were confident.

Hotspawn: There were so many role shuffles for G2 this year, and the first half of the season looked rough.

How did that feel through the months?

Vania: I can just say that last year, when I joined G2, we were winning every split in EMEA. And after the first or second splits, I was feeling normal when I’m playing the splits because I knew that we were gonna win. But this year we struggled a lot. In the beginning, we weren’t expecting us to lose the games like that and make the wrong decisions, like wrong changes. And then we started losing the matches. Then we said, ‘Okay, we cannot keep it like this and we need to change it.’

In the beginning, I lost my confidence a bit because it wasn’t a usual thing for us to lose like that. Then on the second split, it was better than the first splits. But now finally I feel like we just put the right pieces on the team again. And now I feel confident again, especially after the first two splits, because I really lost my confidence a bit. I was like, ‘Am I good still?’. But now I can see that everyone is good on the team.

Hotspawn: The community jokes that G2 always finds new players through ranked.

Was that the case with Akita?

Vania: Yeah, I heard that as well. But it wasn’t from ranked. We saw her playing at a tournament with ZERANCE?. To think how did we pick her up — we had a list that we wanted to try. ‘We can try this player, this player,’ and Akita was there as well. I had no idea how she was playing.

I just saw some clips, and in the clips she was looking good. And then we tried her, and she was the best one that we tried as a Duelist. Mechanically and aim — she was so good. And after the first day I remember we were saying, ‘okay, let’s get her,’ because she was insane on tryouts.

Hotspawn: You seem extremely comfortable at this event.

What changed from last year?

Vania: Last year, for example, I wasn’t playing comfortable like this. Today, especially after the first map when we went to the green room, I said I feel like I’m playing confident and comfortable compared to last year. Because last year it was my first year with G2, and now I’m kind of the second IGL on the team and I have more responsibility, and I’m talking more compared to last year.

Because last year usually I was listening to the calls and I was just saying ‘okay’ to everything. I wasn’t saying, like, ‘no, we shouldn’t do this.’ I wasn’t even cancelling some calls, even if I felt like it was wrong. But now I’m talking more and I’m helping them better compared to last year. And I just feel like, ‘okay, this year must be our year after these things’. So I feel more comfortable.

Hotspawn: Is this your first time in Korea?

How do you like Seoul?

Vania: It’s my first time. I like the city. I love Asia. And the food is also good. There’s a lot of meat and I love meat. And I like the city. We didn’t visit the city that much, I just saw some streets when I’m travelling. But hopefully we will have time to go and visit the city as well.

Hotspawn: Have you been to Olive Young yet?

Vania: Yes, we went there. It was the only one store. I guess we went shopping and my teammates were saying ‘Vania bought everything.’ Because normally I’m just using one or two things for skincare stuff. I’m not the person that’s using everything, you know, but here I know that Korean skincare is the best one. And I just went there, and I had a list on my phone that people were recommending, ‘this is good,’ ‘you can buy this from Korea.’ And I explored all of them, and I had three bags or something. Then everyone had only one bag. I bought everything and it’s really good.

Hotspawn: Who do you think will win between Shopify and MIBR?

Vania: Shopify, I think. Even until the press conference, I didn’t know that we’re gonna play against Team Liquid. They said, ‘The next match you play Team Liquid. And I was like, ‘Oh, are we playing against them?’

I’m like that. I’m just checking the schedule before I sleep, and I see, ‘Okay, I need to wake up at this time, and we’re gonna play against this team’. Usually I don’t care. I just want to go and play.