The Run Out: Is This The Second G2 Era?

(Picture Courtesy of G2 Esports)

By Arran "Halo" Brown

Over the last few years, professional Siege has been known for one thing, G2's incredible dominance of the scene. Winning 11 Premier and Major titles combined, (14 if you're going back to the days they were playing under Penta Esports), G2 have been the face of Siege esports for a significant period. While the last 6 months has seen the team's form dip to a point they needed a direct invite to the 2020 Six Invitational. G2 have not only retooled their roster but shown that they are willing to head into a different direction, as they look to move forward into their second era of dominance. This time, as Siege's super team!

G2's original trio of Fabian 'Fabian' Hallsten, Juhani 'Kantoraketti' Toivonen' and Niclas 'Pengu' Mouritzen are no longer together! After the teams former In-Game Lead, Fabian was moved to the bench. While all parties involved felt that the move was made at the right time, it left questions as to who would replace Fabian and previously on-loan Penta Esports Support player Sirboss, and what direction they would look to go. G2 came back with one of the strongest rosters they could have signed, in picking up not one, but two of the best Ash/Jager fraggers in the game, in former Na'Vi player Ben 'CTZN' McMillan who is deemed as one of the best fraggers in the world and Fnatic's Jake 'Virtue' Grannan, who had been one of the better players in the APAC region and who had a standout performance again G2 at the Six Invitational to help eliminate them from the tournament.

Shortly after their announcement, G2's roster quickly gained an identity as being one of the best teams in the game and the title of being Siege's European superteam. As the memes surrounding who will be planting the defuser for the team flowed, due to the fact they have no dedicated Support player, There have been many who wondered which players would fill each role, who would be the teams in-game lead and how this will affect the team's ability to execute defuser tactics. G2's Coach Tom "Shas" Lee provided the insight as to how the new roster would work together in unconventional method regarding the roles each player will have. "Generally we don't think we'll have strict roles. Everyone is basically a flex player, which strengths either towards defensive or aggressive play. We also have no true dedicated IGL, its whoever is in the position to do so that round"

It will be interesting to see how this plays out further down the line when the meta changes. With a roster of players that are used to being able to push to apply pressure and be aggressive when they wanted to. The current utility dump/20 second meta play to their current strengths perfectly, out fragging the opposition and not looking to force a plant or rotation when it is not needed. G2 have been able to show off their new roster in season 11 of the European Pro League with mixed results. After starting off with a close 7-5 lost to Rogue on Clubhouse, they bounced back with a dominant 7-0 against Team Empire on Coastline, showing their fragging capabilities to the fullest. They have then traded a 5-7 loss to Chaos Esport Club on Kafe and ground out a 7-5 win against Team Vitality on Theme Park, keeping in with their win one lose one cycle this season.

Though the inconsistency and acts of aggression, in their losses, can easily be attributed to the roster getting accustomed to not only the new players but the shared role responsibilities, it has still resulted in them moving into second place in the league table and only 2 points behind Rogue, with 3 games left to play. While the roster will be given time to acclimatise to one another, the pressure is likely to be higher than it ever has been before. This team is set up for wins and there are early signs that the new roster can achieve this and start a second G2 era, one that other teams may be hard-pressed to stop.

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