huNter-: “I think we have really strong firepower, and I believe in each and every one in the team.”
Image Credit: BLAST / Sophie Skittle
After G2 were deprived of Ilya ‘m0NESY’ Osipov, four and a half months after losing legendary rifler Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač, many assumed that G2’s days of fighting for trophies were over.
Mere months later, G2 are establishing themselves as Tier 1 contenders. With huNter- stepping up to IGL under the stewardship of Eetu ‘sAw’ Saha, G2 are looking to utilise the sheer firepower of their rifling core and hunt for trophies.
Esports News UK caught up with huNter- at BLAST Open London to discuss his IGLing style, sAw’s coaching style, and what he wants out of his talented teammates.
Interview with Hunter at BLAST Open London
It feels like this has been a positive event for G2. How would you assess your team’s progress during this tournament?
Yeah, I think it’s good. We lost to Mouz, but I don’t think we played that match well, but we still took nine or ten rounds on both maps.
Overall, I think it’s a good result, especially after we beat Spirit, who had a lot of success winning two events.
So, yeah, I’m happy with our progress in this event, and I’m looking forward to playing in the playoffs.
The first thing that comes to mind when I think of G2 now is that your rifling core is incredible. Do you think that’s going under the radar compared to other teams?
Yeah, I know that I have good players around me, and they’re shooting insanely well. So, we’re 100% aware of it.
We’re not looking too much into what people are saying about us, whether it’s good or bad. We’re just trying to focus on ourselves, no matter what, and play our game.
I think we have really strong firepower, and I believe in each and every one in the team.
That’s interesting, you say you believe in everyone, because with rosters you’ve had in the past, it felt like there were players you could single out and say they weren’t as strong individually. Now that you have players you can trust, how does that change how you approach the game as an in-game leader (IGL)?
Yeah, being an IGL is a big difference for me compared to when I was just a player. I have a lot of experience playing the game, but I need experience being an IGL as well, so I’ll need some more time to get into the groove and be better.
But yeah, everybody trusts me. Most of them, except for SunPayus, don’t have as much experience. They are kind of new, they do what we want to do and aren’t doing things on their own most of the time.
Sometimes they should, but we need to find a good balance so they don’t do it all the time.
They listen to me most of the time, but not always, you know?
So, we need to find that balance. So far, I’m really happy. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but for now, I’m really happy.
When you say that players may need to play by their own instincts more, would you say you are more controlling of individual plays at the moment?
It should be a bit more balanced. I would say that I am mostly controlling it, but yeah, I’m kind of too much of a responsible guy.
I always want to make the right calls at the right time so we don’t end up with ten seconds left in the round all of a sudden without planting the bomb.
But yeah, everybody is in G2 for a reason—they did something good in the past, you know? Players should play on their instincts.
Then, instead of telling them not to do that, we should try to fix it and do it better next time.
“I just want them to be a bit more ballsy because I think they all have great aim”
huNter- on his teammates
I’ve noticed that when you’re playing your T side, it feels very trade-heavy. You’re grouping together to get those trades and create space. Would you say that’s part of your calling because you know your players are good and will always get that trade?
It is one of our best strengths—that we’re really good at trading and going together because, as you already mentioned, we have really strong firepower on the team.
But at some point, we’ll need to change some things. I think we need to have two or three different playstyles. We’re still a new team, so we couldn’t practice everything.
We’re going step by step, and it’s getting better. We just need to find a good balance between playing defaults and giving players space, and playing more strats and going together. That’s kind of it.
I noticed when you played Spirit, especially when you beat them on Ancient, you had that double-nade stack into mid on the T side. You took out a player and got another kill in mid, and then you had to control the round, right? Is throwing in those kinds of gimmicks and knowing when to use them something you’re working on as an IGL?
Yeah, definitely. In games before, we were rushing out mid without throwing these HEs, just going out. Now we use the same utility at the beginning, but we just added extra HEs and flashes and then go out.
You’re playing against teams that are really strong, and people prepare for you just like you prepare for them. They know what they can expect, and they do some preparation against you—kind of a small anti-strat, let’s say.
So, you need to be ready for everything. You need to change things, especially if you’re playing almost every day like we did in the group stage.
You play officials or the same maps every day, so you need to change some small details to get better.
Of course, you cannot change your whole game, but some small details always help, I would say.
In terms of the CT side, are you also primarily calling?
It’s more that everybody is responsible for their own positions.
If it’s a team round, it’s mostly me or the coach after a timeout, or we already had a plan from before.
But sometimes, SunPayus is really vocal as an AWPer, and I like it. He makes a lot of his own moves, and we try to understand how to play around him if he’s doing some kind of moves with his AWP.
But yeah, if it’s a team round, it can be me, it can be somebody else. It’s more of a balanced mix on the CT side.
In terms of your own read of the game, on some maps, you’re playing more central rotation positions, and on some, you’re playing more peripheral anchor positions. So how do you get an idea of the map when you’re not in the middle of the action?
I don’t. I just trust my voice and that’s it. I trust the prep that we did before.
I’m trying to share the coach’s vision on the server. Even if I’m on the side of the map on the extremity, I’m trying to give the boys space.
If I see that we need to make a call, if we aren’t doing well individually and giving good calls, especially mid-round after defaults, I’m trying to call more set rounds and get back into the game.
“I feel like he has three brains at the same time!”
huNter- on G2’s coach, sAw
You touched on Sunpayus. He had a really positive series against Spirit, as you all did, because it was a great performance, but Sunpayus has been the question mark so far. What are you doing to make sure he’s having an effect on the game?
Yeah, I mean, we’re all good players. He’s a really good player.
In practice, he looks much different. This event, in the group stage, is kind of how he looks in practice. I think he’s a great player.
He’s a really good teammate, a really positive guy, good for the atmosphere, and he’s working really hard.
He’s helping all the other guys on the team and giving me a lot of ideas as well. He’s started making a few more moves now, even on the T side, that he’s been doing since the beginning.
I believe in him 100%. I think he will get back to form, and he has already started.
Once he gets into the form where he wants to be, I think he’ll be much, much stronger.
In terms of the strength of the overall roster, where do you assess yourselves at the moment? Do you think you’re going to be a contender soon for this event, or for future Tier 1 events? Or do you still have a ways to go? How do you feel?
I mean, it depends on other teams as well. Right now, the level isn’t that high. I think everybody is beatable.
Even Vitality isn’t playing like they did in the first part of the season. So, I don’t think we are, and we will not be at the level where we want to be for two or three more months because we just need more time.
It’s a new team, a new project, with me as IGL, a lot of new players, and a new coach. So we need some time to get used to each other and to understand everything.
It will depend a lot on how other teams do, and then, of course, if we get a chance to win the tournament or play in the finals, we’ll try to use it.
But for now, I’m really happy with the progress that we’re making and that we’re not playing one event really well and one event really badly.
We’re trying to get better from event to event and go step by step.
You mentioned in the interview that sAw has a vision of how the game should be played. Could you explain what that looks like?
I mean, he has ideas, and he’s trying to make those ideas work with the team he has. It’s not like, “Okay, he had this idea in ENCE and he did it in Heroic, so he wants to do it in G2.”
He’s trying to use his players in the best way. So, we’re trying to work it out together to see what’s best for the team and what kind of strategies we should use.
His preparation for games is really good because he’s trying to be versatile, especially if people are watching and analysing us. He doesn’t want to always do the same thing. He’s thinking about a lot of things.
I feel like he has three brains at the same time! But yeah, he’s really smart and he’s really trying to help us as best as he can, and we’re trying to work it out together.
And in terms of the team, you’ve been performing very well individually. But in terms of the rest of the rifling core, what would you like to see change and develop in the next couple of events?
I think we can all do better. I can do better as well, even individually. I think I’m capable of it; I just need a bit more experience being an IGL and more confidence individually.
For other players, I just want them to be the same as they are now and to be a bit more ballsy because I think they all have great aim, and they should use it.
They should play more with their instincts, as I already said.
It’s up to me to give them space, and we need to be smart and know when to use that space and have a balance between using the space and playing as a team.
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