G2 Esports’ League of Legends squad could taste the Worlds Knockout stage yesterday but were demolished by LCS top-seed NRG in a devastating 2-0 loss, leaving G2 to take on Bilibili for the last playoff spot today. For bot laner Steven “Hans Sama” Liv, the loss was disappointing, to say the least.
Hans Sama spoke to Korizon Esports’ Ashley Kang shortly following G2’s Oct. 28 loss, which left the team searching for answers at 2-2 in the Swiss stage. Fans, analysts, and the G2 team itself were left shocked—not so much by the result but by the manner in which NRG took the win.
Hans Sama didn’t have adequate time to properly reflect on the series prior to the interview, but described the loss as “pretty shocking.” He mentioned that something “felt off” and plays were being missed, but as they haven’t VOD reviewed yet, he isn’t sure of the reasoning.
“We came [in] confident and felt like we had a good week, so it’s pretty shocking,” Hans Sama said. “It has happened from time to time that we have early game explosions and that happened in the first game. I guess they caught us by surprise with the picks they were playing—props to them.”
It was certainly unexpected, with all 14 of Riot’s official Worlds co-streamers—names including Caedrel and IWDominate—in agreement that G2 would win the best-of-three series. The thought was within reason, as G2 is a historically seasoned org that even saw the Worlds Grand Finals in 2019.
In comparison, NRG is a team with a topside of rookies that placed fifth in the LCS regular summer split before making an incredible run to the split victory over Cloud9.
Once they hit the Rift in their Swiss stage match, NRG subverted all expectations, emerging victorious from a series of one-sided matches thanks to critical team fights and applying pressure across the map.
When asked if it was an off-day or if NRG entered “god mode” for that series, Hans Sama admitted it was a bit of both, listing NRG’s confidence going into the series as an additional factor for their success.
“I think in the second game we could really have won it, but something felt off, we were missing a lot of plays and they were getting a lot of tempo,” Hans Sama said. “We were not precise enough…I think we win [the second game] if we were playing more correctly.”
G2 has fallen into the 2-2 elimination round of the Swiss Stage to be played on Oct. 29. Their best-of-three series will be against BLG, who placed third in the LPL Summer playoffs. With so much on the line, both teams will be fighting for survival—the quarter-finals are just within reach now.
