The representatives of the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) are advancing to Round 2 of the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) Play-In stage. Though they still have two chances at making it, G2 Esports has a grudge to settle with Chinese representatives of Bilibili Gaming, and are now aiming to qualify to the main stage after a shaky performance against FURIA. In an exclusive interview, AD Carry Steven "Hans Sama" Liv discusses his recent match against the Brazilian team, the issues plaguing G2, and the way forward.

Can you walk me through what happened against FURIA?

Steven "Hans Sama" Liv: "We didn’t have the greatest gameplay, that’s for sure. We didn’t show up in some of these games. We blundered a lot. Our early game could’ve been better, and I know that we know how to play good early games, but yeah—they got their own leads and did better. They’re playing differently from how teams play in Europe. When we play in the LEC, everyone is doing the same kind of strategies, maybe with little differences.

It’s not an excuse though—we just didn’t play that well. We won, but some of these games were really hard to play. Game four in particular, our draft was straight-up bad. They were aggressive, not afraid to take fights, and that draft was very technical—it was stuff we wouldn’t see happen in practice. But well, getting five games on stage like that is good to warm up, as long as our mental remains intact. We shouldn’t think too much about that series.

Your coach Dylan mentioned that you weren’t underestimating FURIA. At times, it felt like you weren’t being very proactive and were mostly reacting. Do you think you gave them too much respect, or what was really going on?

Hans Sama: It was back and forth, especially in the first games. We were getting control, then they would. They’d get leads, then we would. A big part of our early games not being good was because we didn’t have the right lane assignments. We weren’t pushing our pressure points where they should be. It definitely helps to have proactive comps, and they drafted in a really smart and creative way—especially in game one with the Nilah. That champion is very good, especially against Vi when she all-ins. There’s a lot to reflect on now.

What’s causing the issues with lane assignments and map movement? There still seems to be some miscommunication—players not always on the same page, and even voice comms sounding chaotic at times. Is that something you're still struggling with?

Hans Sama: For us to be better, we have to actually learn the skill to brainstorm while in game. When things get tough, you need to quickly find solutions—what’s the best thing you can do with your champions to bring it back? We need to have better awareness of those things and actually call it—bring confidence to our team so we can play more as a unit. We didn’t get to show that confidence in our match against FURIA.

Sometimes we perform very well and play connected—we don’t let our enemies do much. But then other times, we’re just all over the place. It’s total chaos. Lanes are losing and doing their own individualistic plays. We don’t really respond to anything and just act very passive. In those games, it’s important that we take a step back and brainstorm solutions. That’s what we need to work on.

You can’t afford to make the same mistakes against a team like BLG. Do you feel ready for them?

Hans Sama: We haven’t gotten to watch them much yet—they’re still playing against GAM as we’re doing this interview. Regardless, from what I’ve seen in the LPL, BLG can be very flippy with the plays they go for. I’m pretty sure they’ll make a lot of mistakes—they won’t play that well. We have chances to win, even if we definitely didn’t show a great face against FURIA. I still believe in us, but we need to step it up, especially in moments where the game is extremely back and forth, when things get hard. We need to bring confidence to each other.

Our scrims have been more inconsistent recently, and we need to go back to our original ideas. We focused a lot on early games, and they were going better. We need to be more precise and talk about them.

Labros "Labrov" Papoutsakis seems to be finding his rhythm lately. He didn’t look like the issue today either. Are you happy with how your duo has been growing heading into MSI? Do you think you can challenge the top botlanes at the tournament?

Hans Sama: When I look at our bot lane—the way we play—I feel like we’re solid in lane. Well, I keep dying on Senna in lane... but that’s not on him. I’m pretty sure I died in lane in my last three Senna competitive matches. I need to figure something out, because even if the lane is weak, I could’ve survived there.

That aside, I’d say we’re pretty solid. I don’t think we’re still inconsistent like before. Throughout the year, I feel like our duo has been improving in 2v2s, but the next step is actually to just flip it. We need to be confident. I’m very confident in my skill, he’s very confident in his skill—so we can and should be more cocky and just send it. We’ve got to work on just turning it on and beating them up, you know? I want to practice that more with Labrov because I know we can do it. I wouldn’t say it’s easy, but there’s a high chance we can get more leads that way and push our snowball out of control.

We’re not on the same page as a team when it comes to snowballing our leads. We need to be way more aggressive. I wouldn’t say we’re super passive, but we can bring more to the table.

That shift seems to go beyond just the bot lane. Compared to past years, G2 doesn’t take as many raw skill checks anymore—not just you, but also players like BrokenBlade and Caps. Why is that?

Hans Sama: It depends on a lot of factors. The new G2 is a much more controlled team all around. In previous years, we’d fight everywhere—but we’d also end up losing everywhere. We were really strong at that playstyle, but it only works when you can win the 2v2s and 1v1s. At some point, we didn’t really step up that much. This new playstyle is at a much more controlled pace—similar to what Gen.G has, in a way, but not as good right now. We have huge potential; now we just have to grind and practice hard.

How far do you think you are from a team like Gen.G? Is the gap as wide as some people think—or are you closer than it seems?

Hans Sama: They are very good. I don’t know—they’d probably beat most teams in the world at this point. I still believe we can be a very decent team. There are things we’re struggling with in practice that are extremely obvious. We need to keep believing in our ability to deliver a good level of play. Games are always going to be chaotic, especially internationally.

At MSI, for example, I feel like games can be so dirty. Teams will flip a Nashor or a drake, fight over and over for things that don’t even make sense. You need to embrace this and make sure you come out on top—believe that you can. We can win those dirty games. It won’t always be perfect.

Is there anything you’d like to say to the G2 fans?

Hans Sama: Thank you for supporting us, and sorry for all the inting. It means a lot to have all of you here cheering for us. We’ll try to look and play better—maybe int a bit less."