The Samurais have suffered defeat at the hands of the Spanish juggernaut Movistar KOI, once again falling short in the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) Grand Finals—marking their second runner-up finish in 2025. Nonetheless, G2 Esports are now headed to the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), burning with hunger for redemption. In an exclusive interview, the team’s support, Labros "Labrov" Papoutsakis, opens up about G2’s struggles, ambitions, and his thoughts on MSI.

You're finishing in second place again after coming from the winner's bracket, which must be frustrating. How are you feeling right now, and how would you summarize what happened today?

Labros "Labrov" Papoutsakis: "I feel disappointed. I was hoping that this time we were going to lift the trophy. Sadly, we weren't good enough. It was a deserved loss—we just played badly when it mattered. They were simply stronger today and they deserved the win. We just need to improve. At least we’ve qualified for this split’s international events, and I still believe we can be really good. A lot of things went wrong today. Hopefully, if we make the next finals, we’ll be able to lift the trophy this time.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve taken from both the Winter and Spring Splits? Despite the loss, do you still see positives in how the team has developed?

Labrov: Definitely. Our biggest issue still is just consistency. We’ve shown how much of a strong team we can be sometimes, but we’ve also had a lot of lows this split, especially during the regular season. Even today in the final, we did not perform very well. We have work to do and we need to become better, both individually and as a team. Even in some scrim games, we’ve struggled with those same issues. We haven’t been showing our 100% every single day. Once we fix that, we’ll have much better results on stage as well.

How do you start fixing those kinds of issues? Is there a specific area you'd focus on first?

Labrov: There are many things, to be honest. First of all, our individual play wasn’t great today. One could argue our preparation for the match wasn’t the best either. Looking back at game 1, if we didn’t die to the gank bot—if we had warded—we’d have been in such a good spot. We could’ve taken over the game. But once we died there, it was over. So yeah, just many things—individually and as a team. We basically need to become better and, most importantly, more consistent.

Do you think these issues will naturally improve over time, or do they require specific actions like playing more solo queue?

Labrov: Time will obviously help. In my case at least, I already felt way more comfortable playing in these finals than during the winter playoffs. It’s all about getting more used to each other and learning from our results. There are many things to be learned from our finals against Movistar KOI.

As G2’s support and now in your second split with the team, do you feel extra pressure compared to when you were on BDS, especially with G2’s legacy and high expectations? Do you personally check social media—has that added to the pressure at all?

Labrov: Being on G2, you're expected to win—if you don't lift the trophy, it's seen as a failure. This should be the mindset for every team. But because of our team’s history, it’s even more intense than in other organizations. I don’t really use social media though, it’s just pointless. After losses, people can be very critical—there’s a lot of insulting and other things that can really get into your head. I really want to win, you know? When we fuck up, there’s nothing you can do afterwards, you can’t turn back time—you can only move forward.

How do you view your growth since joining G2—both individually and as a botlane duo with Steven "Hans Sama" Liv? What do you see as the ceiling for this duo?

Labrov: Playing with him has been very enjoyable for me. He’s very, very good and a smart player, and I really like the way he plays. We are one of the strongest botlanes in the LEC when it comes to laning phase. Obviously, we can still improve it, and I want to become more consistent. I feel like we can lane kingdom every game if we’re on top of our game and just more consistent.

You're now heading to Canada to compete internationally—how are you feeling about playing on the global stage, especially given your limited international experience with BDS?

Labrov: I'm very excited to go to an international event. I've only been to a single one: Worlds 2023 with BDS. It was honestly the best time of my career. I remember being there in Korea, and I loved the experience—playing solo queue there and scrimming international teams. I’m really looking forward to doing that in Canada. We’ll learn a lot and become a much stronger team with this experience.

With about two to three weeks before the tournament starts, what’s the plan for G2 during that time? Are you already preparing to travel and bootcamp, and how are you making sure the team levels up before the event?

Labrov: If I’m correct, we’ll be leaving for Canada soon, in about two weeks. We’ll have to go through the Play-In now, and we’ll get to play against a lot of teams. It’ll be fun to play against so many different regional styles. I’m very excited because we can still go far at MSI. We’ve seen many Play-In teams make it far in the past, and I’m confident.

Does that mean you’ll stay in Europe until then and scrim against European teams in the meantime?

Labrov: We’ll have about three or four days off now. I’ll go back to Greece, and then we’ll re-unite in Berlin. We’re scrimming for about a week, and then traveling to Canada.

Are there any teams or players you're especially looking forward to facing at MSI?

Labrov: I would like to play against BLG. I’m watching a lot of their games, and I really like the way they play the game. Elk (Zhao Jia-Hao) and ON (Luo Wen-Jun) are very, very good at laning phase and pressuring the game, so I would like to play against them. It’d be very fun for me. I hope they qualify. Gen.G are also very strong—they’re undefeated, right? Hanwha Life Esports and T1 can be very deadly internationally as well. All of these teams can be really powerful, and I’m looking forward to facing them.

Do you have a message to fans to close out the interview?

Labrov: I would like to apologize first of all for losing another final. It’s very disappointing for you guys and also for us. We don’t feel good about it. But we will give even more to lift the next trophy in the LEC, to do well internationally, and just to redeem ourselves."