G2 JoshRT: “We are the best team when we are all firing on all cylinders”

G2 Esports secured a 2-0 victory over M80 in the VCT Americas Stage 2 Playoffs on Wednesday, August 19th. After a closely contested Breeze, where the reigning champions had to overcome several difficult situations, the team found more control on Sunset to close out the series and advance in the lower bracket.

In an exclusive interview with Sheep Esports, G2 head coach Josh "JoshRT" Lee reflected on the team's performance against M80, the areas that have prevented the roster from consistently reaching the level that led them to win VCT Americas Stage 1, and the importance of maintaining composure in the current meta. The coach also discussed the postponement of the Esports Nations Cup (ENC), for which he had already selected the United States roster.

Josh "JoshRT" Lee: “We did a lot of things well. One of those things was taking on adversity and the challenge. We embrace the challenge of what the situation is. Our Champions spot is by no means secured, and we want to win Stage 2, so we have a long way to go. But looking that far ahead doesn't really matter. We just have to win this week, and especially this match against M80. We know it's an elimination game for basically the whole season. Every team we're facing here and onward, even if you win, will be on the lower side in playoffs. We're going to be facing teams that are just playing for their last game. Sometimes when you are in the season, you can kind of cope away like, “Oh, we have another game. It's fine”. We took some losses that we wish we could take back. But this was a game where we had to commit to the process that we set out on. We committed to a standard that we wanted, and just had this trust and belief that we could do it.

Every team has a narrative, and ours has just been pretty tough with all the outside noise going on. Internally, I tried to remind everybody, “Hey, we're still that team. Nothing really changed”. Despite a few results, each player has been the same. They improved in a lot of aspects that we've been pushing forward, but at the same time, we're not as bad as we think. We're just as good, if not better, if not the best. We are the best team when we are all firing on all cylinders. This M80 game is basically evidence of that. Breeze was a little sloppy because we just installed that new comp. We put Harbor on valyn (Jacob Batio), and there were a lot of details missing. We didn't know exactly how to approach it live, and we only had two days of practice for it. We had to win a lot of disadvantage scenarios, and that only came from sticking to our process and sticking to the trust within the team. Shoutout to all my players for getting through that. Sunset is just a map we're good on. Once we got the first map in and went to map two, we made our necessary adjustments.

JoshRT: It's about keeping composure and poise. In this meta, there's a lot of chaos and a lot of team fights where you're not going to have the best information. It's going to feel uncertain. The main thing for us is trying to make sure our play feels more certain and that our teammates feel like they can trust one another. That's the main thing. If I can summarize why we lose games, it's because we honestly trip over ourselves. We overcomplicate certain scenarios or we don't listen to the teammate when they're saying something. We're trying to bring it down to the basics, the fundamentals, and keep our composure. That's what we've been preaching as a coaching staff, trying to make sure there's a process to it. Every round is the same. Winner or loser, up 8-0, down 0-8, it doesn't matter. We still try to play the best version of our game that we can.

JoshRT: My reaction to the ENC postponement was disappointing. I was a little bit sad because I was really looking forward to representing Team USA and trying to show something that's new. As far as I know, that's the first time that kind of thing happened. Yeah, just disappointment that we couldn't do it. Now I'm just trying to see the bright side of all of it. That means maybe a more relaxed offseason. Seeing how this partnership cycle is going, it's all ending, so it's going to be kind of chaotic still. I was hoping to get locked in and try to compete for ENC during that time period.

JoshRT: We can't take it back. It is what it is, and we just have to adjust. I was planning on making some roster adjustments based on the roles that I saw in Stage 2. You guys can kind of guess, but I was going to try to prioritize the G2 core. I felt like that was our edge going into the tournament, and then that was going to rework a little bit what the roster would look like. I was going to make that announcement, talk to the players about it and all that, and then the announcement happened that ENC got postponed. So, it is what it is, and I hope that I can be part of it next year and represent USA Esports.

JoshRT: They all kind of echoed the same thing. It was just disappointing, of course. At the same time, we were so focused on this match against M80. We're in the Stage 2 playoffs, and it was really hard to look that far ahead, especially as a player. I fully get it. I didn't see a huge reaction. They were like, “Oh, yeah, that kind of sucks, but let's get ready for M80”. That's been the message I've been preaching, so I'm happy that they were able to move past that really quickly and just focus on this one. I think this is best for all of us. Now that we know this is probably the final event for all these teams, we're going to try that much harder. There is no second tournament. There's no other tournament this year, so we just have to go for Stage 2 playoffs. We have to get to Champions. That's the thing.

JoshRT: We just have to focus on our game. We are on our journey and they are on theirs. I'm proud of them for taking down Cloud9. I honestly thought that Cloud9 had it with that Breeze pick and they would bring it back to a Split and do all that, but there's a lot of fight in BESTIA. There's a lot of talent in BESTIA, so it's going to be a tough match. I think all these games are going to be really tough. I don't care what tier you're in or what your previous accolades are. This is do or die. I hope G2 makes it through.

JoshRT: I think the gap has always been small. Tier 1 teams practice against Tier 2 teams all the time. Especially for us, we always scrim these Tier 2 teams so that we don't have to play the Tier 1 teams that we're competing against. I'm not going to scrim against LEVIATÁN or NRG all the time. They're our direct competitors for the top spot. From all those scrims, both types of teams are getting better. Across the league, there have been a lot of Tier 2 upsets going on, and they're no slouches. They're just as good. I'm sure the public is surprised to see this, but that's who we practice against. Of course they're going to know a lot about our tendencies and whatnot. I don't think any Tier 1 teams are underestimating the Tier 2 teams in these playoffs.”