G2 leaf: "On Haven, I feel like we still should have won. That 11-11 2v1 was a little bit of a lack of focus"

G2 Esports lost to Paper Rex for the sixth time in a row, with its latest defeat coming at VALORANT Champions Shanghai on September 29. As a result, the Americas seed 4 will play its elimination match against the winner of TYLOO vs. Team Liquid in the Lower Bracket.

After the best-of-three series, G2 Esports’ flex player Nathan "leaf" Orf spoke with Sheep Esports about today’s loss, his favorite VCT moment, his thoughts on the Chinese region, and more.

Nathan "leaf" Orf: "It’s just very pressuring to play against them. They're individually very good. We burned out a little bit toward the end. On Haven, I feel like we still should have won. That 11-11 2v1 was a little bit of a lack of focus, control, and discipline, and that's how it feels against them sometimes.

leaf: We were just moving too much for no reason. As I said, it was a lack of discipline, control, and calmness. I was trying to tell them what to do, but I didn't get my words out clearly.

leaf: Honestly, I think both would be awesome. We've played both teams before. Obviously, we played TYLOO at this event, but we've also played against Liquid before. They've improved in my eyes throughout the year. I think GSR (Ognjen Bondžić) is pretty good, so it'd be fun to play against him and the whole Liquid team. It'd also be awesome to play against TYLOO after they get that confidence from a Lower Bracket win. I don't really have a preference. It's 50-50 for me.

leaf: I'll take the example of Americas. I think we're very individually smart. All the players in the Americas are very good at individual decision-making and don't need to be told much. They kind of know what to do. I feel like China is probably the most behind in that regard. Their players are individually insane mechanically, but they make wrong micro decisions and take fights that aren't really favourable. Teams like us in the Americas, as well as 100 Thieves, NRG and LOUD, are very good at taking fights while also being individually skilled. I think that's the biggest difference. It's not the biggest deal ever; it just depends on how you play, but you have to make sure you're at least a little bit smart about how you take your fights.

leaf: Preparation is a little hard because you don't really know what's going to be broken. When you're on a successful team and go to all these international events, you don't have a lot of time off to master an agent. The best example is LEV not going to Santiago, but ending up winning London after putting in enough practice. I ended up mastering Phoenix and played it throughout Stage 1. So, as a flex player, it's kind of hard. Before a game, you have to prepare a lot in terms of what maps can potentially be played and make sure your utility and decision-making are good depending on that. The meta swaps are definitely a little hard because you have no idea what to expect.

leaf: It was Masters Shanghai back in 2024, which was the first international that we qualified for and the whole run we went on was awesome. I feel like it was a big stepping stone for all of us to really see how good we were. We took down some big names and made it to the top three. I think the three-peat in the Americas was also super cool because no one's going to be able to do that again. It's pretty unique.

leaf: To be honest, the offseason is unknown for everyone, not just our team. It's a big change with the whole format, and we're going to have to deal with whatever change comes our way. It's exciting, but it's scary at the same time. Change is always hard to deal with, but we're going to make the most of it, no matter what happens.