kick off their
Worlds campaign with a major challenge right out of the gate, facing
in a high-profile matchup. Their most recent meeting ended in the Korean team’s favor at the
Esports World Cup. Nevertheless, G2 appear to have returned to a more competitive level and begin the tournament aiming to improve on last year’s result, when they reached the quarter-finals for the first time since 2020.
French jungler
is set to compete at the tournament for the second time, following a year in which he showed he could go toe-to-toe with the world’s best players on the international stage. Ahead of the competition, he spoke to
Sheep Esports about his goals and those of his team.
Is this your first time here in Texas?
Rudy “Skewmond" Semaan: “It is, yeah.”
Have you had the chance to have Texas barbecue, or gone outside and notice how big and spacious it is?
Skewmond: We didn't really get the chance to eat some of the specific stuff, like barbecues since we've been here for less than a week. We didn't really also get the chance to actually go outside and see how big the state is.
G2 shared a SpongeBob meme with the LEC teams, would you say that the allocated character is an accurate representation of each team?
Skewmond: I didn't really watch SpongeBob a lot, so I can't really relate. I know the names, but I don't really know how the characters actually are, so I can't really tell.
G2 took the decision to fly early to NA. Why do you think it was important for the team to prioritize coming here early?
Skewmond: There's a big time zone difference compared to Europe. We bootcamped in Los Angeles around two weeks before coming to Texas to get used to everyting, the food, the environment, and to scrim as much teams as we can to get back into it. We had one-and-a-half-weeks of break after the LEC Finals, so we got back into it pretty quickly.
We noticed that this year’s calendar is really crunched up. Still, you decided to keep cramming more time and more practice. Do you think this was important for the team to not lose its edge?
Skewmond: Definitely. We wanted to make sure that we don't lose our good habits because its been a long time since we played our last game at the LEC Finals. In order to keep our shape and rebuild our good habits, it was important for us to come as early as we can. Worlds is the biggest tournament of the year, and it's a bit troll in a way that there's a lot of time between the last games we had and the actual start of Worlds. It makes sense for us to really keep that practice going in order to come fresh as fast as we can.
What are your opinions and thoughts on how packed the calendar is this year?
Skewmond: It's really stressful because there's so many things going on, but it's all a question of perspective because it's like a luxury for the teams that attend these international events. I would much rather be first place and play all of the international tournament than missing out on playoffs and having a lot of free time. I'm really grateful to have the chance to experience all these international events. You don't have a lot of free time, and everything is pretty rushed, but everything has a price.
G2 usually arrives at international events as the main source of hope for EU. This year, the team has turned its luck around, and returned the 2019-2020 form against most Eastern teams. What have you identified to turn this record around?
Skewmond: A lot of hard work has been put in behind the scenes in order to reach the level that we've had throughout the year against all the best teams in the world. We've always believed that we have what it takes to beat the best team in the world. We do not have any mental block or bad thoughts when we come to play against those teams. I know that most of the Western teams, they have those [thoughts]. It's not the case for us, so I'm really proud of it, and I'm really looking forward to see what we can do on this tournament as well.
On the LEC Finals post-match press conference, the team emphasized how much confidence Luka “Perkz” Perković injected into the team. No matter who the coach is, G2 has had dominant runs under any coach. Why was this confidence now important?
Skewmond: Because, as players, we sometimes need that little boost in order to play certain champs and feel confident with them whenever the pressure is on. If you don't have this amount of confidence, that you might get from your coaches, teammates or whoever it is, then it's gonna be way harder for you to be ready and prepared against the best team in the world. It’s important to have this feeling inside of you, so that you can actually play these champs to a really high level. Perkz brings a lot of confidence regarding that topic, and I think it help a lot of people in our team.
Let’s take a trip down memory lane and remember your Dr Mundo at Worlds 2025. Especifically that Flash Orianna Shockwave against FlyQuest. Is there any special pick prepared coming into this world championship?
Skewmond: Honestly, there's not many crazy picks. Maybe there is, maybe I don’t actually remember them. If there’s any [pick] throughout the tournament, I will be happy picking it. Or one of my teammates, or whoever it is in order to really shape how we want to play this tournament and make sure we have good answers into the meta picks.
We don't want you to reveal any strategies, but can you confirm there is some wizardry going on to get some interesting picks?
Skewmond: I hope so. I think it can happen for sure.
Skewmond: The champ is really... First of all, the kits and abilities of the champ are a bit, uh... It's not made for pro play. It's really for solo queue. You need to cheese with that champ in order to get a good lead and snowball. Any type of CC can really control the champ easily. I think the champion is very linear and easy to read what it can do. Riot tried a lot to make some changes around the champ to, potentially make it good in high elo. Even then, I didn't see many one tricks for a while in high elo. I think it explains a lot, even though I see some random one tricks in challenger for many champs, for Briar, it's really rare. The build is troll, you know? I think it's Titanic and Collector, so it's really not optimal for pro play.
Another champion that's been out of the meta for a while, Fiddlesticks, has some history back in EU. Why do you think he's not that viable in pro play?
Skewmond: I think it could be potentially playable. I'm not a big Fiddlesticks player myself, I've almost never played it, but I know that it has a pretty good clear. For example, against a champ like Qiyana, you can actually reveal her through your W, so it could be nice. In terms of synergy with the midlane meta right now, it's not really great. If you start buying mercs against Fiddlesticks, the champ is hard to play.
In another interview, Choi "Lucid" Yong-hyeok stated he thought it wouldn't be too difficult to win tomorrow. Do you have any response for him?
Skewmond: I mean, it's a best of one. I believe anything can happen. It really comes down to whoever has a better preparation, because in a best-of-one, you can see a lot of chees, whether it's through drafts or through gameplay. DK's a decent team, even though they're the fourth seed in Korea, they've had a really good run at EWC. When it matters the most, we'll have to see how they perform, so we'll see tomorrow.
The motto for this World Championship is, "This is your moment." Why is this your moment?
Skewmond: First of all, the music is True Damage and K/DA, so back in 2018 and 2019 had those music performers. I believe it might be our lucky charm this year to have the combo of both, and we [EU] made Worlds finals in both 2018 and 2019, surely this is the year where we win it all. We've actually went through so many things with this roster in this year. This year, we've shown that we actually have a chance to win against some of the best teams in the world. I'm looking forward for this tournament, and I hope we'll be able to make everybody proud. Wwhoever is cheering for us, they believe again that Europe has a chance at Worlds. We'll do our best, and I hope that we'll win.”
