G2 Leaf about BABYBAY: "He's Demon1, but an aggressive version. He's another jawgemo in a sense."

After beating the reigning World Champions 2025 NRG 2-0, G2 Esports punched their ticket to the Americas Middle Final, one win away from Masters Santiago. Following this victory, Nathan "leaf" Orf gave an interview to Sheep Esports, analyzing the team's recent change of identity, the comfort-focused agent choices that paid off, why he believes G2 has not yet reached its peak, and more topics.

Nathan "leaf" Orf: "Well, first of all, I don't think my individual performance was that good, but to be honest, I just kind of did my job, especially on Pearl, but overall I'm very happy. Some of this stuff we've changed literally in the span of one or two scrims. So, yeah, I'm glad that everything came to fruition. The boys are looking good. We figured out kind of our identity a little bit, and yeah, we're feeling comfortable.

Leaf: No, I wasn't in specific, but I would say that it definitely matched up well into their composition, with the double Initiator and Tejo and stuff. BABYBAY is a really strong Operator. So we just wanted to put them on an agent that excels at that. And with the Veto, you can't really fit with Chamber. So we were like, Yoru is probably the best. It still gives you a good attack but is also very good on defense against that comp.

I mean, jawgemo (Alexander Mor) is just insane at every agent, every Duelist. So we put him on Phoenix. I mean, you saw that Classic ace. He's just insane. He four flashes in one round and stuff like that. So he goes absolutely mental. It's just comfort and just also making sure we have the strengths and the tools necessary.

Leaf: To be honest, this was one of the most confident I've been for a match. Not gonna lie, not even because it's NRG. I think no matter who we played today, leading up to this week with practice and stuff, we didn't lose a single scrim. And even though we were figuring stuff out, we still were just getting better each and every day. So that no matter who we played, unless everybody's in their prime that we're playing against, I think we would have won. So yeah, I just had utmost confidence.

Leaf: I'd say we haven't even hit our peak. Maybe some individuals hit their peak today. But like, overall, for me, I didn't play up to a hundred percent today, but it's okay. Because at the end of the day, some people aren't going to be at a hundred percent. And, that's when, the next person is going to be 110%. Trent (Trent Cairns) was literally 16 and 2 on Pearl, BABYBAY, and jawgemo were literally just farming on split. We kind of pick up after one another. We have the firepower and also just the comps to just allow it, like skill expression.

Leaf: I think the energy and just the raw, like brute force, ability is pretty insane. He's insane in aiming, but he's also good at knowing when to send it in a sense, too. He's Demon1 (Max Mazanov), but a more aggressive version of Demon1. He's another jawgemo in a sense. So having him and jawgemo just W and be running it down on kids like that is what we want. And that's our strength with, obviously, the other three of us, me, Valyn (Jacob Batio), and Trent just kind of playing our role as well.

Leaf: Going back to it, everybody also has their roles. So everybody knows what they should and shouldn't calm so that the comms don't get too hectic. BABYBAY is obviously responsible for what he wants and the timing that he wants, if he's playing an entry agent and stuff like that, same with jawgemo, but me, I just have kind of my site to worry about or my lane to worry about and my setup to worry about.

So I can kind of just play around with it, and they can also play around it. I'm not really too assertive on either side, but Valyn is the IGL. He calls his part, and Trent fills in and also gives his input. I don't think our comms are really clean. Sometimes it's a little hectic, but that's also the game, and in the comps that we're playing, you kind of do have to be kind of high energy and just very on the fly. But I think that we're really good at that and really good at adapting to.

Leaf: I would say that we just found our identity. Kickoff is a very experimental tournament. And that's the reason why a lot of people prefer the triple elimination because after each win or each loss, you can re-examine and you can kind of look at what you did right and what you did wrong, obviously. And it gives you even more chances to do that. And it's a long tournament with breaks in between matches.

So, you do have the time to actually implement something. You don't go into a tournament, and if you lose twice, you're out, and you can't even change things because it's so short. You have the time in this tournament now to change things if you need to.

Leaf: I wouldn't say too much. I'd say just, like I kind of just played my own game still, and just made sure that I stuck to what I was strong at in a sense. And I think that that was something that I needed to make sure I didn't overthink. And also, it's good to learn new stuff. Everybody can kind of tell we're playing a more aggressive style, all five of us. So, it's something that we're all learning, and that just makes our strengths pop out even more. And we're just more even, like we have more variance in what we can do.

Leaf: I mean, yeah, I would definitely say everybody's stronger. I mean, a period of making a run through the uppers. I mean, 100 Thieves is looking good, picking up some tier two people, the tier two core of TSM last year. MIBR super team, NRG world champion, and we are good domestically, you know what I mean?

We even made a change that we think is really, really strong. And it proved it today, but as a whole, the region is very strong. There's a bunch of dark horses. There's a bunch of strong contenders. But because the region is so good that everybody kind of improves and the floor gets higher, it just allows for more teams to be competitive.

Leaf: I would say Trent. It's not really an adjective, but I would just say "pizza" because he's just a simple guy, but he does it right. Kind of a slice of pie. I'd say jawgemo, just say "brain damage," like, but in a good way. But in the parentheses, small text in a good way. I mean, he just runs it down. He knows his timings, but it seems stupid, but he does it with actual intent.

BABYBAY, I would say just energetic at all. You would never tell that that man's 30 years old or, getting to 30 years old. He's full of energy, full of excitement, makes everybody feel good, and is just a really good teammate. Valyn is last. I got to just say cerebral; he's our IGL. It thinks a lot; it has all these little nuances, all these little micros that he wants to do in the game, and it forms them well. Honestly, I could say he's like a jack of all trades too; he can literally do anything, I feel."