G2 SkewMond: "When we came back from First Stand, we kinda lost track of what we were good at "

’ start of the 226 LEC Spring Split doesn’t remind fans of the team’s stellar performance at First Stand just a couple of weeks before. After losing to and , G2 found their footing against in the third week of the regular season, but even their own players admit the 2-0 was not a clean sweep.

In an interview with Sheep Esports, G2’s jungler, , shares some insights on his team’s current form. While he acknowledged some communication issues within the team, SkewMond said a lot of teams are struggling with the same issue, but that G2 are working hard to get back in the same form shown during last Summer Split and, more recently, at First Stand.

Rudy "SkewMond" Semaan: “Honestly, it wasn't the easiest win, even though it was a two-zero. We played kinda poorly, honestly, both of these games. We are making a lot of mistakes early game and even doing the mid-game. But I just think that we are not in a really good phase right now, honestly. So I'm not really surprised. And the most important thing is to grab those wins, to make it to the playoffs in the first place, and just learn from the mistakes we've made today and do our best to actually get sharper and reach the playoffs.

SkewMond: For example, when we play on stage, we mostly review our games either on the same day, like right now, when we go back to the gaming house, unless it's way too late and people just want to sleep — then we do it on the next day. Besides that, we talk mostly and learn mostly after stage games when we review. And between scrims, we like to just talk about the things that we need to improve on. And for communication, it's something a bit complex to actually get better at. The best thing is probably to actually listen to the voice comms that we've had during game days and actually listen individually to what you were saying and how we can communicate better in a way, and actually give the proper information during the games.

SkewMond: It's very complex because there are a lot of factors coming into how one player communicates during the games. It can be [affected by] how he woke up during the day. If he didn't get enough sleep, he might not be sharp enough to see some stuff. If he had a bad week off scrims, then some of the calls that we will have during the games might not have the same impact as if we are on a good day. Some people might just not trust another call or might be scared to actually call for something when they see the angle. But yeah, that's kind of important because I do believe that the best teams in the world will still go for the play no matter how they're feeling. But I also think it's easier to say than to actually do and that's why a lot of teams are struggling with this.

I'm sure even though not a lot of people are mentioning it, it's definitely a topic that is really important in a League of Legends team. And I remember watching, whether it's or some LPL team, whenever I see these people play, they are pretty calm in the first place, but also precise on what they want to do during the game. And everybody's following up at the same time what is being communicated. So everything goes in a nice way, and they are really just sharp on what they want to do, and they don't really repeat what they want to do, which is pretty nice because it leaves more room for people to say some stuff if needed.

SkewMond: Just talking, actually sitting together and listening to how, again, how you communicate and actually realize what is important or not. And again, every player communicates differently. Some people actually scream if they see a play. Some people will just say it one time and just go for it. So every individual is different. And the goal is not to copy the best team in the world, but just look at what they do and see if you can replicate that obviously, in the first place. But if not, it's completely fine, and just stick to what you're good at. That's really important. For example, if a player is really good at communicating in the early game or looking for engagers’ invites, then very good, just keep doing that. And everybody should have consciously, unconsciously, an assignment on what you should communicate, that would be a good first step.

SkewMond: I'm not sure. I think the gameplay stuff is for sure important, right? Mechanics and knowledge, how you're playing solo queue, scrimms, and stage matches. I would say maybe it's 50% of the job, maybe that's even too high, honestly. The rest is probably the sleep, the nutrition, really being disciplined on having a routine during match days, during scrimm days, and making sure that you have just a good routine in general, sleeping routine, and stuff. I would say this is maybe 20-25%. I don't know if I would have enough space to add more. And all the communication part, can I include it in the gameplay stuff? And the rest is probably how you manage your days and your private life, I guess.

SkewMond: Yeah. I mean, even though they are zero-three or something like that, I do believe that there are some decent games. They took a game from someone, I don't remember who (Vitality), but I think they had some decent games for sure in the past. And I for sure think that they are not to be underestimated at all. The most important thing is to just focus on ourselves, kind of because we're our worst enemy most of the time, especially during the regular season. And as you mentioned, we're not looking our best. So I definitely think that a lot of teams can beat us in our current form. So yeah, I'll just make sure personally to come back prepared for this match and make sure that we are on the same page doing those games.

SkewMond: He has a lot of good stuff in his gameplay, but I feel like from the outside perspective that sometimes maybe he's not trusting himself, or maybe some other player on the team doesn't really follow some of his goals. I do think he has a lot of good ideas. His game is pretty good from what I've seen. The weak parts are probably the midgame in the teamfight. I can't really say 100%, but from what I saw, it's probably that stuff.

SkewMond: For what to expect, I mean, just us coming back from this rough start of the Split, and you can trust me that we're really working on how to fix our issues inside and outside of the game. And for the reason why we've been struggling, we're not really staying present during these games, and actually, really being sharp on how to play the scenarios we are in. I do feel like that when we came back from First Stand, we kinda lost track of what we were good at during the tournament and during last LEC Summer, and we kinda forget a lot of stuff, which is kind of funny from an outside perspective since we only didn't play for two weeks before coming back after FST Finals. But yeah, for us it's for sure an issue to re-learn the stuff that we had been working on and looking to be on the same page as well for drafts.

SkewMond: I mean, to be completely honest, I don't want to find any excuses for this. It's completely fine to not play for weeks, especially because people don't want to burn out, so it completely makes sense. And it was the same case for : even though they played the first week of last Spring Split, they also had two weeks of break. So, it's completely fair. Some LCK teams and LPL teams started playing less than a week after FST, so it's completely fine. I think it's more honest to actually get back into scrims and practice faster and [get back] in a better form, and it's kind of honest that we didn't really keep track of those good habits that we had.”