G2 Perkz: "I was kind of the boss the last time I was there. So to be fair, it's not that different"

The announcement sent shockwaves through the scene. Shortly after being eliminated from the MSI, revealed that the team would replace its long-time Head Coach, Dylan Falco, with one of its own legends: former midlaner and team captain Luka "Perkz" Perković. Although he was not allowed to join his players on stage during the Esports World Cup Group Stage — where G2 were eliminated after defeats against Anyone’s Legend and Dplus KIA — the Samurai’s new coach took a few minutes to speak with Sheep Esports about his vision and the main challenges awaiting him.

Luka "Perkz" Perković: “Well, it feels bad that we lost, of course. I will take it with a grain of salt since I was not even accepted as a head coach by EWC for this tournament. I could not be on stage, could not draft, I could not talk to players in the lobby. I could not give my direction for the game that I do in scrims. The setup, the system is different. And also there is the fatigue part as well, where we just came off from a devastating loss against LYON at MSI. We insta-fly back and insta-have like one day. I have one day off scrims as head coach and we go and play on stage. And even the games that we had, I think we could have won them. I think one game was unwinnable, like the Nasus game was completely unwinnable; we just could never win this game. But in the other two games, we were in very good positions to win. So that's where the fatigue part comes in. So it feels a bit bittersweet, you know. But I don't think it's as bad as it seems.

Perkz: This is something that G2 says, something that I say. I don't know what Dylan's vision was for G2, I guess. I have no idea [laughs]. So what I'm bringing is that I have a very problem-solving mindset, I would say. So when there is something that's bad in the team, whether it's our atmosphere, our vibe, the way we bottle things inside, the way we kill things inside, our gameplay, anything that we're not on the same page on, I'm basically here to bring the team on the same page. Whatever way it is, whether it's our communication, I've been working a lot on communication, whether it's early game, our laning phase, understanding what each other needs in the laning phase, how to get help, emotional stuff. I think League is just as emotional a game as anything else. It's the game of momentum, it's the game of devastating losses, of fatigue, which we are in right now. We are fatigued. I generally think I know my players and I know that they would play a lot better than what they did today if they were not completely out of it. That's basically it. I bring the willingness to go through conflicts to get theteam on the same page.

Perkz: I mean, to be fair, I was kind of the boss of G2 the last time when I was there [laughs]. So, to be fair, it's not that different. I think that's the upside because, characteristically, I think I have decent authority and control over the things happening in the room, which is something that makes me, I guess, the right person for the job. Maybe not, we will see. I could be wrong, right? But that's basically the upside.

Perkz: The whole Summer split will be about getting the team on the same page. It will literally be about not letting shit slide in scrims. Our practice has not been the best. The practice was even worse before I joined, to be fair. I will say it here openly, it was very, very horrible. I don't have any... I'm not gonna take credit for that, or I'm not gonna bash on other people, but the practice was dogshit. The practice was better, but not good enough yet. So everything comes from the way we practice, the way people approach it, the way people give their all in scrims. That's just not going to slide, you know. So the attitude in practice will be the number one thing that matters in this org.”