How G2 Took Over the LEC
TheGamer
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How G2 Took Over the LEC
G2 Esports has reached a level that no other European League of Legends team has come close to, proving themselves as the true Kings of Europe. "G2 are inevitable. G2 are inescapable," proclaimed LEC caster Aaron "Medic" Chamberlain as G2 Esports brought down the nexus of rival Fnatic, sweeping the 2020 LEC Spring finals, their third consecutive and seventh title in franchise history. "Inevitable." Not many teams in the world have the prowess to be described as "inevitable." In the realm of competitive , G2 Esports exist in a class of their own. Since joining the league back in the spring of 2016, the European juggernauts have towered over the rest of the region, winning seven out of the league's nine titles, tying Fnatic for the most of all time. THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY via Riot Games There used to be a time when nobody in Europe knew what a "G2" was. Or maybe they did, but they thought it was just something you drank during a workout. In late August of 2015, the European Championship Series was barely three years old and Fnatic was fresh off their second consecutive title, winning a whopping five out of the league's first six. Meanwhile, an organization called Gamers2, owned by Carlos “Ocelote” Rodriguez Santiago, had been battling their way through the EU Challenger Series for the two years prior, trying to earn themselves a spot to compete in the European LCS. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, and try again." Those were the words of Gamers2 for those two years as the organization struggled, split after split. Despite his team's poor performances, Ocelote was set on his vision of building a winning team, and was willing to take the necessary risks to do so. On , the young owner took a chance on sixteen-year-old Luka “PerkZ” Perković to be the team's mid laner of the future, replacing Jérémy "Eika" Valdenaire. After a series of roster shakeups and additions, notably Mateusz "Kikis" Szkudlarek in the jungle, Ocelote finally built a Gamers2 roster that would find success. Taking down SK Gaming in the promotion series, Gamers2 qualified for the 2016 EU LCS Spring Split. The team would later rebrand to G2 Esports following their qualification. via G2 Esports G2's was on January 14th, 2016. Following the departure of SmittyJ and Jesse, G2 added Kim "Trick" Gang-yun and Kim "Emperor" Jin-hyun to play in the jungle and bottom lane. Still led by Kikis and Perkz (although no longer with a capital "z"), the fresh young team faced off against Elements and former Gamers2 mid laner Eika, in their first LCS game. It was a stomp, and G2 closed out the game in exactly twenty-six minutes and one second. Perkz had an incredible game on Ahri, going 5-1-6 and bullying the man he replaced the entire game. The rest of the 2016 Spring Split was no different for G2, going 15-3, dropping games only to H2k, Vitality and Fnatic. They finished the split in 1st place, and would soon defeat Fnatic in the semi-finals and Origen in the finals to capture the organization's first title in their first-ever split. Winning the Spring Split meant that G2 would be traveling to Shanghai for the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational. Going into the tournament, the public had high expectations for the European champions, but many doubted their chances of beating the legendary Faker and the rest of Korea's SK Telecom T1. via Riot Games G2 lost their first four games at MSI, ultimately coming in second to last place and missing the playoffs entirely. This was devastating not only to G2, but to Europe as a whole, as this placement meant that the region would miss out on a Pool 1 Seed at Worlds. In regards to their poor play, the organization halfway through day two of the event, explaining how the team had taken vacation time after a "rigorous Spring Split." SKT would go on to win MSI, with Faker receiving MVP. Following their poor MSI finish, that 2016 summer saw drastic changes to the G2 roster with the departures of Kikis and Emperor, and the arrivals of Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen and Alfonso "Mithy" Aguirre Rodríguez. Zven and Mithy previously composed the powerful bot lane duo from fan-favorite xPeke's Origen that G2 took down in the LCS finals just a few months prior. Armed with their shiny new bot lane, Perkz and the rest G2 marched into the 2016 Summer Split with high expectations. G2 Esports once again was the team to beat during 2016 summer, rounding out the split in 1st place. The team would go on to win the summer playoffs and capture their second title in as many seasons. Swiping Origen's bot lane from under their noses and stealing Europe's limelight away from Fnatic, combined with the team's unforgiving dominance and MSI controversy, in less than a year, G2 Esports quickly became the villains of Europe. via Riot Games 2017 was more of the same for G2, winning both the spring and summer splits, marking the organization's third and fourth consecutive titles, cementing them as a European dynasty. However, it wasn't all smooth sailing for the juggernauts. Following Zven and Mithy leaving Europe to play in North America for Team SoloMid, and the exits of Trick and Expect, G2 was left with a roster consisting solely of their superstar Perkz. The team built around their mid laner, signing Martin "Wunder" Nordahl Hansen, Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski, Kim "Wadid" Bae-in and Petter "Hjarnan" Freyschuss for the 2018 season. G2's 2018 spring was inconsistent at best, but they managed to finish the split in 2nd place, behind Fnatic. Despite finishing outside of the top spot for the first time ever, G2 managed to make the Spring finals where they'd play Fnatic to defend their title, and try for their fifth straight championship. Fnatic cleanly swept them 3-0 and won the 2018 Spring Split. The European fan-favorites would win again during the Summer 0f 2018, while G2 suffered an early exit from the Summer playoffs at the hands of Misfits in the quarterfinals. Despite the somewhat disappointing 2018 Spring and Summer Splits, G2 secured themselves a spot to compete in the 2018 World Championship. G2 found plenty of success at the 2018 Worlds, defeating China's Royal Never Give Up in the quarterfinals, before losing to the soon-to-be champions Invictus Gaming in the semi finals. Fnatic would wind up beating North America's Cloud9 in the semis and losing to Invictus in the final. 2019 marked the league's rebrand from the EU LCS to the LEC, the League of Legends European Championship. In their fourth year in the league, G2 would drop the bombshell of the decade by signing former Fnatic mid laner Rasmus "Caps" Borregaar, and moving Perkz to the AD carry position. The team would go on to sign Mihael "Mikyx" Mehle as well. With a team composed of Wunder in the top lane, Jankos in the jungle, Caps in the mid lane and Perkz and Mikyx in the bot lane, G2 would find their old form. This roster, composed of faces both old and new, gelled together in a way that was previously unseen. Caps unlocked something, and the team started to win again. But this time, they weren't villains, they were heroes. via Riot Games After wining the 2019 Spring Split, G2 traveled to Taipei for the Mid-Season Invitational. They'd take down Korea's SKT and North America's Team Liquid to win Europe their first MSI title. G2 went on to win their sixth title during Summer 2019 and would eventually make it all the way to Worlds Grand Final before losing to China's FunPlus Phoenix. After just recently sweeping Fnatic in the 2020 Spring Finals, G2 has now tied their rival for most European titles of all time. What Fnatic did in six years, G2 did in just over four. There is no doubt who the real kings of Europe are. But, the team's goals go past winning their region. G2 Esports want to win Worlds. What does the future hold for G2? Well, despite the players' long histories, the team is still incredibly young. Caps is just 20, while Mikyx, Wunder and Perkz are 21 and Jankos is the veteran of the team at 24. G2 have conquered Europe, but now they have their eyes set on Worlds. And for a team that's been nothing short of "inevitable," their goals might just ring true.