The most internationally successful European team of all time, G2 Esports haven’t been performing at their peak for the last two years. After an impactful roster change at the start of the year, G2 were not able to achieve the same level of success as older tournaments in this Worlds, including MSI 2022.
After their 1-5 exit from the Group stage, we spoke with G2âs top laner Sergen âBroken Bladeâ Ãelik about their last three matches, some of the draft choices they made, and his plans for the offseason.
Aykut Sapaz, BLIX.GG: Hello and welcome BrokenBlade. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview and Iâm sorry about how your games went down today. It was a really unfortunate day. Iâd like to quickly go over the games individually.
So firstly you guys played against Evil Geniuses. You won the last seven games against them but in the last match of 2022, they won. What was the difference in this game compared to the other seven?
Sergen âBroken Bladeâ Ãelik: The difference is that they had a really big snowball comp and Lucian-Nami with a Shen top and Hecarim jungle. They got ahead starting at bot lane and after that, itâs just hard to play because itâs just we have an Ornn-Azir on the other side so we can’t really trade well. so I mean I think that draft was just better when they snowballed right. Obviously it’s like a very very simple comp to play once you’re ahead and then after that, it was just a hard game to play right there’s nothing more to say to that.
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BLIX: Were you expecting a change in draft style from them or was it a curveball for you guys?
G2 BrokenBlade: I mean it wasn’t really very surprising what they play right? It’s like Impact is known to play Shen for example, we knew Inspired was playing Hecarim. I donât really think the way they drafted did matter but it just mattered that they got ahead which they shouldnât have. And they did because again, they dove us, they did a great play and we didn’t anticipate it fast enough. We couldn’t cover it and again we can’t trade on the other side because I’m playing Ornn against Shen right? So, it’s not even worth it even if you could do it right. So, yeah I think it was just more gameplay related than the draft. Thank you.
BLIX: Yeah, it was unfortunate. After that, you guys played against DK. Were you expecting a Sejuani first pick out of them in the draft?
G2 BrokenBlade: Yeah, I mean Sejuani is a very contested pick, so they can pick it and flex it which they did. Yeah, I think that was probably the worst game I played individually, in this tournament out of all these six games so I think I could have played a little better. I had to kind of pick a dead top and that game was also not a very good game for us.
BLIX: That was also an unfortunate game. But also in that game, Jankos, for the first time, played Belveth in a League of Legends professional game. How did that come to happen in the draft?
G2 BrokenBlade: Belveth is a champ thatâs very new, right? So, it makes sense that he didn’t play before because it wasn’t released. But I mean it’s obviously a strong champion, a lot of people pick it, a lot of teams, especially right now, I think it has its place in the meta, right? I think it’s a good carry jungler, has a very fast clear early game, and has very good uh stats, what you can do?
Like, I think with Belveth, for example, Herald gets more value right because you can expand a little, yeah the void links I guess so, the game changes a little bit when Belveth is in the game. So itâs a very different champ, brings a little variety into the game but the Belveth was behind, right? Not because of him, like Jankos, playing worse or anything like that. Like we just didn’t perform as a team and if Belveth gets behind compared to Graves it’s hard to play obviouslyâ¦
BLIX: Now that game turned out not well for you guys as well and the last game of the day for you guys. You guys started with the lead against JDG. What went wrong during the game after that lead?
G2 BrokenBlade: I think we just team-fought way worse than them. They were playing a lot through Renekton-Nidalee which makes sense right? They got a lead, they killed me once, they dove me, and we got a lot of kills from bot lane, but then we had one team fight at the Drake where they just used their spells better than us. We didn’t really know how to play the situation compared to them and I think they played individually better as well, so. I think they also outplayed us in some of the fights and that’s how you know they got to come back and won the game over us. Like obviously theyâre LPL’s first seeds so they’re gonna play really well. Nothing very shocking. I think we had a good plan early. Obviously, I’m playing a tank so if I get behind a little bit, that’s completely fine right? I did think the game was going really good the early game. Obviously, our bot lane was 3-0, but in the end, they just played a lot better.
Thoughts on Worlds
BLIX: Yeah, that was a hard game and they even went 5-0 after that game. But that was the end of the year for you guys. I want to ask, outside of the games, how was the world’s experience for you?
G2 BrokenBlade: Well, the experience was actually really good, so I think we had good practice going into, you know, Worlds. It was very exciting. I wish I could have been here a bit earlier but I don’t know if you could have changed that, I think it was a bit Riot related. Anyway, I think the experience itself was good. It’s my second Worlds, I only won one game which is a bit tragic but obviously, it’s not something I’m proud of. Itâs something that’s very very frustrating for me. I do think I can do way better than that. I think my score was like 1 and 11 right now because one time was 0/6 and the other time 1/5. It’s definitely something that is not nice for someone that is playing Worlds.
Anyway, I think the experience itself though was a lot better than my last time so the next time I’m at Worlds which is hopefully next year, I think I’ll do a lot better because I do take away a lot of things from this experience I’ve had and hopefully, but hopefully I mean I’m sure I will I’ll learn from the things I could have done better, the people I played against right, I felt like the difference between the top laners and me was not as big as it was the last time I was here. I felt like last time I was having a way harder time playing against the top laners instead of that like in the international top laners. But I do think I did get better over the two years that I was not in Worlds.
BLIX: That was, that was way back right?
G2 BrokenBlade: it was 2020, yeah… Two years.
BLIX: You’ll have more chances in the future, you’ll improve, and we’ll see you again on the Worlds stage I hope.
G2 BrokenBlade: Yeah I’m sure of that.
BLIX: Yeah. I wanted to ask now that the only EU team remaining in Worlds is Rogue. How do you think they will do in the tournament?
G2 BrokenBlade: I mean they’re already doing a lot better than the rest of the Europeans, right because they got eliminated. I mean I think they have a shot of getting out of the groups, like a really good shot at even right. We will see how they will do in quarters, I think that’s going to be their big challenge. I think they’re pretty much in, I don’t want to jinx them right, butâ¦
BLIX: Oh no, the EU jinxâ¦
G2 BrokenBlade: They have been performing really well like surprisingly well actually. I think in the games. Iâm so very happy to see it an EU team can actually make it out of groups if they make it out right. So I think the big challenge for them is obviously going to be quarter-finals, semi-finals, and stuff if they make it, so yeah.
BLIX: Yeah and we’ll see how they do. It’s their game to play. Do you have any plans for the off-season, for vacation maybe perhaps?
G2 BrokenBlade: Honestly I’m not so sure yet it’s, I have a lot of time to think about it now. I was not expecting us to go out today. Actually, that’s really it. I will obviously have some time now off. I was thinking of doing some vacation. Yeah, maybe I will for sure go visit my family, and then after we’ll see. Maybe I’ll get my driver’s license and so on. Like I don’t know I have so much time now. Weâll see what I will do with that time. Obviously I want to reflect on what I could have done better but I will do better next time and stuff like that. Just come back strong and stronger next time.
BLIX: Yeah I truly believe that this is not the last we will see of Broken Blade on the international stage. You’ll get back here and I’ll do an interview where you get out of groups hopefully with you, we’ll see those days too. Lastly, do you have any sort of message to send to the fans to close out this year for G2?
G2 BrokenBlade: I mean I can tell probably a lot of fans are upset, frustrated, and mad, at us. Trust me, we are way, way more than what you guys are in terms of emotions because we played those games, it’s not like we don’t care about the games. Everyone is very frustrated, especially me. I have at least, from like I can only say for myself right but, yeah I’m gonna try my best to obviously not be performing like this again like that we go 1-5. Iâll just try my hardest next time. Obviously it’s nothing that is based on like this tournament we went 1-5 because we were just simply not better than the then the rest of the competition.
I think that’s like the biggest thing and I think if you want to do better, everyone has to learn from it from this experience and come back stronger next time. And I know for a fact at least for myself that I did get better over the years and I will get better again. And yeah I’m very grateful to have another chance you know, to play in this Worlds, even though it was a 1-5. I think my experience here was a lot better than the last time I was here and the next time I’m going to be here it’s going to be a lot better again.
