huNter-: "It was hard to forget the cs_summit loss and come straight here, but we showed amazing energy and won"

After G2 lifted the trophy here at the Champions Cup Finals following a 2-0 victory over Spirit, we spoke to Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač, the highest-rated player at the event.

G2 end their year with silverware after taking down Spirit in the Champions Cup grand final, which saw the Serbian duo of huNter- and Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković drive their team to glory.

In the interview, huNter- talks to us about the team's playoff run, his outstanding tournament performance, G2's plans heading into the last few days of the year, and more.

First, I would like to talk about the semi-final versus ENCE. It was an extremely close affair that saw G2 narrowly win in overtime on the third map of Train, talk me through that series - how intense was it?

It was such a hard match, a really hard match to play. They are a really good team and they had time to practice in the last three or four months without going to lots of events. They had a lot of bootcamps, I would say, and they prepared for this match really well - they anti-strated us so much. We had six straight events in a row and didn't have that much time to rest or practice. We've been together for three months and have had maybe 14 days practice, so it was difficult; but ENCE is a super good team.

We did three comebacks and on Dust2, we were unlucky not to win. But yeah, on Train, it was around 13-7 and I said: "let's go, boys, we can play like this; be more aggressive and don't give them that much respect. Just make plays, if you want to do it alone - do it!". In the end, it was a really great game to play and I hope it was really fun to watch.

In the grand final, you faced off against Spirit, did they surprise you at all? How was it to play against them?

Yeah, they are a really good team. Last night, after we finished our game against ENCE, they played, and we expected FURIA to win and to play them in the finals - I think it's what we all expected. But Spirit played so well and I was scared at first (laughs), I said to the team: "what is this, they are amazing, they have great strats and their aim is on point", and today they showed it.

On both maps, they played really well and I don't know how we won some rounds, I'll have to watch it back and see. There were three or four times where I killed three or four guys, but it wasn't easy. They have really great strats that are hard to read and it was hard to understand what they were doing in the mid-rounds, but they're a great team and I wish them all the best.

Map one proved to be a close match, with Spirit leading 13-10 mid-way through the second half, but you guys managed to pull it back at the end with a six-round streak - how did you pull it off?

It was the same as yesterday, like when we were losing to ENCE. We said on the timeout: "okay boys, let's go, at the beginning of the round let's use the nades that we need, don't risk playing without them. Just use the grenades, even if you think it is a 1% chance they will execute, just use nades. Make sure at the end of the rounds you have good positioning and do not give them too much space because they use it well. They're an explosive team like all Russian teams are, it's not easy to play against. They played some different CS and it was really hard. We just played our own game, didn't give them respect and got the rounds just like yesterday versus ENCE.

The second map went to Mirage, Spirit’s pick. Did you expect them to pick this? How prepared for it were you?

Yeah, we were 100% sure they would pick Mirage because when nexa and I joined, G2 was not playing the map at all. We started to prepare Mirage as much as possible, but as I said, we only had around 14 days of practice - it was not that much. The G2 guys said if we wanted to play Mirage, they would because they believed in nexa and me from playing it a lot in CR4ZY. We knew how to play the map well, the rotations and everything, and they are listening to us and what we want to do. Of course, the rest of the team, including maLeK, are having great ideas on every map and it is working really well.

After the summit loss, it was a difficult defeat to take as mousesports had a coach and stand-in playing. Everyone was writing: "you are idiots" and those kinds of things. It was hard to forget it and come straight here, but we showed amazing energy and won.

You played phenomenally this event, earning a tournament-high 1.41 rating across eight maps. Why do you think you're playing so well? Do you feel like you are at your very best, or will we see even better form from you in 2020?

I am always trying to be better, working harder and harder. Before, in CR4ZY, I didn't have this role I have now. It was difficult for me, but when I joined here they said: "you have this role", so I have all the positions I need and my job is to kill everyone. I want to say thank you to my teammates and coach for allowing me to play how I want to and trusting me in whatever I need to do or call. I don't think this rating is only for me; other people are flashing for me, supporting me, you know? I have the best rating now, but next year it could easily be kennyS, nexa, JaCkz or AmaNek.

I am full of confidence, I played well at summit and after this event, we are one step closer to top 5, top 6. We can do it, like at Pro League we could have beaten Astralis as we had three match points for a 2-0. And summit, we all know what happened... It was a small setback, but in a couple of months, with a proper bootcamp, I think it will be much, much better.

Finally, what’s the plan for the team going into the break? Will you be practising a lot, or will it be a much-needed rest?

We want to have a break for three weeks because nexa and I played something like 300 maps on HLTV, officially; plus, with CR4ZY, we played many open qualifiers that are not on HLTV. We went to a lot of events and travelled loads, and it was really hard for us. It was super tiring, so we need some rest in the three weeks. We do have an online qualifier for IEM Katowice, and we will also have a bootcamp in the middle of January.