G2 dominate Apeks to advance to Paris Major Legends Stage

G2 thrashed Apeks 16-3 on Inferno to lock in a place in the Major's next phase of competition.

G2 are the first team to successfully traverse the BLAST.tv Paris Major Challengers Stage and earn a spot in the Legends Stage after beating Apeks in a two-map series (Anubis 16-11, Inferno 16-3).

The current team list for the Legends Stage is:

HEROIC
Natus Vincere
fnatic
Bad News Eagles
G2

Vitality
FURIA
9INE
Into the Breach

G2 went on a 3-0 tear en route to a spot in the Legends Stage, first recording best-of-one victories over The MongolZ (16-11) and Complexity (16-9) to set up a qualification matchup versus Apeks.

jks put up a 1.56 rating in G2's 2-0 win over Apeks

The best-of-three Legends Stage-defining bout began on Apeks' pick of Anubis, and it didn't take long for their veto selection to pay dividends as Damjan "⁠kyxsan⁠" Stoilkovski's men narrowly led 8-7 at the end of their T-side effort. Heroics from Tim "⁠nawwk⁠" Jonasson, who ended Anubis with a server-high 27 frags, kept his team in contention, but it was an ace from Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač that turned the tide, with G2 confidently marching onwards to a 16-11 victory.

From there, the series was all G2's. Stellar showings from Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage and NiKo on Inferno, who combined for 29 kills in the first half, saw the IEM Katowice champions sit atop a commanding 13-2 lead at the break. With the wind in their sails and victory within touching distance, what was left was merely a formality as G2 pulled off a force-buy win before snowballing their way to a 16-3, and 2-0, win.

BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Challengers StageBest of 3

Apeks

Matchpage

0

2

9th May 2023

G2

11

Anubis

16

3

Inferno

16

Apeks	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Tim 'nawwk' Jonassonnawwk	36 - 30	+6	70.9	76.1%	1.09
Martin 'STYKO' StykSTYKO	24 - 34	-10	57.1	67.4%	0.85
Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostadjkaem	25 - 35	-10	61.7	60.9%	0.83
Justinas 'jL' LekaviciusjL	27 - 37	-10	74.5	58.7%	0.81
Damjan 'kyxsan' Stoilkovskikyxsan	22 - 37	-15	69.5	56.5%	0.74

G2	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Justin 'jks' Savagejks	44 - 25	+19	105.6	80.4%	1.56
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	41 - 29	+12	90.5	67.4%	1.38
Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipovm0NESY	32 - 25	+7	65.0	67.4%	1.14
Nemanja 'huNter-' KovačhuNter-	32 - 27	+5	73.5	80.4%	1.12
Rasmus 'HooXi' NielsenHooXi	24 - 29	-5	67.9	76.1%	1.02

The win, and subsequent advancement, will be a particularly feel-good moment for G2, who famously missed out on a spot at the IEM Rio Major in November with this exact lineup. This time, however, the squad have looked near-unstoppable, cruising through the RMR (3-1) before making it to the top-16 with a flawless display.

Either FaZe or ENCE will join G2 in earning a Legends Stage berth on Wednesday, with the two teams currently locking horns.

On the flip side, the Major in France will also see its first eliminations by the end of play on Wednesday, with Liquid taking on Fluxo and GamerLegion fighting MOUZ shortly in what are must-win games.

Date	Matches
BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Challengers Stage
09/05/2023	GamerLegion 16:20 MOUZ	Match
09/05/2023	Fluxo 18:15 Liquid	Match

The up-to-date standings for the BLAST.tv Paris Major Challengers Stage are:

Group Challengers Stage

3W - 0L

G2

2W - 0L

ENCE

FaZe

2W - 1L

paiN

FORZE

Apeks

Ninjas in Pyjamas

Grayhound

1W - 2L

Monte

The MongolZ

OG

Complexity

0W - 2L

Liquid

GamerLegion

MOUZ

Fluxo