huNter- on dip in form: "I was never working more than I do now"

The Bosnian rifler hopes to deliver better individual performances in the playoffs.

G2 secured a spot at the Spodek Arena in-extremis with two lower-bracket victories against Monte and HEROIC on the final day of the IEM Katowice group stage. The international squad thus earned the chance to defend their 2023 title in the playoffs, which they will kick off in the four-team quarter-final against FaZe on Friday.

Date	Matches
IEM Katowice 2024
09/02/2024	FaZe 16:15 G2	Match

Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač stopped by HLTV's microphones after the victory against HEROIC to chat about how his team is faring in Katowice, as well as sharing his thoughts on his current form, which has been below his CS:GO standards. "I'm not feeling confident for now, but my teammates are trusting me and I trust myself," he said in the interview, "I'll just keep working on myself, and that's pretty much it."

Congratulations on making it to Spodek. It was a long day for you guys after you had to play two series — tell me about the day, it looked scary at times for you.

Yeah, I don't even remember what happened in the first game anymore. I was just thinking about Heroic, and now Heroic is only in my head and what was happening in that game. But overall it was a really long day, and especially the first game where we needed to play three maps. This second game was a bit easier, let's say, but Heroic is a great team and I'm really happy we managed to bounce back after yesterday, a big loss against ENCE and we didn't have a chance, they smashed us in all aspects. We are becoming a team and, with time, we'll be better and better.

You're saying easier today, but there was a point where you needed that forcebuy here on Nuke and on the first map it got close before you closed it out. Tell me about how it went from your perspective and being able to pull it over the finish line in those late rounds.

I felt like we won some really crucial 3v5s on Vertigo, the first gunround and the last round as well. We have really good players individually in the team, and of course everybody's expecting us to do some crazy things as well to win the round when it's unwinnable kinda. But overall I think we played well and HooXi called T sides really good today. I think we need to focus more CT sides to be better, and I hope HooXi will keep calling like he did today and I will not be scared in playoffs.

Yesterday looked like such a disappearance from you guys. What happened?

First of all, ENCE played pretty well yesterday and they were shooting better than us. I think we didn't show up individually at all, especially me and NiKo I would say, and we didn't do what people expected us to do. But yeah, they played really well as well and they just smashed us individually. We didn't win any duels when we watched the game after.

Since CS2 came out you've been struggling to put up the same numbers as in CS:GO. Is it down to the new game, or what's up with your form?

I honestly don't know. I was never working more than I work now, even in CS:GO. I was working a lot, but the way I'm working now is really hard. I don't know if I should chill a bit more or what to do, but I'm just patient, I'm really happy we managed to go to playoffs even though I'm not playing really well. I'm not feeling confident for now, but my teammates are trusting me and I trust myself. I'll just keep working on myself, and that's pretty much it. Hopefully, in playoffs I will be better.

You have FaZe in the quarter-finals up first. FaZe vs. G2 has been historically always very dynamic, chaotic, really good game. Tell me about your expectations.

I think in that game everything is possible, honestly. They can beat us 2-0, we can beat them 2-0, it can be a really close game, it really depends who will show up individually. Every time we played against FaZe, if they were better individually they won, if we were better individually we won. They count on their good players, we count on our good players, so everything is possible. Hopefully we will have a better day than them and let's see.

Do you have anything specific to focus on with a couple of days to prepare for that?

I think we have only tomorrow, or?

No, Wednesday and Thursday are off days, and then Friday is the quarter-final.

Ah, two days. First of all, we need to rest because the last two days were really tough and long for us overall. So yeah, we just need to reset and sleep well tonight, and then tomorrow we will see what we will do. Hopefully we will practice some maps and prepare like we do for every other opponent.