Stewie2K talks G2's issues, Dallas, and his future

The North American player appeared on Mauisnake's stream and discussed his time playing for G2 at IEM Dallas.

Weeks removed from winning IEM Dallas, Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip has shared insight on his Cinderella story with G2 at the North American event, which saw the team hoist the trophy after beating teams like MOUZ, Liquid, FaZe and Vitality.

The 26-year-old made an appearance on analyst Alex "⁠Mauisnake⁠" Ellenberg's stream on Wednesday and spoke freely for around an hour, answering just about every question he was asked about his time with G2 and also opening up about his situation and future.

Stewie2K had only one week of practice with the team leading up to Dallas, where he filled in for Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen. Playing on high ping from North America while the rest of the team was still in Europe, he would often struggle to find kills in scrims, which made for some difficult moments.

"In my head, I knew that 160 ping can be very tough to practice but it's more about getting the chemistry inside the server," he said. "There were a lot of times, maybe later in the week, when we practiced the same map again, it's hard for me to get kills and we get run over.

"I think people would lose confidence because they are results-oriented, and they see it's failing pretty hard, so they think it's bad. In my eyes, the whole time, I was like, 'Just wait until you come to Dallas. I'll have 5 ping and things will be a lot different than it looks.'"

Unaware of the kind of issues that the team was dealing with at the time, Stewie2K said, he walked into a tense situation once he got to meet the rest of the squad in person.

"The first day I got there in practice, not many people were talking, it feels a little tense," he explained. "There's not a whole lot of fun going on. When people go over things, it's almost a military type of vibe. You've got your general, who is explaining the day, he's running down the agenda of the day, providing examples and everything. Everyone is watching.

"It's a one-man show, no-one is really enjoying their time here, it kind of feels like a 9-5. People are clocking in and clocking out. I know that vibes like that… It's not a real team. There are going to be times when people are not saying things because they can't and they feel they don't have the room to.

"The first day, when I felt that, I tried throwing a few jokes here and here. It was a very tough crowd. I could tell m0NESY was trying to lighten the mood with me."

Of all the players on his team, Stewie2K said that Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov was the one who surprised him the most. "I had never seen a player like that. I had never said, 'this is the best AWPer in the world I've ever seen'. He's the first player who made me say that," he noted, adding that he knew next to nothing about the Russian AWPer or most of the players competing in Dallas, including Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets, who he thought was "just a new streamer on the block."

"I walked into the event not knowing that MOUZ was the best team in the world and all these players' names," he said. "I think I walked past w0nderful in the elevator. He said 'hi' to me, I said 'hey', and I didn't know who that was. I know it sounds disrespectful, but I was in my own focus. It was literally G2 and me, and that's it."

A few minutes later, he delved further into G2's internal issues as he commented on the dynamic between head coach Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas and the team.

"I think he's a pretty good coach," Stewie2K said. "He's very level-headed. I think I saw more of the bad side of how things were towards Dallas. There were times when I didn't know what was going on, it was my first few days there. I could tell that, when TaZ was speaking, there wasn't a lot of real attention to what he was saying.

"I understand that, sometimes, when coaches say and present things, it doesn't make sense, but we know it's coming with good intentions. The example he was giving, I kind of felt that this wasn't the right fit. But it kind of felt that not a lot of people were giving him the chance to speak freely and not be judged.

"In my eyes, it felt like some things had built along the way. There was a lot of tension and it felt people weren't listening to each other but it was shoved under the rug and they don't really address it. Which is really unhealthy for a team. You could tell it was something that was bothering them. Throughout the tournament, I got to see the better side of everybody."

Stewie2K's revelations come at a time when G2's lineup has been depleted to four players following the benching Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković. Last week, HLTV reported that G2 are looking to sign M80 star Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa, whose departure has already been announced by the North American organisation.

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Speaking about the event itself, Stewie2K described Dallas as "almost a miracle" when explaining the public support that he enjoyed and how everything lined up perfectly in the end.

"I really can't put any words to describe what type of event this was for me," he said. "This was probably the best event of my career by far. I think it was better than Cologne. I think it was better than Boston."

Before he appeared on the stream, Stewie2K had left a comment in the chat saying that he played in Dallas at "20 percent." He went on to say that he feels confident in his ability to rediscover some of his old magic.

"Throughout the event, I feel my baseline is way higher than what people expect it to be," he said. "And even a player like NiKo didn't see that until the very end of the event.

"When I saw that, I was like, 'I can't really say where I'm at as a player. I just have to show it'. I think that, you give me one month of bootcamp in Europe and I'll be over 50% in terms of my IQ and decision-making."

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Stewie2K: "Hopefully, this event shows I can still hang at this level"

Stewie2K's future remains up in the air after the miracle run in Dallas. He stated once again that he hopes he did a good enough job to prove that he can still play at the highest level and expressed his belief that he will land on a team where everyone gets on well with each other and works hard.

"I've always been open to whatever offers come my way," he said. "Honestly, it's just about myself, it has nothing to do with anybody or anything. I'm just prioritizing myself a lot these days.

"I'm definitely talking with a lot more people. I think opportunities will come, maybe not the opportunities I'm looking for completely, but they're still good enough. There's a chance you'll see me again in competitions soon."