TaZ: "It's really hard to play against us; I don't think we have a weakness in the team"

The Polish coach said he is not surprised to see such a dominant G2 right out of the gate.

G2 moved comfortably into the final of the Esports World Cup with a quick 2-0 victory against Virtus.pro, outperforming the Russian team in every department behind a spirited performance from Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač.

It's still early days, but G2 seem to be heading in the right direction, and they will have on Sunday the opportunity to win their second title in 2024 against Natus Vincere.

Date	Matches
Esports World Cup 2024
21/07/2024	G2 20:00 Natus Vincere	Match

After the victory over Virtus.pro, Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas sat down with HLTV to discuss the team's impressive form in Riyadh and the additions of Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski and Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa during the off-season.

Are you surprised you've managed to come this far in your first event with the new roster?

I'm not surprised. I'm happy that we are making progress and playing very well.

Was the team really feeling it today, or do you think it was not a great day for VP?

I think it's really hard to play against us because I don't think that we have a weakness in the team. So, it's also probably a very hard task to create a game plan, like, 'Where do we want to attack? Do we want to go against Sneaky Beaky [Snax] and huNter-? Do we want to go and maybe duo NiKo and Mario [malbsMd]?' And then, on one of these spots, a wild Ilya [m0NESY] will appear.

During the break, you got malbsMd and Snax. Can you share the role you played in that decision, with peca being the General Manager?

We were talking, so it was both a management decision and my idea. I'm just happy I have that trust from the management. And I think they deserve some slack for going through with getting these players.

Many were surprised to see Snax joining the team. Was it your decision? Did you consider other options?

It's always hard to make a lineup change. It never came easy to me during my over twenty-year career. But when we were talking inside the team, when we were talking with the management, it was clear that we needed to make a change, and I just came up with the idea that I knew what Snax could do individually. The only questions were how good he was as an IGL and how we would mesh together again, right? I'm just happy with how it is working, and we will do our best to keep going and to keep the mood up.

There was a lot of talk about role clashes. How are you handling that? Is it hard to figure out?

I don't think it's hard to figure out. I did some interview about it. It's about talking with the players, with the team, looking at the pieces you have and meshing them together. In the current Counter-Strike meta, everyone wants to be a star, right? First of all, you need to find the right mentality of a player to actually build a team. And if you have the right mentality, there is no such thing as making sacrifices. If you talk about sacrifices, what is b1t playing in NAVI? What is Jimpphat doing in MOUZ? What is ropz doing in FaZe? I think that Mario wouldn't mind being mentioned around these guys.

You’re reuniting with Snax. You have a history of playing with each other and you’re both Polish. Does it help in your game-planning process?

Yes, it definitely helps. Because we trust each other, we know that we can help each other inside and outside of the game. So I think it helps a lot.

There was some bad blood between you and Snax. Can you set the record straight: what was your relationship with Snax like when he joined the team?

Obviously, after VP there was some disconnect between us, but I believe that you cannot stay in the past and you need to move forward to achieve success. We weren't, like, super good. We were okay. Sometimes we spoke at events, but it wasn't like, 'Hey, I have a friend. Let's call him.' No, no, no, no. It wasn't like that. It was definitely about what he could do on the server. I'm just happy we got him.

Tomorrow you'll face either NAVI or MOUZ. Who would you like to face and why?

I would really love to play NAVI because they beat us at the Major and they were constantly beating us in the past, so I would really like to get revenge. But I wouldn't mind to face MOUZ. They also beat us lately, if I remember correctly. Actually, no, we beat them. So yeah, MOUZ, we are good.