Snax: "I shut down a little bit on Inferno"

Whilst Snax is pleased with G2's run to the Esports World Cup final, he feels that with more practice, there is more to come from his new team.

G2 hit the reset button in the off-season and ditched their most maligned players, Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen and Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković, in an effort to find a consistent formula for winning titles.

Whilst there was some excitement regarding the arrival of Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa and Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski, there was also plenty of scepticism. The clash of roles created by the incorporation of malbsMd seemed difficult to solve on paper, and questions were asked of Snax's credentials as a top-tier IGL.

A run to the grand final of Esports World Cup was the unexpected answer G2 had for their critics, and whilst they were beaten to the trophy by Natus Vincere, the excellent levelled displayed by G2 throughout their run in Riyadh was a tantalizing taste of the potential of their firepower-laden new roster.

Read more

NAVI fire past G2 to win Esports World Cup

Following their defeat at the hands of Natus Vincere, G2's new leader Snax sat down with HLTV to give his thoughts on his team's campaign, the pressure of taking up the reins at G2, and his goals for the upcoming season.

---

It's your first event with the team and an incredible result, a grand final. Overall, what are your impressions from this run? Are you more upset with the misfortune in the grand final, or happy with the result?

To be honest I would say both. I'm happy and also sad, it's not nice to lose in the final. I can say that I have really good impressions about the team, how we are playing, what players I have and how they understand the game. I wasn't counting on a final. I thought that we could show some good CS, but game by game when we started to win, and in a good way, we started to believe even more and maybe even put ourselves as favorites. Maybe that was a small problem.

We didn't have that much time for preparation, I didn't fully play on Inferno that much, for a couple of years even, so it wasn't that easy for me. But I would say from now on, if we will have a little bit more time, I can put everything that I want on the server and just have more tools, because we played each map four or five times before the tournament, mostly four, so obviously it wasn't big preparation. I felt a little bit of stress came in the final moments. Overall I could say I'm happy.

Can you talk a little on Inferno? It was not convincing play from you there, what do you think was the primary reason for that? Was it stress as you said?

Maybe not stress, we didn't play it that much. Like you could see on Ancient, we played it several times this tournament so it was already twice more than we practiced on server before the tournament. So lack of practice I would say, it was hard. I also maybe shut down a little bit myself after some point on Inferno, losing the third round, the eco on A, also didn't help. Like I said I didn't play Inferno that much, and with that I would just like to end this topic.

You came into G2 with malbsMd, a very interesting up-and-coming talent. What is your impression of him?

He's a really nice guy. He's funny and likes to laugh, I feel like he's a really good guy, he's listening, he's young, he has this hunger to play and work with the team. I really like him, and yeah he's a good player and aimer.

In terms of you being an IGL, the best team you led before was GamerLegion, and it was for under a year. Is there any pressure in that regard, now that you got to a tier-one title-contending team?

I mean I've been there a couple years ago, I was even there sometimes back in the days in VP, maybe not as much as TaZ and NEO, but for sure for eight or nine months I was calling in the team. So yeah, I don't fully feel the pressure, I just feel like I didn't have enough time to put everything on paper that I want, and also you can imagine before the tournament I was saying "guys, there is not that much time to focus on everything we can do." On some of the maps I feel better, some of the maps I'm just lacking all the tools.

As for pressure, nah I don't think so. I know I have good guys on the team, good aimers, good players, they are considered some of the best in the world. So I think if we keep working hard and just focus on practice, training, everything, it's going to be even easier for me to call. We just need to keep understanding each other. I hope it's going to be the first final of many to come.

In terms of your performance on the server, HooXi was famously one of the least-fragging IGLs on the scene. Was it one of your main goals to improve the team in that regard, or was it something else that you prioritized?

No, I would say as an IGL I prioritized more the tools, the strats, everything we can have on the server. Both CT and T side, it's not like I am only focusing on T side, but for this tournament I did. Like I say, there was not much time to fix everything.

I would say I could even get 0-24 every match, but if we are going to win the final, I am okay with that if it's going to help. I could even deal with the devil to have some kind of pact like this (laughs). Now I feel like my shooting is not that bad, I can obviously hit some. I'm not comparing myself to anyone, I don't want to hear or say that I'm the best IGL, best shooter or whatever, that's not my goal. My goal is to win tournaments the best way that we can, by calls, by everything.

Many were surprised to see you joining G2. Was it a surprise to you to receive this offer?

I mean it depends. A little bit, yes, because we had talks before then I didn't join. I would say I was surprised, and I'm also happy that they invited me to the team.

You said in an interview previously that there were some talks with G2 in 2022. Can you talk more about that?

I think I said everything about this topic.

You have a history of playing with TaZ, what are your impressions from reuniting with him?

I think it's pretty nice. We are together now as grown men, we talk normally, we have a good history as well. I think he surprised me as a coach, the things he brings to the server and outside of the server are pretty good, I really like working with him right now and it was a pleasure at this tournament. It didn't go the way we wanted, but it's good, I like it.

Speaking of the season, there is a lot upcoming. What is your main goal for this season?

My main goal is to show everything on the server that I have as an IGL, good strats and calls. Be in as many finals as we can, win as many as we can, obviously this is always the point in my career, I want to win everything no matter what. I will try my best and focus hard on winning. I don't want to end in another situation like this tournament, I could put Nuke on myself, I could put Inferno a bit on myself. I wasn't as decisive as I was before on other maps, but I think it's a process that we need to go through.

I think we have really nice potential right now with the players that we have, we just need to play a little bit more together. So my goal is to lead those guys. It would be really nice to win a Major again with TaZ, but also with NiKo and all the other guys. So yeah, that would be my goal, to win.