m0NESY: "We showed some balls finally"

G2's superstar became a "room flower" to prepare for the Major, playing 10 hours per day after an RMR that fell below his lofty individual standards.

Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov and G2 are the No. 1 seed at the Major but were stunned on day one by The MongolZ, stumbling their way to a 10-13 loss fit with all the dressings of a G2 classic, including two lost 5v2s.

"Against MongolZ, we played our game, but you know... it's G2, they need to lose these rounds," a light-hearted m0NESY tells HLTV. "And we tried to lose them hard."

Redemption was found in a quick, if not easy, 13-5 win over BIG, with m0NESY back to his best with a 1.92 rating by the end of it and G2, in m0NESY's words, "showing some balls."

Date	Matches
Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024
05/12/2024	G2 Finished 10:13 The MongolZ	Match
05/12/2024	G2 Finished 13:5 BIG	Match

It's a good sign for the current favorite for HLTV Player of the Year after a quiet RMR by his standards, with it all to play for in Shanghai between him, Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets, and Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut.

"I didn't show even my minimum performance in the RMR and in the first game against MongolZ," he continues. "I don't know what affected me, but I played a lot in these days and I'm ready to show an even better game than before."

If you cannot see the Soundcloud embed, listen to the interview here.

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1-1 for the day, started a bit rough against The MongolZ but you bounced back here. How did the day go from your end?

First of all, I think we started well today. We didn't feel any pressure and we tried so hard against MongolZ but we unfortunately lost some stupid rounds, like 2v5s twice, and it maybe affected our CT side. But overall, I wouldn't say that we didn't feel confident or that we felt any pressure when we played against MongolZ, we just... G2 as usual, losing some stupid rounds, you know. It's best-of-ones, it's hard to win if you lose these kinds of rounds because you actually need to win them.

Against BIG we had very sick reads from NiKo, very good calls from Janusz [Snax] on T side as well, and a good performance from the team. We have Mario [malbsMd], who is sick, he has been sick for the last three days. Also Janusz was sick before but he got better, and me a little bit, but it's okay, it doesn't affect my game. But for Mario, it's maybe a bit harder to focus. So overall, the day was good, 1-1, we keep going.

You started this game 0-3 but then came back, nine rounds in a row. Bouncing back from those sloppy rounds against MongolZ and getting that streak in this game, does it bring the confidence back after being off for almost two weeks?

Yeah, in general it gives us confidence, and more confidence when we won against BIG. Even against MongolZ, we played our game, but you know... it's G2, they need to lose these rounds (smiles) and we... we tried to lose them hard (laughs). I don't know how it happens, but it's 1-1, we've been practicing for a long time since we qualified for the Major, and this will definitely bring us more confidence and also confidence for me. I didn't show even my minimum performance in the RMR and in the first game against MongolZ, I don't know what affected me, but I played a lot in these days and I'm ready to show an even better game than before.

A lot of the teams have stuck around here, either because they couldn't or didn't want to leave China, and practiced instead. What has it been like for you in terms of that?

It was not easy to practice against teams because everyone was booking against each other, some teams were canceling, changing some plans. We had a pretty good schedule, we were preparing for this match against MongolZ as well because the match was very early, like at 11, and we had to wake up at 7. I woke up at 7:30 and took a shower. After that, we went for a team walk together.

I think the hardest thing is to get used to the schedule because I'm a room flower, I'm sitting playing 10 hours per day, and I go to sleep usually at 2 or 3, maybe 4 AM sometimes, and it's pretty rough to get used to the schedule. But we are professionals, we have to do it, and we have to get used to different conditions from what we have. We cannot make it better, we have to make do with what we have. Overall, I am happy, we played better than against MongolZ, and we showed some balls finally.

There is this whole conversation coming into this Major about who is top1 in the world, is it you, is it ZywOo, is it donk. How do you feel about the pressure and the importance of this Major around that?

For me, the most important thing is to have a good performance as a team at the Major. I'm not really focused on this, 'Who wins the Major is going to become top 1.' I mean obviously I saw people commenting about it, but I don't really focus on that. Our goal as a team is to win the Major, and it will be very important for everyone because it's also the last tournament of the year.

Everyone is hungry here, everyone wants to win, and it makes the Major harder to play because you expect everyone to play their best CS. Everyone is hungry, everyone wants to win, everyone is looking forward to lifting the trophy, and you have to be in your best form. You have to show your S-tier game, every game you have to be focused because it's not only tier-one teams playing here, and you have to be ready for everyone. I'm looking forward to showing a good performance both as a team and individually.

There's been conversation surrounding whether this is NiKo's last event in G2, there's the Falcons rumors, there's rumors about whether you'll be in the team after this. I know you're fully focused on the Major, but what is the feeling around that, this potentially being the last ride of this roster?

Maybe it's the last dance, maybe it's not (smiles). I'm not focusing on the future right now, I'm focusing on the present. We will see what will happen. I'm not going to comment on this one (smiles).