TaZ: "The Major meant everything; it felt like it took the soul out of everyone"

TaZ remains upbeat despite a "disappointing" semi-final exit.

G2 came into the Shanghai Major surrounded by rumors of their roster's future but were one of the title favorites despite the uncertainty.

They made light work of their opposition to make the playoffs and beat HEROIC to make the semi-final, where they faced off against a resurgent FaZe.

Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač and company couldn't secure a grand final spot, however, as their star trio failed to get going and get them over the line.

"I think it was just about individual performance," Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas admits.

"At this stage, when you have ten such great players aim-wise and with knowledge about the game, if their two guys pop off, and for us only one, it can be tough."

The Polish coach also said that NiKo will be the only player departing the roster and that G2 are "cooking" for the future.

If you can't see the embed above, you can listen to the audio version of the interview here.

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Commiserations for the loss. Can you tell me your immediate reaction to the result?

First of all, it was disappointing, but I can say that we were fighting. We definitely stood up to the task on Nuke, even though we were down 4-8, even though we lost the Lobby crunch, which hurt us, we were still able to get to 12-10. FaZe played really well. They were ballsy and hit shots.

You had a good record against them. Did it feel like you were heading into the game with not as much to prepare against them? What do you think caused it to go the other way this time?

I think it was just about individual performance. At this stage, when you have ten such great players, aim-wise, and also with knowledge about the game, if their two guys will pop off, and for us only one, it can be tough.

I think that FaZe deserve a lot of respect. They got a little bit forgotten by some, but not by us. We were talking about them being dangerous, and we knew that they would be ballsy. We knew that they would not be afraid to take risks and they would have a good game plan, but sometimes things just go south.

We saw NiKo in tears afterwards, and you were consoling the whole team. How much did doing well at this Major mean to the team?

It meant everything. It felt like it took the soul out of everyone. We worked hard for a long time, and when you are so close, and the final result is only the semi-final, it's obviously disappointing. But I don't think we should be ashamed of the result. The players should be proud and grow from it.

It's no secret that things are going to change inside the team heading to next year. Did that exacerbate the emotion after such a result?

It definitely creates bigger pressure because you feel that you need to win now. But I think that the guys were amazing at handling this pressure throughout the year. I can only say good things about my boys, not only from the perspective of hard work but also about putting hours into preparing before the games. This time, it just wasn't our tournament.

As I said, it's no secret that there will be changes. How much can you say definitively? Is the one that we know about so far the only one? What can you say about G2's 2025?

That's the only one. At the moment, we are cooking. We are in talks, and we will see how the future will shape up for us. But I don't think this is the moment to talk about it. We should cherish this amazing team and be proud of the result that we achieved.

This has been your first year as a coach on the top-tier scene. How do you look back at 2024 overall and the work that you've done with this team? You guys won a couple of trophies and had a lot of deep runs. Are you proud of the achievements and work that you've done to get this team to such a level?

I'm just extremely happy that I had a chance to work with such great people, not only with players that we currently have in the team, but also with HooXi and nexa before. I was learning from everyone, and it was definitely a rough start for me after not a small break from competitive Counter-Strike.

But I put in the hours, I put the effort in, and I also got help from everyone. Sometimes it's not going your way, but I definitely hope that I helped some of the players and the team. I'm not here to say if I feel satisfied or not. I want G2 to become the best team in the world, period, and I will be putting in the numbers, and we will come back stronger.