sAw: "To be honest, I didn't expect to win an event so fast"

The Finnish coach admits G2 will need to work hard to repeat their London performance.

Eetu "⁠sAw⁠" Saha's journey in G2 got off to a flying start as the team won BLAST Open London in only their third event together, but the Finnish tactician is keeping his feet grounded.

"To repeat the peak at the next event is going to be tough, no matter what," he said after G2 beat Legacy at FISSURE Playground 2. "But of course, we are trying to find the same level and even raise our peak."

He also spoke about Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač's IGLing, Álvaro "⁠SunPayus⁠" García's impact, and the hard work ahead of the roster as they expand their playbook.

Listen to the audio here.

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Congrats on the win. It was business as usual for you guys today, did it feel like that as well?

It feels good to get a convincing win. Because I would say our start in the tournament, the Lynn Vision and the FURIA match, weren't the smoothest. I would say even here, the first map was still quite chaotic or stressful in a way because of our communication, even though the scoreline was kind of clean. But it still feels good, and I think we are taking the right steps because we have had a slow start in this tournament in a way.

More about that slow start yesterday against FURIA. They're kind of a similar team to you guys, on the up with a lot of skilled players. What do you think went wrong yesterday?

The fact is that our energy levels are going a bit lower since we have been on the road basically from London coming straight to here, and then trying to grind a lot, but then at the same time trying to balance it so we would have energy. Of course it's been tough, and with us being a new team, it's also going to require a lot more hard work, I would say, especially in these early stages.

The start of the tournament has been a bit rough. We haven't been reaching the same level we had in London in terms of how our communication is, how our understanding of the map is with some reactions, and stuff like that, and that hurt us in the FURIA match especially. They came in with a good plan and especially on Inferno, you could see we couldn't get it rolling on our T side. On Overpass, which was a bit of a surprise pick from them since they also haven't played it in an official before, so we didn't know exactly what to expect and had to go into our own things.

And then we lost it in overtime, even though we had a good chance of closing it out. That could have been a difference maker in terms of getting it into a third map. But again, small details, and they are in good form. We have been in good form too, but it comes down to small details in the end, and they were the better team yesterday.

About that London result. It was very soon in the lifespan of this team that you already got a tier-one title like that. Did you expect it to find success so quickly?

To be honest, I didn't expect to win an event so fast. I think we played good CS and many things have to click for this to happen. Individuals playing well, the game plan is going well, winning some crucial rounds here and there…. many things, I think. It was a good showing. I would say we, in a way, peaked so far with the team. To repeat the peak at the next event is going to be tough, no matter what. But of course, we are trying to find the same level and even raise our peak.

At the same time, we want to try to see what our worst level can be, and how we can match other teams if we don't play our best CS. It's going to be tough, but I think it's important that by getting these matches in at this tournament, we are going to grow as a team and improve match by match, and then hopefully reach the playoffs. Tomorrow we have the first chance, and then we are going to show even better CS.

You said you didn't really expect success so quickly. What do you think is the main reason for you guys managing to win a tournament so soon? A lot of people are talking about G2 having specialists in their roles, but no huge superstars like donk or ZywOo. Do you think people being comfortable in their roles is the main reason why the team clicked so fast?

I think it's a big reason that we have good people for their roles, basically. I think huNter- is calling really well for our T-sides, and also having a lot of say in our CT-sides, and then also SunPayus is helping him with those things. Then we have the rifle core of three young rifles, heavy hitters, so to say, who are doing a really good job. And things are coming together.

At the same time, we are building our playbook, our team culture, and everything. There's a lot of work still ahead of us, but it's good to see that we can already show good things early on. It's a good building block to continue later on in the season, but it's going to be about consistency, and it's still hard to say where we are as a team because it's so early. But it's good signs early on.

Talking about building blocks. How important was it for you to take SunPayus with you, as someone who understands your system and how you want to set up a team?

It helps me to have one guy who is also really vocal in the server, and then for him to understand how I like to do things and then implement it to this new team. That helps a lot. I also think huNter- has great vision for the game and how to call rounds, so that's good to have. I would say it's a good thing, and I'm happy to have him in the team.

Talking about huNter-. He's new in the role, but he's doing very well. Throughout his career, he was talked about as someone who should become an IGL, but he never wanted to take that step until now. Do you think he's a natural in the role and are you happy with how he adapted to it so far?

Well, what does it take to be natural in the IGL role? I think he fits the role for sure. He's working hard, trying to think about what we can do as a team, how we approach different situations as a team, and how our things match what the opponents are doing. He has a good eye for the game, and, of course, that's what you want from an IGL.

He also has leadership outside of the server as well, where he can help some of the youngsters. I think it can be a bit of a natural part of it with the experience, and I think it's a good step also. From my side, the way I see it, [it's good] for his career as well. If he continues the way he's working now, even if you don't think about the results, I think he's going to be potentially one of the top IGLs no matter what. But that's going to be then for a longer term, not just the early days so far.

You said it will be hard to repeat your peak again after London here, so have you set out any goals for this tournament? You're in the running for a Stage 3 Major invite, so is that the main focus, or are you just trying to just improve considering you're a new team?

There's not a specific goal for this tournament in terms of how we will place in the tournament. We know we have a chance to win, and that's where we want to aim for, but at the same time, we must understand that there's different stages, and we have divided the tournaments into steps. We need to take it step by step and prove ourselves, and we are, like I've said now 10,000 times, a young team, so we need to prove ourselves.

And that's going to be saying how our consistency is. It's going to be important to do well in this tournament, the same as in EPL Stage 1 for the Major invites. That's a clear goal for us, that we want to do well before this cutoff, so we can get the highest possible placement or the stage invite for the Major, and that's going to help us later on in the season. But we haven't set a specific goal about where we have to place. It's just aiming to do the best here we can, and then, of course, the importance of the tournament is there behind it.