HooXi: "A much-needed break is coming for us soon"
After an early exit from the BLAST.tv Paris Major, G2 hoped to bounce back at IEM Dallas with a deep run. After securing wins over Nouns and OG, the team was shipped to the quarterfinals by Heroic. Once there, G2 tussled with fellow international side FaZe, with the latter squad ultimately coming out on top to send G2 packing from the Lone Star State.
G2's in-game leader, Rasmus "HooXi" Nielsen, sat down with Dust2.us' Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore to discuss the match versus FaZe, the team's mentality, and his transition into becoming a tier-one IGL.
Please note that the full interview can be found below on YouTube, while the transcript has some key snippets from their conversation.
It was a very close battle between you and FaZe. What do you think went wrong on the leadership side to allow karrigan and his men to come out on top?
We won the first map on leadership and we were fighting really well. When it came to Inferno they did some new stuff that we weren't used to, also we haven't focused too much on our Inferno because it's just been going so well that it was not really something we had to fix. They just came out swinging, and when a team like FaZe gets momentum it's not easy to stop them for anyone. I think we just made a mistake of not slowing the game down on Inferno; we played a bit too fast and lost too much HP in the start.
On Mirage I feel like it was really close, give us some key moments that we could have won and then it would have been a completely different game. Of course we're not happy getting four rounds on the T-side, but one round could have made a difference.
G2 is generally considered to be one of the best T-side teams, especially on Inferno. Do you think the T-side not coming together was the breaking point for you?
Yeah, obviously you cannot get two rounds on the T-side of Inferno no matter who you are, you have to get at least eight or nine rounds.
A lot of people have commented that G2 on stage look almost tired. Has this been an exhausting period for you guys, and are you starting to feel it on LAN?
Well in the arena game it's different because we kinda feed off the crowd, and we had all the energy in the world, it was all good. In the Heroic game, it was mostly on me. I'm very important when it comes to the mood and energy on the team. It's been a tough six months for me, a tough year, in general, joining G2 and having to deal with all the pressure and speaking English and generally taking a step up, then also personal life, travel, and all this. Much-needed break is coming for us soon, at least for me personally.
Have your teammates been supporting you in this transition to being a tier-one IGL?
Yeah, of course, we all support each other, but there's only so much you can do. It's up to me to deal with it. Everybody who went through what I went through the last year would be tired by now. I accept it, and it is what it is, it's just about trying to give it the best you can.
Watch the full interview below:
