-icy
+any star duelist
I mean, leaf had way more FDs and he was sentinel.
Just a terrible showing from them this event compared to their form from the end of split 2. Felt like they got read because their playstyle is super slow. Fnatic is good at making teams uncomfortable, and they literally just waited for G2 to walk up and take space.
Give icy another year in VCT, I'm actually pretty confident he'll be putting numbers on par with someone like jawgemo. He has great mechanics, and was a MUCH better duelist (in the role) than leaf prior to icy joining.
E: whether that next year in VCT is w/ g2 or not, I'm not sure. I'm guessing jawg will get bought out of EG for a ridiculous fee, maybe to 100T in place of asuna, and icy will go back to the org that didn't pay him while on their reserve roster.
G2 need a player who can take over a map. Teams who win international events have always had that guy - when the fundamentals and gameplan break down you need someone who can take over a map mechanically. G2 doesn't have a guy like that so if the other team gets a read on their game plan they're cooked. It's one dimensional Valorant and it's very very boring.
SEN 2021 - TenZ
GMB - naTs
ACE - cNed
OpTic - yay/Marved
Loud - aspas/ Less
FPX (old) - suygetsu and Shao
FNC - Entire roster except Boaster
EG - Demon1 and Jawgemo (on his day)
SEN 2024 - zekken and TenZ
GENG - t3xture, Karon, Meteor
All these players can mechanically just outskill you to take over and win maps by themselves. As long as G2 lacks a guy like that, they ain't winning shit. With short turnaround times in international events, you can't rely on anti-strats and prep work.
eg had c0m too who was constantly clutching and making big impacts even if he wasn’t a takeover player. atleast he shined where the team needed him most on the prx game in ascent on uppers
also FNC was mostly alfa and leo tbh, they were the two highest rated players from FNATIC and even in tokyo too, but chronicle at his peak is HIM