I genuinely think Toronto is a lock for G2. You don’t get that close to a trophy and not become the hungriest team in the league — especially when you’re known for being grinders.

Dark Horses would be Nongshim and Loud.

Hope to see y’all back again in Toronto.

Wait 5 minutes

G2 don’t lose this.

Except the core decided to stay together through T2 instead of accepting franchised offers and Jawgemo has made it clear he thinks they’re the best team he could play with.

The players clearly care about long term consistency over short term monetary benefits.

As long as they make champs (or place higher than 2G if they both qualify), then they’re in the league again. The worse ascension team will have to defend their spot in Ascension if they make top 8 in league — if they do worse then they’re auto-relegated.

If G2 win Bangkok, they start the season with 8 champs points and would have to absolutely toss every game for the next two splits to miss champs.

Except he could also play Raze. I honestly think with how much the TGRD core developed, Tex could look like a Keznit-level player if he had stayed on duelist.

Hard to say where to rank him nowadays but he had the highest FK/FD at Ascension by a mile and regularly matched Oxy, Koalanoob, and N4rrate in regional matchups in T2. He had clean entries and pretty much opened up rounds for Trent to farm and close out maps — good pathing and duel isolation.

Are T1 actually good or did they just beat teams that G2 mentally boomed for them?

If T1 pick Lotus first then this could legitimately end in a 3-0. The Raze, Iso, Sova is just weaker than the Yoru, Tejo, Breach comp.

Support the team you like. Doesn’t matter if they win or not. I’ve been repping G2 since they ascended because I followed them in 2022 — they always had potential but it was tough seeing them bomb out and then miss franchising. Even 2024 was pretty rough since they managed to lose both regional trophies and there was constant talk about who the problem was.

Stick it out and I’m sure your favorite team will accomplish something eventually. Hell, MIBR picked up Aspas and DFM crushed PRX and it’s only the start of 2025.

More likely that G2 wins both Bangkok and Toronto than 100T making it to a GF this year.

I don’t think G2 loses with double map veto.
They remove Fracture and Haven/opponent’s best map and are favored on Abyss, Lotus, Pearl, and Split — with their Bind now fixed. They also get a day of prep while the challenger has to worry about getting eliminated in 15 hours.

The only way it goes awry is if they’re not in form since it seems they’re not the chokers everyone claims.

G2 are heavy favorites on
Abyss | Lotus | Pearl

And a light favorite on:
Split

Don’t let that close scoreline from Map 1 of the first G2/EDG match fool you. It’s not even close if G2 get a single pistol on Pearl. They’re just so much better on rifle rounds on almost every map they’ve played.

Toss up:
Bind

Likely bans: Fracture | Haven

This version of G2 would probably take every trophy last year ngl

Eh, most of us are TGRD fans who changed our flairs for 2024 after G2 picked up the core.

For times like these. Gonna watch these VODs with so much glee HEHEHEHEHEHE

You get a similar effect with Tejo + Breach except it frees up a slot for Vyse.

JonahP is a better support player than Kicks and is more flexible. Everything else looks good to me.

Valyn plays smokes???

G2 are likely favored for the rematch since it’s physically impossible to get a worse pistol record than what they got last series and they’re one of the best anti-stratting teams.

I expect them to double ban Fracture and Haven and be favored on Abyss, Lotus, and Pearl. They’ve changed comps on Bind (they prac’d both early on apparently) and it should be closer while EDG takes Split.

W comeback. G2 starting 0-3 down on both halves and still shredding the rifle rounds with their ult cycles to pull it into OT.

Nobody, Valyn, and Munchkin are the only consistent top tier fragging IGLs in both metrics.

Players like Nats, Mako, KiNgg, and Sayf have more to prove on the IGLing department while historic IGLs like Boostio, Johnqt, Boo, Saadhak and Stax tend to be individually inconsistent.

Yep. You don’t change your comps on three different maps (as far as we’ve seen) Split, Fracture, and Pearl without extra prep time.

Tbf they lost both pistols, a bonus and a 1v4 and still won Pearl. Give them credit where it’s due — most teams would not convert those anti-ecos. Even Bind wasn’t that bad given they weren’t favored and again lost both pistols.

1. Pistols rounds and slow starts.
2. Strat book update/Anti for attack on Bind and Fracture.

I genuinely think they still have the best Abyss, Lotus, and Pearl (lost both pistols, a bonus, and a 1v4) but still converted in OT). Their map pool looks shakey now though given their only Split showing was rough (SEN’s best map) and their Haven is likely weaker than EDG’s.

I’m not too worried about the other 4 teams but G2 needs to fix their attack side adjustments on ult-cycle heavy maps (Bind, Fracture, Haven) and clean up their pistols. They’ve got a day to self review before having to prep for their next opponent and then 2 days to prep for playoffs after. I think this loss was perfectly timed for them as long as they’re resilient enough to bounce back.

The better team today won. Glad to have VOD footage to fix our maps but damn that pistol record was atrocious. Looking forward to a rematch in playoffs

If G2 wins a single pistol this map isn’t close.

How do you win both pistols, a bonus, a 1v4 and still lose the map?

Consistent, good practice.

If you practice your mechanics routine regularly and mindfully with optimal form, then it’ll become ingrained. It’s not about how much you do it but about the quality of the practice itself. While some high level skills like animation prediction (movement reading), optimized pathing, and agent mastery only come with more hours played, mechanics are about minimizing server time when you’re in bad form to keep yourself from building bad habits.

All those top pros run drills and scrims to apply proper theory from their coaches but often individually limit-test in comp where stakes are low. Comp tends to be a very low stress environment relative to their actual jobs and is often an opportunity to test out new ideas or attempt plays without any pressure.

Edit: added “movement reading” as it’s the more commonly used term

The core beat Optic for Stage 1 in 2022 for 1st seed going into Reykjavik. They also took the ascension trophy in 2023. This is their first franchised Regional though. Jawgemo of course has the 2023 Champs.

It’s not gonna happen because NA is gonna win all their matches and EMEA will be the first ones eliminated rip.

G2 dominate from here on out right?

I don’t have exact stats but it’s well known that it’s much easier for teams to have successful attack halves because of prepped site executes and post-plant utility. This is especially the case now with the introduction of Tejo and Vyse who are great at disruption and anti-flood utility.

The map pool reflects this too with Lotus, Haven, Fracture, Abyss, and Pearl all being attack sided. Split is the only exception and Bind is a bit more even.

That VIT vs. TH Haven map gave me this initial inkling and the current SEN vs. MIBR match is the same. Momentum swings to whoever is attacking.

My take is that whichever team has the strongest defense halves will likely take Bangkok.

They’ve banned different maps for all their matches.

G2 vs C9
Haven | Fracture | Lotus | Abyss | Bind | Pearl | Split

G2 vs Lev
Haven | Bind | Pearl | Fracture | Lotus | Split | Abyss

G2 vs SEN
Lotus | Split | Abyss | Pearl | Haven | Bind | Fracture

They don’t have a Permaban but they definitely have map preferences. Personally, I’m surprised they’ve banned Lotus twice now when they looked so good against C9 with it. Below is my extrapolated list for their map confidence.

1. Abyss
2. Pearl/Split (depending on team they face)
3. Bind
4. Fracture
5. Lotus/Haven (prioritized ban depending on team)

I would but they 2-0’d Furia and could have potentially taken LOUD to map 3 had that first OT went their way.

G2 are so good that they’re making every other Americas’ team look bad. It’s like throwing a top Champs seed into kickoff where everyone else has to integrate new players and adapt to the meta.

They were already the most coordinated team but now they’re all on form and have Jawgemo as their spearhead. Their read on the meta, with heavy Yoru, Tejo/Sova+Breach, Vyse, and Chamber usage is also super suffocating to play against. It’s some combination of disruptive utility chains and proactive re-clears that make them disgusting on defense — the harder half for most teams. Their attack side on the other hand, heavily prioritizes strong defaults with exhaustive mixups and unstoppable executes. Expect them to average 8 rounds on attack this meta.

I would say only VIT/TH and EDG could possibly match them for firepower but they’ve all looked far more shaky and inconsistent against weaker regional opponents. They undoubtably rely more on pure mechanics with numbers instead of utility abuse and map manipulation. The macro seems lacking compared to when you watch G2’s approach.

G2

— Tier Break —

SEN | MIBR | KRU | LOUD | 100T | LEV | C9 | NRG | EG

— Tier Break —

Furia | 2G

Need to see more of their respective map pools but G2 look far more coordinated and have zero firepower deficiencies across their roles. It’ll probably be closer toward later internationals but I think G2 right now is just way too developed with their protocols and strats.

SEN got the same number of rounds as LEV and C9. There’s no tier gap between you frauds and the rest.

Looking forward to crushing TH, VIT, EDG, and whoever crawls out of APAC.

But 2024 G2 played 4v5 + a human drone and still placed 2nd in Americas both splits and 3rd at Shanghai. This year is so free with Dawgemo

Looks like G2 win without losing a single match.

That’s fair, their match against LEV was rather close and they lost to 100T though I initially attributed that to nerves. I’ll move them down.

Doesn’t make sense to do a 1-12 ranking without a round robin or full split.

G2

—Tier Break—

SEN | KRU

—Tier Break—

LOUD | NRG | 100T | MIBR | LEV | C9 | EG

—Tier Break—

FUR | 2G

Edit: moved MIBR down because of their loss to 100T and how close their match was with LEV

So excited for G2 vs. SEN but those current stats really reflect why they seem so favored.

Your percentages are legit. I do think VIT/TH is gonna be super close though since the latter has had time to work their maps and role switches more while the former was shaky against KC.

You’re not gonna be getting anyone anything lmao.

Definitely Heretics cuz at least PRX won regionals

I don’t know about winning Champs twice but I’d wager G2 has a chance at a golden road run if not at least collecting two trophies this year.

The difference is pacing. This G2 looks incredible at reclearing and site executes because Jawgemo is that good of an entry player. He’s able to do the “miniboo” and still get his frags in their system. Plus you can see that Trent and Leaf both excel at playing at this tempo given how aggressive they are.