There was to be no happy ending for G2 at BLAST Spring Finals. Despite m0nesy arriving in time for their elimination fixture against Vitality, the IEM Dallas champions lost 1-2. Liam “Slevo” Slevin spoke to NiKo after the defeat on Mirage consigned G2 to their first group stage exit of the year:
Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be today. With all the chaos that was going on, from your perspective, not knowing what was going on with m0nesy, what was the preparation like in the last 24 hours?
We didn’t really have much preparation, to be honest because we had no idea what was going to happen today. We had to wait for today’s morning, and that’s when we kind of knew that Ilya could make it in time, but we still weren’t 100% sure if he can actually… Like, we knew that he’s coming today, but we didn’t know if he was going to make it in time. So, like, last night when we finished late, we didn’t really want to do anything or prepare for anything. So, it’s just been a very hectic and chaotic event, but it is what it is, no excuses. I think Vitality was better today, or at least on Mirage.
You were sitting next to TaZ for that game, having him back, legend of the game. What was it like playing with him, even under the circumstances?
Yeah, it was honestly pretty cool to play with him. I think we had a lot of fun, which is kind of hard to have that much fun, you know. When you play with starting five, it’s a bit more serious.
It was a great experience playing with him, and I was happy to see him play and enjoy again.
M0nesy kind of struggled in the first map, and I overheard him on the broadcast kind of mentioning some issues. Can you talk to us about those issues that were going on in that first game?
Yeah, I mean, it was. Like, he came, he sat down, and in five minutes he had to play. So, like, his config wasn’t executed, and he got some issues with the binds. So, it just… These things happen when you try to do everything so quick. So, yeah, I feel bad for him that you know, even though he came in time, he couldn’t really focus on himself. It was just a super hard day for him, and I’m just sad that we couldn’t take the win against Vitality and try to play in full focus tomorrow.
He’s only been here for the one day. Are you going to do a bit of tourism with London instead of making him fly back today, or what’s the plan?
I don’t know what’s his plan. He came without luggage, so I have no idea. We need to sit down and discuss, but as for myself, yeah, probably going to experience a bit of London.
Obviously it’s the end of the season now, what are the plans for yourself going into the off-season and then heading into the next season?
I mean, it’s a vacation. We’re going to take some time off. The season has been very, very long for us. We have played every single event. We have made every play-off. So, it’s been an exhausting season. Nothing much to do now. Just take a couple of days off and try to keep improving my level. I really want to get on the same level that I had in CSGO. I think I’m slowly getting there, so just need to keep working hard and I’m confident that results will show.
And just kind of wrapping up, like, obviously the rumors have come out over the last day that you guys might be looking at some different players. What are the odds that we see a different-looking G2 coming into next season?
I’m not really sure. I don’t think I’m the one to comment it, so we’ll see what will happen.
