G2 came from behind to beat Aurora in their BLAST Open Porto opener to get off to a winning start. Before the match, NertZ sat down for an interview, discussing the surprise of SunPayus being benched, r1nkle's integration, and G2's struggles with repeated quarter-final exits.
Q: You recently made roster changes. From my perspective as an observer, SunPayus is a pretty good sniper. What do you personally think about this change? Did the team feel it had to make a change, or what was the situation? If you're comfortable sharing, I'd like to hear your thoughts.
NertZ: I don't know if that was necessary. I think we made a lot of progress before IEM Cologne. But this was a complete surprise to me, I didn't see it coming at all. SunPayus is one of my best friends in CS, he was my teammate on my first tier-one team, and we achieved great results together. So for me it was a complete blow. But that's CS, that's part of the game.
Q: How are you adapting to partnering with r1nkle? Is the adjustment going smoothly?
NertZ: No issues, I work really well with him. He's a young player who wants to play aggressively and actively look for opportunities, and I have no problem with that at all. What I appreciate most about him is that he's very honest — he says whatever is on his mind, which is very important. Sometimes you hold yourself back and control your emotions, especially young players who might not dare to express their thoughts, but r1nkle does really well in this regard, and he expresses himself very appropriately.
Q: Speaking of his aggression, is that one of the reasons management wanted him? sAw mentioned in a previous interview that he felt the team sometimes lacked aggression — although I don't think you and MATYS are passive players. Do you think that's the reason?
NertZ: I'm not too sure either. I saw the headline of that sAw interview, but didn't read the content closely. I don't think this roster change had anything to do with aggressiveness. Honestly, I still don't really know why the change was made.
Q: Your opening match is against Aurora, a team that has changed a lot. How did you prepare? Will you watch their demos? Are you worried they might pull out something unexpected, or are you more focused on your own game?
NertZ: We're just doing normal pre-match preparation, same as against any other team. They changed two players — they replaced the in-game leader, which is a very important role, and added Jimpphat, two very excellent players. Our way of preparing won't change; we'll anticipate how they might play against us and do what we need to do to prepare.
Q: About the role distribution in your team — you and MATYS both used to play more aggressive positions, he did during his time at Fnatic, and you did in your early days at Liquid. In this current team, do huNter- and sAw directly tell you what positions to play, or do you also discuss it among yourselves, like who does what on which map?
NertZ: This split varies from map to map. On some maps I need to take on more controlling responsibility, while on others we have different roles on the CT or T side. This is the split between me and huNter-, mainly centered around the distribution of "control." I feel I've reached a stage where I can have my own input — I understand the tactics, I understand the system, and it's a system we're running together. We'll discuss what needs to be added and adjusted.
Q: I've been asking pro players this question a lot lately, because everyone handles it differently—have you set specific goals for this season? Or are you taking it one match at a time and improving step by step?
NertZ: I've heard this question many times, and my answer never changes. I don't really focus on results — it might sound like bullshit, but that's really how it is. I just want to show the synergy we have in practice, that chemistry, and bring it into official matches. Same with mental resilience — what I have in practice, I want to have in official matches too. I know it's hard, because official matches feel completely different, there's so much more pressure. That's the most important thing for me. Overall, I want to play better CS than at the start of the season — missing out on BLAST in Malta was really tough for me. I just hope to play better from one event to the next.
Q: Last question — if we want to see G2 lift a trophy in a big arena, what kind of G2 do we need to see? How would it be different from what we've seen so far this season?
NertZ: Good question. We've been consistently making the playoffs, in every event over the past three months. But the next step, we need to win a quarterfinal. It starts here. I'm not saying it's some kind of curse — I was just joking about being cursed — but we make the playoffs every time, yet never make it to the semifinals, and that's a hurdle we have to get over. I feel like no matter the tournament, we never get an easy opponent in the quarterfinals. All we can do is give it our all and break through this barrier.