G2 signed Artem “r1nkle” Moroz with the intention of adding more aggression and unpredictability to the lineup. But so far, r1nkle has been rather underwhelming statistically. In his time with G2 so far, he has survived 43% of rounds, with only 0.57 kills per round.
Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač shared his thoughts on r1nkle in an interview.
Reporter: Okay, huNter-, back on the winning track. How did you feel in today's match?
huNter-: It feels great, even though we didn't face the best teams. But obviously, it's always good to beat any opponent in the tournament.
Reporter: What do you think went wrong in the matches a few days ago? Since you came back from the final in China, you've reached the knockout stage in almost every tournament. What do you think is the reason for the slow start?
huNter-: We have a lot — like you mentioned, that event in China, before that we played two or three events in a row, and then we took a few days off to reset because we were exhausted after China. But that's no excuse. We were just not in form. We played poorly overall.
Even if it didn't look perfect today, the most important thing is the victory. I just hope this can give us some extra confidence, because if you want to advance to the knockout stage—which is our goal in every tournament—we need to perform better than in those three matches.
Reporter: One big topic around the team is obviously r1nkle. I looked at the data, and you'd think he's a very aggressive sniper, but his survival rate is very high. It's more like his output isn't as high as you'd expect. How does the team currently feel about r1nkle?
huNter-: We're trying to incorporate his stuff, the things he likes to do, while combining it with what we had before with SunPayus, because we weren't bad with SunPayus. We can't change everything to make r1nkle completely comfortable. But we're trying to incorporate his stuff, listen to his ideas, and call a bit on both sides some of the things he likes to do overall. But obviously, we need to keep some of the old stuff.
I think he's really great, as I said before, he has a bright future. The key is for him to regain his confidence and have a few games with strong individual performances. But that's not the most important thing. If the team plays well as a whole, he will step up and show his best CS. So far I'm really pleased with him. We just need to be patient with him and help him as much as possible, because he's also a good listener.
Reporter: Especially on the T side, he takes on this support role. As the IGL, how do you manage this on the T side?
huNter-: Some maps are harder for snipers, like Ancient and Inferno, which are super hard for snipers. In my opinion, they can't do that much individually to take aggressive duels because people anticipate everything, especially on Ancient and Inferno, like I said. But on other maps, we're working to integrate, like I said, some of his stuff. Even on Ancient and Inferno, when he has the AWP, we try to set up some set rounds so he can do more.
But he needs patience, he needs to get better at playing clutches and stay patient all the time, even when he's behind. In the first minute of the round, if he does nothing and just holds his flash, it might later become a 4v4, 3v3, and that's when he can make an impact. That's why m0NESY is so strong, that's why ZywOo is so strong, and it's also what he's learning, and he understands that.
Reporter: And MATYS, I think you made some position adjustments. Was it mainly to make him more comfortable on Mirage? He played really well today. What was the thinking behind these position adjustments? Because obviously as the in-game leader, you want to be in the middle of the map, right?
huNter-: I don't really mind, if I know we'll do better, like if the change is good and I know the future will be better, then I'm willing. It's mainly the coach asking about these things, I'm willing to do anything to help the team, if he thinks it can help the team, I'll support it 100%. MATYS is an incredible player. I think everyone knows his aim, the way he shoots, the way he moves, etc. are all amazing, I want him to get back the confidence he had in his first few months after joining G2, to regain that consistency. That's why we're trying to change some things, to make him comfortable, to bring back that old MATYS — the guy who could destroy everyone.
Reporter: Okay. For this tournament, is it a bit more special that it's held in Katowice? How important is it to reach the Spodek Arena? You've won there before.
huNter-: To be honest, it doesn't feel like Katowice. When I got here, the hotel and everything around it felt like Katowice, but once you start playing this, when you see the ESL Pro League, you know, it's just a bit different. I don't know. But it's still Katowice, it's still the Spodek, and it will very likely be sold out, so obviously our goal is to play there.
But as I said at the start of the interview, if you want to compete there, we really need to step up and do better, because if we don't, we won't qualify. We can't play like we did before, especially for example against NAVI. Yesterday was a bit better. Today was a bit better, but if you want to beat these strong teams, you have to be much better, so to speak.