The stars of G2 in NiKo and malbs have delivered on the big stage as a tricky Heroic side pushed them to their limits. This win over Heroic has put them in the Shanghai Major semi-finals where a tougher challenge awaits which will call for them to shift to a higher gear if they are to make it through.
VETO
- HEROIC removed Inferno
- G2 removed Vertigo
- HEROIC picked Ancient
- G2 picked Nuke
- G2 removed Anubis
- HEROIC removed Dust2
- Mirage was left over
Map 1: Ancient; Picked: Heroic; Winner: Heroic
G2’s solid start on the CT side quickly met with a stellar Heroic offense that blew them away despite struggling to find footing early on in the map. With little effort, Heroic sailed past the G2 defense and we concluded with a 7-5 half despite NiKo dropping an 18-kil masterclass. G2’s offense proved to be worse as little by little they were picked apart and Heroic managed to outlast them in every single round despite them getting close every round. G2 managed to win one more round before Heroic obliterated them in the opening map with a 13-6 scoreline. NiKo and m0NESY were playing well but could not push it over the line for G2.
Map 2: Nuke; Picked: G2; Winner: G2
A slow start for G2 in their own map put them on the back foot once again but being on the T side of Nuke, G2 were able to squeeze in 5 rounds to make the game more competitive. Moving into the T side, Heroic pulled further ahead with a pistol victory but G2 got back on the board as soon as guns came out for them. Once the guns came out, G2 went on a tear as they went on to put up a streak of rounds which saw them win the map with ease. NiKo posted a 26-13 score at a rating of 2.09 which is a record, suffice it to say this performance made the difference for G2 to push the game to overtime.
Map 3: Mirage; Picked: Decider; Winner: G2
Mirage started off strong for Heroic as the Major seemed to be slipping from G2. Heroic found a way to keep NiKo from finding impact which opened up the space for Malbs, and allowed him to deliver a historic major performance. Letting their lead slip, G2 concluded the first half with a leveled scoreline and found themselves behind Heroic in the second half again. Individual mistakes in the second half kept both teams trading rounds. Despite Degster clutching a few rounds, G2 had malbs delivering multi-kill rounds and 1v3 on top of that in overtime which kept G2 in the game after the first half of OT. The second half saw G2 bring them an A game as a stellar CT side completely shut down Heroic as G2 booked their semi-final spot.
Despite a win, G2 faced a Heroic who were still in a nascent stage and individual performance is unlikely to save them against the teams they will face in the future and another performance like this might see them crash out of the Major. For now, they will face Vitality/FaZe for a spot in the finals.
