In its deepest run since rebuilding its roster, G2 Esports has found itself in the quarter-finals of BLAST Open London.
Set to play a resurgent FaZe Clan in Wembley’s OVO Arena, we sat down with its new star Matus “MATYS” Simko to talk about his team and the journey ahead.
Booking a spot in the arena
G2’s qualification for the playoffs came from an unexpected win against Team Spirit, a match that featured the Europeans decimating Spirit 13-1 on Ancient in map three. A team that G2 has had a number of close clashes with in recent weeks, MATYS was reserved in his assessment of the result.
“It wasn’t the cleanest game, obviously. They’re a really good team and they managed to make some mistakes here and there, and we did also,” he said to Esports.net.
A player who clearly expects a lot from himself after impressing so much on his previous team, Fnatic, he told us he’s currently “nowhere near” the levels he can play at, but that he can feel the growth in G2 despite the squad’s short time together. He said: “We just have more experience together, it helps making faster solutions.”
Building from the bottom
G2’s Counter-Strike 2 team has always been home to some of the game’s biggest stars. Kenny “kennyS” Shrub, Nikola “NiKo” Kovac, Ilya “m0NESY” Osopiv: each one is a legend of the game that has lifted trophies wearing the jersey of the samurai.
However, in the wake of NiKo and m0NESY’s departures to Falcons, G2 found itself deep in a rebuilding process, needing to move away from the stars of old and looking to build the stars of the future.
“It shows a lot about the scouting in G2 when it comes to malbsMd, HeavyGod, and myself,” MATYS told Esports.net. Three players who have all joined G2 and managed to impressed, they represent the wave of Tier 2 players that are making waves in CS2 in 2025, forcing their way into Tier 2, even pushing aside more established names.
But with those players shining so much in the lower levels of the esport, expectations for themselves are high when they make it to the upper echelons.
“I’m still building my comfort zone and trying to reach my potential,” MATYS said.
A harsh assessment given his already solid ratings, he continued by saying: “I wouldn’t say I struggle, but I have to fix a lot in my head when I come in, the same thing happened with Fnatic. For a few months, I end up looking for myself and for what my role will be in a team. But, compared to different teams in the past, this team is already helping me understand how to get better faster than I did before.”
Image Credit: PGL Esports
The weight of expectation
With lesser stars and after a difficult first half of the year, expectations are low for G2 against the titans of the scene: Vitality, Spirit, and MOUZ. No one is really expecting the team to return to the heights of years gone by, a fact that MATYS is aware of: “There isn’t much expectation on us, maybe that comes down to the lack of big stars.”
But that won’t stop G2 from striving for the top as it does in every esport it competes in.
“The difference is that we put a lot of expectations on ourselves within the team. We know how good we can play, like against Spirit, and how well we play in practice. It’s not a bad thing, I think we’ll be better for it, and maybe people will underestimate us,” MATYS said.
With the team now reaching higher than ever before since the arrivals of MATYS, Alvaor “SunPayus” Garcia and new coach Eetu “sAw” Saha, MATYS said that growth will be a “natural reaction.” But that growth will come with added pressure, a factor the Slovakian isn’t concerned about: “People will expect more from us in terms of consistency, but it’s all down to how the team balances it.”
Now he just has to look towards the game against FaZe, a team that features his “beloved” frozen.
“For him, it won’t be that personal, he’s played in these kinds of matches so many times,” MATYS reflected. “But for me, I like him a lot and I looked up to him, so it’s just motivated to push myself further.”