G2 at the MSI - How the German eSports organization became so successful internationally

Last weekend, the Berliners of G2 eSports managed to do what no European League of Legends team has done so far: they won the final of the Mid-Season Invitational in Vietnam and Thailand. They also set a new record. Already in the first ten minutes of the game G2 showed the North American Team Liquid how the wind blows. Thanks to a large number of successful Ganks by Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski, G2 led after a short time with 3,000 gold. Especially dramatic was the Bot Lane, where Team Liquids Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in died three times within 11 minutes. On this foundation the Berliners could extend their lead until they could kill the neutral monster Baron Nashor just a few seconds after his appearance to start the decisive push. So the Europeans could manage to win in a little less than 25 minutes.

In the second game of the Best of Five series, things didn't look so bad for Team Liquid. In the early stages of the match, they made some strong moves, which meant they had accumulated a bit more gold at times than the Berliners. From the middle of the match on, G2 eSports was ahead thanks to a great team fight. With one Ace, they took the gold technical lead and a short time later, after three kills on the Top Lane, Baron Nashor also appeared, who could be shot quickly. With the buff, G2 finally won the deserved 2:0.

Having won both games, G2 eSports already knew at the beginning of the third game that they would win this match as well. After an early gank from Janko, Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng had no choice but to use both of his Summoner spells. However, Team Liquid's ADC died twice in the next two minutes. After 15 minutes, G2 were already leading with 9,000 gold, but just a few moments later it was relatively clear that the championship should go to Europe, as the boys managed an Ace on the middle inhibitor.

So G2 eSports managed to wipe out the competition from overseas within 70 minutes. Since the existing record was thereby undercut by 17 minutes, we witnessed the shortest Best of Five at an international tournament of all times. G2 is also celebrating its first title outside the LEC (League of Legends European Championship) and Europe's first victory in an international event hosted by Riot Games and is delighted with the prize money of 400,000 euros.

But how did G2 eSports get off to a good start? At the end of the mixed group phase it didn't look good for the LOL team from Berlin. After a few defeats, they only just made it to the semi-finals. On the one hand they managed to win against the Korean champion SK Telekom T1, but they were also the only team to lose against Phong Vu Buffalo - twice. But later the team, founded in 2015, regained their former strength, which helped them to win the European Championship in Rotterdam this year.

The triumph of the last season is not only due to their head coach Fabian "GrabbZ" Lohmann, who was hired in 2017, but also to smart business moves like the engagement of 19-year-old superstar Rasmus "Caps" Winther. He quickly silenced the skeptics who were initially unsure whether he would be convincing in his new environment. After his two successful years with the British organization Fnatic, the Dane switched to G2 eSports in 2018 and had a great start there, including an MVP title at the LEC Spring Split. So the biggest trade in the history of eSports to date was a complete success. Luka "Perkz" Perkovic had to leave his place as Mid Laner for the young star, but G2 remained as AD-Carry. The victory marks the second important success of the clan since "Caps" joined the team last November. But "GrabbZ", "Caps", "Jankos" and the rest of the new world champions don't have much time to celebrate, because the LEC 2019 Summer Season starts already on June 1st.