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The preliminary stage of the 2022 IEM Cologne has come to an end and the playoff stage will commence on July 15. Some top teams like G2 will be absent in the playoffs as they were knocked out in round two of the lower bracket by Ninjas in Pyjamas with a 2-1 record on July 9.
Neither the supporters nor the team’s CEO, Carlos “Ocelote” Rodrigues, are pleased with the outcome. In a few comments, Ocelote took to Twitter to hint to the supporters that a few changes may be forthcoming to the primary lineup, which has yet to establish its value.
“It feels like crap to have the CS:GO summer holiday start when we most suck,” Rodriguez said. “I have lots of thinking to do.”
In 2020, G2 acquired Nikola “NiKo” Kovač from FaZe Clan, then traded the 25-year old Serbian player Nemanja “nexa” Isaković, for Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and eventually acquired the young Natus Vincere prodigy Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov. Despite having a great lineup filled with skilled gamers, it still did not guarantee the team’s success in winning titles.
G2 which was captained by the Finnish in-game leader Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen, was defeated by Movistar Riders with a 2-0 point in the opening round of the IEM Cologne 2022 main stage. They then proceeded to eliminate ENCE in the round that immediately followed, but were finally eliminated by NIP.
Since G2 had already failed to make the playoffs of the PGL Antwerp Major in May, played poorly at IEM Dallas, and ended up losing to Vitality in the semifinals of the BLAST Premier Spring Finals in June, the above outcomes may indicate that the final days of some of the players on the roster are here.
The acquisition of m0NESY and Aleksib turned out to be insufficient to transform G2 into a worthy opponent in the competition for the most notable CS: GO tournaments in the world. The roster began the year with a strong showing at the IEM Katowice in February, where they advanced to the tournament final. However, they were unable to improve upon that performance and instead had a terrible performance at the ESL Pro League Season 15 and the other games that followed.
While heavyweights like Movistar Riders, Team Liquid, MOUZ, and FaZe Clan proceed to the playoffs, G2 might use the summer break to improve the team by making roster adjustments.
