How did G2 fail to qualify for the Rio Major?

Dropping the ball

G2 Esports has a CS:GO team full of incredibly skilled players, having competed together on the highest level for years now. But it turns out that when qualification for one of the biggest esports events in CS:GO history is on the line, they can’t keep it together.

The team looked like they were on a roll, winning map after map in Malta during the last EPL season. In a way, they were a shoe-in to qualify for the Rio Major during the RMR. Playing in the EPL they topped their group over Faze, and won a B03 against Navi in the quarterfinals, only to lose out to the event's final winners in the form of Team Vitality. However, losing to teams like 1Win and GL is simply below their level.

Losing the mental game

When it comes to the RMR, the team still looked unstoppable. They took a clean sweep over ECSTATIC in round 1, cleaning them out on Ancient 16 to 0. It was in round 2 however, when the mental cracks started to take shape. Playing up against an always difficult Cloud9, the Russian squad managed to sneak out a 16 to 13 win on Mirage.

Next up was the other Russian squad, 1Win. A team that surprisingly made it through the last open qualifiers. A team they should have been able to handle way better than Cloud9. But deja vu - once again they lost 16 to 13, on Ancient this time.

Luckily for them, they had one shot left to redeem themselves. GamerLegion would be the opponent that would allow them to get back in the groove. However at the same time, Gamerlegion was the only squad that found their groove. After trading the first 2 maps of the match, it all came down to Mirage. And when everything was on the line, the teams fought with tooth and nail to keep themselves in the race for Rio. In the end it however, it was GamerLegion that kept their cool the best. As a great T side ended up leading them to victory over the acclaimed G2 squad.

Bouncing back

While their opponents obviously had to play amazing CS:GO to beat G2, it also kind of feels like the team beat themselves. Their past performances have simply shown that they can, and should do better. While the team won’t be going to Rio, that obviously doesn't mean the whole season is lost for the squad. If they can mentally recover from a blow like this, they will still pose huge threat to look out for in any post Rio event.

Photo source: PGL