European LOL giants, G2 Esports, had a very turbulent last season. Reigning European champions and multiple record holders parted ways with one of their biggest stars, Luka Perković Perkz, who left for NA in the last off-season, as you probably heard. Also, the team simultaneously welcomed Rekkles from Fnatic, another huge star, into their team. That alone is enough to be called monumental in terms of changes.

But, to know how much these changes affected the team, let’s take a long at G2’s fruitful history. The organization called Gamers2 formed in 2014 and League of Legends was their core game. Two years later, in 2016, they renamed the org to become what they are known as today, the most accoladed European team that often represents Europe in the most important world matches.

Maybe 2021 Will Be The Year To Forgive G2

To a casual observer, that may imply that they have also won Worlds, the biggest LOL tournament, but that is not the case. They did come close though, they were second in 2019 and third in 2020, but those are not their most famous international appearances: if you ask any hard-core eSports fan, they’ll tell you to go back to 2016 to look for that one. The legend has it some of their fans will never forgive them for it. Here’s how it all went down.

After a series of European wins, freshly rebranded G2 qualified for Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) in Shanghai. They weren’t exactly considered favourites, because SK Telecom T1 took that title, but they were cutting it really close. However, instead of crushing it, the team lost their first four games of a round robin, which meant they finished in fifth place and, more importantly, that Europe has lost a place in Pool 1 seed at Worlds.

As an excuse, the org released a statement that their players have taken a vacation after the “rigorous Spring Split”, but there were also rumours of internal team conflicts prior to the start of the tournament. All of that lead to a heavy backlash from the community since G2’s poor performance had basically put the whole European region in a very bad place for the Worlds. That ended up being crucial since they didn’t manage to stage a comeback, and ended the tournament early with just one win.

The Start Of The Rise

In 2017 the roster was basically centred around Perkz who served as a midlaner at the time, but their stellar years definitely started in 2019, when they brought in Mikyx and Caps (who pushed Perkz from midlane to AD carry). They had won the 2019 MSI in the fastest international best-of-five series in League of Legends history against Team Liquid and ended up in the finals of the Worlds, also their best placement on the tournament to date. They’ve lost that grand final 0-3 to FunPlus Phoenix, China’s first seed at the time.

Last year, as mentioned, was a turbulent one, the same as for many, but G2 managed to reach 3^rd place in Worlds, behind Korean Damwon Gaming and Chinese Suning, beating Chinese Top Esports in the match for 3^rd place.

Today, the team is comprised of G2 veterans and some well-known additions, such as the aforementioned Rekkles. And once more, the European community is watching very closely to see what they’ll do this season and if maybe 2021 is their year to finally reach the top of the world.

What The Present Looks Like

So far, it’s looking pretty good: they’ve dominated the Spring Split with 9:2 win-loss ratio and there haven’t been any relevant drama going on that could throw them off of their path. They did lose to Fnatic, though, in their first match of the season, which must’ve had left a bad taste in Rekkles’ mouth, but at least it was a very fun clash for fans who enjoyed the aggressive and action packed game. Side note: another team to watch this season seem to be Rogue, who currently have the same win-loss ratio as G2.

We are currently at week six of the LEC Spring Season, and this weekend G2 are up against Vitality and Fnatic again. Don’t miss those games and also don’t miss on playing along for free. Visit our Pick6 today and place your bets to be an active participant in this crazy LEC adventure.