"They don't know s***": huNter- on people asking for roster moves too soon, goals for CS:GO ESL Pro League Season 18 and G2's form in 2023 [Exclusive]

The CS:GO ESL Pro League Season 18's group stage phase has one last bracket, with only four more teams capable of qualifying for the playoffs stage. Group D will be the final battleground and feature popular teams such as Cloud9, Team Liquid, and, most notably, G2 Esports. The champions of IEM Cologne 2023 are looking to return to peak form after a third to fourth-place finish at Gamers8.

The team has suffered a streaky 2023 that saw them win two Intel Extreme Master Events. The roster will look to add the ESL Pro League trophy to their cabinet, and a key player in that endeavor at Malta will be Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač.

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huNter- addresses G2's expectations at CS:GO ESL Pro League Season 18, team's inconsistency in 2023, and early thoughts on CS2

In an interview with N Siddarth from Sportskeeda Esports ahead of the CS:GO ESL Pro League Season 18, huNter- touched upon G2's preparations, his thoughts on social media discussions, and some insights into the team's workings throughout the year. The Bosnian-Serbian also exhibited a ton of respect and love for the fans cheering the roster throughout 2023.

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Q: How have you been doing, and how have the preparations for the tournament been so far?

huNter-: I am doing pretty good, and the whole team is doing great. After Gamers8, we had a week off and practiced a bit online before going for the boot camp ahead of EPL. So, I think we are ready and will see in the group stages tomorrow.

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Q: G2 have enjoyed an interesting 2023 with lots of ups and downs. What is the cause for this inconsistent showing from the team throughout the year?

huNter-: I think we didn't prioritize which events we wanted to focus on the most at the beginning of the year. We wanted to be the best everywhere, and that is impossible because you have a lot of events and can't give your best at each one.

We had a lot of lower lows, and when we didn't play well, it was really bad, and when we played well, it was really good. So, we must find a middle ground even when we play badly so that we don't go all the way down. That's what we have been trying to do since the beginning of this season, and we will see now because we haven't had an official event for more than a month.

The last match we had was Gamers8 in Saudi Arabia against Team Vitality, and hopefully, we can keep up our performance from Cologne going into EPL. I also think we did pretty well at Gamers8, as we had three match points against Vitality, who are the best team in the world, but didn't close it out. We learned from that, and hopefully, we can be better.

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Q: Have you been happy with your overall performance in 2023 as an individual and a teammate? Do you think you could have done better?

huNter-: I am happy with what I have done, but I can do better just like the rest of the team. I think since the beginning of this new season, the Blast Major was not the best for the whole team and for me, but I think I did pretty well at IEM Cologne and Gamers8, and so did the team. So, I am happy so far, and hopefully, I can keep growing and be even better by the end of the year.

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Q: Do you think G2 Esports' immense popularity in social media brings an added factor of pressure for the team to perform better to meet expectations?

huNter-: I don't think too much about this, and neither do my teammates because when you sign with G2, you must be ready for everything and all the pressure because you will have a lot of fans, and G2 is a big organization.

So, everybody is expecting you to be on top always. You must agree with that and not think too much because it can be a negative pressure sometimes when you are not at your best. However, when you are doing good, you get used to the pressure because you have a lot of fans in the arena.

We are arguably the most popular team and, at the very least, a Top-three team in terms of popularity alongside Natus Vincere and FaZe Clan. I think we shouldn't think about it and enjoy every moment as we play in front of fans.

When things are not going well, of course, there is a bit of pressure. But we always have fans that are supporting us and are always behind our backs, and that's really important.

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Q: There were a lot of discussions going on that G2 had to make roster changes during their slump in the middle of 2023. Do you think the community is often too quick to jump the gun on suggesting roster moves when teams start to have one or two bad events instead of giving them more time?

huNter:- I think people are like this everywhere in the world, even in other sports and not just in CS. I don't really care too much about that as I am not reading what people are saying or listening to them when they talk about my team or teammates because they don't know s***.

We are together every day, and we practice every day together. We are going on boot camps, and we know what we can do better and what is wrong. The five players, along with our coaches and managers and everybody else who is always with us during events. I only listen to what they have to say to me and my team.

I don't care too much about what other people say. I think I would agree with you that people are not giving teams that much time to prove what they can do. I know that people were also saying after the end of the Blast Major and IEM Dallas that G2 needed to make roster changes and wanted to see different players, but we did not want to make changes.

We did really well at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, so we knew our capability of doing big things. I have said before that this team and everybody in it deserves one more chance, and it paid off in Cologne. So, hopefully, we can do even better and be more serious.

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Q: Coming into EPL, what are your general expectations, and do you have any goals as a team, such as finding some consistency heading into CS2?

huNter-: We are not thinking about CS2 yet. We don't play it and think about it at all until they release it and announce that the next event will be played on CS2. We are fully focused on CS:GO and improving our game by adding new stuff, as we had a lot of time to prepare mentally and strategically.

We have some more strats and setups on the CT side and will see how this pans out during the event. We must be consistent individually because we have really strong players, but when we are not in shape, you don't see the best version of G2.

I think we have focused a lot on individual ability and tried to follow the same routine we had for Katowice and Cologne heading into EPL. This is what we will try to do, and hopefully, it can work again.

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Q: Do you have any teams that you would like to face in particular at this event, or are you taking it one game at a time?

huNter-: It has always been one game at a time throughout my life, and I'm thinking about tomorrow's game against Lynn Vision. That's the only team for me right now in EPL. Win or lose, we will think about the next opponent. So, one day at a time and one opponent at a time.

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Q: Have you seen any of Lynn Vision's recent games so far, as they are an unknown quantity at these big international events?

huNter-: Honestly, I haven't watched them at all, and I don't even know the players on the team. We will be prepared for them by tomorrow. Starting tonight and tomorrow, before the game, our coach and IGL will tell us who they are, what we can expect, and which maps we will play. I can't tell anything more about them because I don't know much.

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Q: What do you think about CS2 so far? Do you think it's an upgrade over CS:GO?

huNter:- I got to play it six months ago when they released the beta version. I tried it for around 45-50 minutes and never played after. The first thing I like about CS2 is that the picture in-game looks much better than CS:GO, and everything feels somewhat more real when looking at the textures and the maps.

About the shooting mechanics, it's not the best, and there are a lot of bugs that I have been reading about and hearing from my teammates. It's a new game, and CS:GO at the beginning wasn't the best either. They were improving it every year, so it became better and better. After five years, CS:GO became really good.

So, CS2 will need time, and we must be patient with all of the players, coaches, and organizations. It will be the same experience for everybody at the start. There are still certain things that need to be fixed, and hopefully, they can do it and listen to the players more than they did in CS:GO.

I think the game will be good, and we need to be patient for a couple of months or even years so we can have the best game ever.

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Q: Any final words you would like to share with fans all over the world supporting you and G2?

huNter-: I want to thank all the fans because they are always there anywhere we play. We had a lot of fans in the United States, Cologne, Katowice, Abu Dhabi, and anywhere we played. We always had more support from the fans than our opponents. That's really important, and I know they are pushing us, so it's great to have them.

I hope we can secure playoffs here in Malta and see them ahead, and that's pretty much it. I would like to thank them, extend my love, and see them more at future events.