sAw on coaching ruling: “It should be consistent in all tournaments”

G2 endured a rocky path to the playoffs at this Major, upsetting NAVI and pick’em fans alike on the final day. Still, they won’t care. It’s been a rough season for one of Esports’ traditional big names, and some hope to end the season will serve them well.

To discuss their run, and what it’s going to take to keep it going, we spoke to G2's coach Eetu "sAw" Saha on the media day. Here’s what he had to say:

First of all, congratulations on making the playoffs. It's always cool to make it to the Major. My first question for you is the topic that's been heavily discussed on Twitter as of last night, which is the bracket. What's your first reaction to seeing the stacked side you're on?

I mean, it's obviously the heavy hitters, the best teams on our side of the bracket, which is going to make it tough, but at the same time, it's not like you're ever going to expect to have an easy time at the Major.

I think, also, the bracket, of course, is like that because there were some upsets in the Swiss stage. But then again, stage 3, best of 3s, every team that is in the playoffs, they deserve their spot. And then if you lost to those teams, if the seeds changed and the bracket is like it is, then it's deserved, I would say. And I mean, we just need to grind ourselves all the way from there against Spirit and maybe Vitality, Falcons, but I don't really care in that way.

If you want to win the Major, you need to beat the best teams. This is again something that is our goal, and we just need to do it, show ourselves in the bracket.

It's been a day and a half, maybe since you guys qualified. I don't know if you've had time to debrief, but if you have, I'm curious: What do you think went well in Stage 3, and what do you think you have to improve before you go into the playoffs?

Yeah, I mean, we had some time, not of course a lot, but it's pretty normal to do it after the match, a bit of debriefing after each match, and see what's happening.

Overall, it's been a lot about, in the tournament, to focus on playing our comfort things, then of course making sure that every match we are 100% there in the beginning with a good start, basically. And then, for sure, about like fighting because even yesterday against NAVI, like you saw, there were clutches going back and forth, we won some XvsX situations, they also won many clutches, they also got insane, insane amount of entries, so I mean, tough matchup also mentally in that way because we need to fight ourselves back from like disadvantage situations many times.

So, it's been about things like that, but we were doing it good, like we were mentally resilient in many of the matches and yesterday especially.

You bring up mentality a lot. Is that what you think is going to be your advantage coming into the playoffs, having a strong mentality?

Yeah, it's always going to be key. I do think it's hard to compare yourself to others in that sense because you don't know exactly how it's going to be, but I would see it like most of these top teams, they need to have strong mental, but for sure it's something we have been also working on, and we need to make sure we are consistent with that. It's going to be one of the key aspects to do good in the playoffs, for sure.

Part of why I ask is because in every single one of your games, at least in Stage 3, it's been HeavyGod, and then it's been someone else showing up. It's been next man up. And I'm curious if you see that as maybe an issue that there isn't consistency or a quality of your team, that there is a next man up mentality, that someone else steps up every time when needed.

I mean, in a way, maybe yes. Like sure, HeavyGod is performing consistently, and everyone else is a bit more up and down. It's kind of been the theme throughout this whole team, even with Malbs, of course. So, it's something that, for us to be more consistent, we would need another performer also because of HeavyGod's role's in that sense. It's a bit tough.

But then, at the same time, if you think about this tournament only, we have been grinding ourselves through these Swiss stages and everything, and sure, we have like four individuals below one rating right now, which I don't see necessarily as an issue. I will see that there's more potential to get up there, and it's also a positive sign if you're able to get to the playoffs with four players, maybe not at their peak performance right now.

The only thing is, of course, you need to then show it in the playoffs, and especially if you're gonna play Spirit, Falcons, Vitality, these teams, like we need more individuals to pop off, so it's one of the requirements, I would say.

Then, my final question for you is kind of about the Major as a whole because we saw, and we don't have to go into this, but a team got their coach banned. And I'm kind of curious, because Valve have very strict coaching rules, how do you, as a coach, experience the difference? And if you like the changes Valve have compared to normal tournaments, where they're stricter about communication, or if you think that should change in the future?

To be honest, I think it should be consistent in all tournaments. For me, it's not a big deal one way or another. Either you allow it to be like it is in the other tournaments, or you make it more strict. But I think the consistency here should be the key.