G2 Esports have ended their absurdly good season on a high note, as they beat Origen for the second time in the playoffs in a 3-0 showdown that has set two records: the shortest game (18:31), and the fastest series (74:30 in game time).

Following their victory, one of our two correspondents, Adel Chouadria, sat down with G2's jungler, Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski. The two reminisced on the trials he underwent before earning his first championship in six years.

The transcript below has been slightly edited.

Hello everyone! We're here alongside Jankos, former jungler of Kiedys Mialem Team... *laughs on both sides* I had to go way back. At long last, congratulations on finally getting your first title after six years!

*laughs* Yeah, it's been a long time, playing League and not winning! I'm really happy that finally, after so many years, I can be the very best in Europe. Time flies by really fast, so I will cherish this moment right now. Who knows what will happen next year?


It took you a long time! You almost got here with ROCCAT, H2K Gaming, and G2 last year. Actually, last year, you lost 3-0. Now you're on the winning side of it!

Yeah! I think we're a really good team, you know? I think this G2 is so much different from the other G2. Even though we have three players [from the 2018 lineup,] it's crazy that Luka [Perkz] changed his position to AD carry, and we are still winning. He's still playing very well. I think we have a bunch of talented players matched up together. We are meshing very well, we have very similar personalities, and we are having a lot of fun, not only winning. Having fun is important!


In terms of having fun, there's the dream situation with Caps...

Yeah! I'm actually curious if JD Gaming will be able to beat Invictus Gaming, and then his dream will come true. Everyone will be watching [on Apr. 20,] the LPL final. Caps and I have to do some assignments, and we can't go to our families just yet, but we should be home by Friday. Saturday, everyone will be with their families, and we'll see what will happen with the LPL! *laughs*

Before that, we have SK Telecom T1 going, and I'm glad that I'll be able to maybe face Faker. I'd really like to play against SKT. We [also] have Team Liquid and the Wildcard teams. I think MSI will be a lot of fun! I'm really happy to attend that for the first time in my life.

It's like: finally, this is the end of your journey of hunting for a title, but it's also the beginning of another: nailing it down with more and more. There's more of an adventure at Worlds: this time around, maybe this G2 could go even further than any other Western team did before.

I think it's possible for us to win MSI. I'm not going to talk about Worlds or the summer split, but I think it's definitely possible for us to go far or win MSI. You know, mikyx still has wrist issues, so I don't know how much we'll be able to practice before MSI, but we'll go to Korea and play solo queue. We'll play with promisq – he's doing a very good job as well; he's very talented, same as mikyx. I'm really grateful for him being there for us. Without him, I don't think we'll be able to win, because we would not be able to scrim as mikyx has the issues he has.

Let's go! Let's go MSI, let's go Vietnam, let's go Taiwan, and let's win!


There's also another thing: you all kind of roleswapped in Game 2. I was kind of waiting for that, but for it to be a funnel, with a Sona-Taric counter with lots of lane pressure with some systematic offense. I was like: "This is actually happening!" How did it come to be in the end?

We wanted to prepare something that would catch our enemies off-guard, and we did. That worked out well. In the third game, we banned Sona to have a standard game, because we kind of knew that we would win [that way.] After losing so many games to their opponents – not only scrims, but on stage – I think it was really tough on them to actually play the third game. I think that's why the third game looked the way it did, as a stomp. I'm really happy that we won.

It was not a close five-game series, so I'm not jumping around going "WOW!" I'm more taking it in slowly, but I'm really, really glad!


In a way, it's much better this way. "We're actually the best [in Europe], flat."

Yeah! We're actually the best [in Europe], period! We are not the best in the World though, so there's that.


You've been trying to get here, grinding for six years now, sometimes more successfully than others.

Yeah, I had my ups and downs before. I'm an old player: I will be 24 in 3-4 months this year. I don't know how much time I have in me to still play at the highest level, and I don't know how my team will do next year. We will see. I will just try to cherish those moments, and try to be on top while I can be on top, because time flies past.


Considering all the things you've been through, and finding yourself with the one group that can go super far, I'm pretty sure everything before it was worth it. It all prepared you for this moment.

I think I grew a lot as a player and as a person, throughout the years I played. I think I'm a better human, but I'm also a better player – not only in my mind, but also the way I play on the map and stuff. So, I'm really happy. I think I could have been so much better in the past than I was, but this long journey finally led to a championship in the end – at least a European one – so I'm very happy with that.

We would like to thank Jankos once again for taking part in this interview shortly after beating Origen 3-0 and qualifying to the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational. G2 Esports have directly qualified to the group stage, which starts on May 10. Be sure to tune in!