G2 Esports exceeded all expectations on day 1 of the Rumble Stage at MSI 2022. Not only did they earn themselves a comeback victory against T1, they also took a commanding victory against RNG and went 2-0 on the day.

Inven spoke with G2’s jungler Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski. Although the victory was well-deserved, he remained humble, as he felt he still had ways to go until they can call themselves the tournament favorites.

How does it feel to go 2-0 on day 1 of the Rumble Stage?

It feels great to be on the high momentum of things. However, just like the Group Stage, Rumble Stage is also Best-of-1s, so I don’t want to read into the victories today too much. The goal is to get at least 4th.

I mean, G2 played two of the tournament favorites, T1 and RNG. What did the team talk about when you guys were playing them on day 1?

We were super excited to face the best teams in the world. We felt that it’d be nice to beat both of them and go 2-0, but even if we went 0-2, we felt that we can make it up by playing the weaker teams later on. We at least wanted to go 1-1, but we’re thrilled that we went 2-0,

You guys were actually behind against T1 until the mid game. What was the key to the comeback victory?

T1 had an early lead, and they snowballed that lead quite well. However, our team comp outscaled in terms of teamfight strength, so we were able to win teamfights. It’s very fun to play against T1, so I can’t wait for the rematch.

On the flip side, G2 had the lead from the early game against RNG. It felt like the team was playing a lot better than Groups.

I think the key to victory against RNG was that we really understood our team composition in and out. It’s always important to play to our win conditions, and I feel we did just that better than RNG. It’s not something that we focused on for the Rumble Stages, but rather something we’re constantly focused on.

How would you say the current G2 squad is different from that of the 2018-2020 squad?

Both caPs and I are veterans, Flakked-Targamas are rookies, and Broken Blade is somewhere in the middle. I’d say that our current squad is very competitive by nature, and always yearns for victory. That’s not to say that our previous squads weren’t competitive, but the rookie energy and their drive pushes both caPs and I to yearn more for victory.

G2’s performance today definitely put the team on the map as the tournament favorites. Moving forward, what can we expect from G2?

T1 and RNG are very good teams, so we still have a lot to learn. Furthermore, other teams can create upset, so I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. We need to make our plays more perfect and clean, so we’ll need to stay vigilant. Although it’s still early to say, I think we’d be favorites to win MSI if we play like today.

There were a lot more fans that came to watch the matches today. What was it like to be absorbed in all that energy?

The last time we played in front of such a huge crowd was back in 2019. The energy from the crowd was unbelievable. I’m so grateful to the fans for such a special experience. The crowd was especially loud during our game against RNG, but I want to thank them for their support even against T1. Because of experiences like this, it makes me want to play better.

Is there anything you’d like to say to the Korean fans that came to cheer G2 on today?

Thank you so much for all your support. This is something I realized during my time here in Busan, but I think that the Korean fans really embraced us and showed us a lot of love. I’ll make sure to play well against the other world-class teams as well.