Image: GosuGamers

M0NESY stood out as the best CS2 player at the BLAST World Finals in Singapore, but his focus remains on capturing his first Major championship in Shanghai.

European Counterattack 2 (CS2) power G2 eSports They are the latest BLAST Premier world champions. G2 swept Team Spirit in the grand final of BLAST Premier: World Final 2024 in front of a jubilant crowd in Sentosa, Singapore, to claim the team’s third championship this year.

Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov won the MVP award for his stellar play throughout the tournament, racking up a 1.49 KDR and 1.35 rating to lead his team to a perfect 3-0 record and a 9-3 map record in Singapore’s first premier CS event. It was a spectacular performance for G2 superstar AWPer as he overtook the likes of Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov and Roland “ultimate” Tomkowiak to continue defending his position as the top player in the first year of CS2 .

In an exclusive interview with GosuGamers, m0NESY downplayed this momentous achievement and said his focus remains on the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 in China later this month:

“I think that whoever deserves it will take it and get the number one (in the ranking). In my head it’s like that. Only if a player deserves it, he will get the MVP, the trophy and the number one. But I’m not I think, we still have one tournament left and for me it is more important to win the Major than to be number one.”

From the last in Rio to the first in Singapore

M0NESY and G2 were hungrier for victory than any other team coming into the BLAST World Finals in Singapore. The team had all the momentum in the world when it defeated top-level opponents. Natus Vincere (NAVI) in the BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2024 in September. But just over a week after that big win, G2 failed. Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024 in 13th to 16th place, the organization’s worst finish in any case in more than two years.

It was a painful loss for G2, and even more so for m0NESY, who shared that it made him vent his frustration like never before.

“It was very painful to lose. I mean, I was honestly very disappointed when we lost. “I think for the first time in my life I walked into the room and started screaming, in an empty room, alone in the hotel.”

As painful as it was, that loss in Rio forced G2 to reflect on their game throughout the year and how to improve it. With so many questions surrounding the team, from in-game leader Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski’s KDR issues to Nikola “NiKo” Kovač’s rumored departure to Team Falcons after the Shanghai Major, m0NESY said a training camp ahead of the BLAST world finals in Singapore helped them. realign your focus on winning all the remaining tournaments of the year.

“We spent six to seven days in the training camp and from this training camp we improved a lot and learned a lot from what we did wrong in Rio and also in previous tournaments. We made a great effort.”

While G2 would go on to win the championship at this year’s BLAST World Finals, they didn’t have the most auspicious start to the tournament.

In their opening group stage match against Team Liquid, G2 lost the first map of the series without winning a single round. To the team’s detractors, it was a sure sign that their loss in Rio was no fluke. G2 would crash and burn in Singapore once again, and the team would fall apart soon after.

Instead, G2 bounced back and decisively defeated Liquid in the next two maps to qualify for the Playoffs.. They then swept Spirit in their first meeting in their group’s Winners Match.which earned them a direct place in the semifinals. In front of a roaring Playoff crowd, m0NESY and G2 defeated ZywOo and Team Vitality in three games to advance to the grand final.

G2 and Spirit faced off once again in the championship round. Even with Danil “donk” Kryshkovets and sh1ro exiting, Spirit could do little to prevent G2 from being crowned the latest BLAST World Finals champions. And in the final round of the grand final, it was m0NESY who sealed the deal.

Spirit was by no means an easy opponent for anyone, but G2 seem to have had their number all year. Including the two matches they played at the BLAST World Finals in Singapore, G2 was 5-1 over Spirit. G2’s only loss to Spirit came during the first day of the group stage of BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2024 In London, where m0NESY was absent due to visa problems, coach Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas had to play as a substitute.

M0NESY was quick to clarify that his team’s only loss against Spirit this year was when he didn’t play, although he credited the skill and depth of the entire team as the main factor in their dominance of the matchup.

“(The score is) 5-1, but with me we didn’t lose against them. I didn’t have a visa in London, I’m not sure what the result would be with me against Spirit if I played but I don’t want to talk about that, I don’t want to say if. I’m not going to say that they are a comfortable opponent for us, I think we just play our game and always jump during the game. We have very good and unique individual players and each one is unique on our team. I think we just played better and that’s why we won. If we win, then we deserve to win.”

With the BLAST World Final championship under their belts, m0NESY and G2 now hope to close out the year strong by clinching the Shanghai Major title.

It will be quite a challenge to get there, as the team will first have to go through the RMR B European Major in Shanghai from November 21-24. While there will be seven spots up for grabs there, nothing is guaranteed even for G2, as they will once again have to compete with Spirit, as well as Astralis, Eternal Fire, HEROIC, Virtus.pro and many more.

G2 and m0NESY have yet to win a Major championship. Following his victory at the BLAST World Finals in Singapore, the Shanghai Major could well be his best chance to capture that elusive title.