“[Hooxi]’s the biggest reason why we managed to get it over the line.” NiKo after G2 win BLAST Premier World Finals

After over 4 years since his last big event trophy, NiKo has finally done it. G2 are your BLAST Premier World Finals Champions. They clinched the title after a dominant 2-0 win over Liquid. We talked to NiKo after the trophy lift to get his thoughts on the massive achievement.

Arnav "xL" Shukla: Congratulations on the win. Lifting a trophy after so many years. How are you feeling right now?

G2 NiKo: It feels great. I don't really know what to say. We're all really happy and very satisfied with our performance here. we've been working a long time for this moment. And we're really glad that it's paying off. we kept believing even after a rough season. Throughout the whole season, we had really tough losses, but we kept believing and, in the end, managed to lift a trophy. 

xL: So, starting the year with the Katowice finals, ending the year with the BLAST Premier World Finals trophy. How would you describe the year for G2?

G2 NiKo: The year definitely wasn't satisfying. Ending it on a good note means a lot, but the whole year has kinda been a mess for us. Just happy that we managed to at least grab one trophy in the end. Hopefully, the next season will be better.

xL: Inferno was a complete stomp. Mirage started pretty similarly, but the half-finished 9-6. Were you guys still confident in a 2-0 win?

G2 NiKo:I think we were in control throughout the whole game. Maybe they won some rounds, but we felt that we had a read on them, and they just out-aimed us or something. But yeah, we felt confident, and we were always in the lead, and we were always in control of the game. So we were confident in ourselves throughout the whole game.

xL: Last year, we had NaVi blowing everyone on the server. This time you guys have performed like that with 4 players in the top 8. It must be great to have a superteam finally working.

G2 NiKo:Yeah, it's great that we finally made it work in the end. We don't really care about who's in the top 5 or top 10 or whatever. We're just happy that we managed to lift the trophy. That was the most important thing for the organization and for us. 

xL: Could you talk about HooXi's calling at this event?

G2 NiKo: Yeah, HooXi, this event has been great. He was doing great in practice. I just felt like he was missing some confidence during tournaments due to the losses that we had. But this event, he really stepped up, and he's the biggest reason why we managed to get it over the line.

xL: Looking towards 2023 after a trophy at BLAST Premier World Finals, are G2 coming into the new year with full confidence for more trophies?

G2 NiKo: It's hard to say. It's gonna be a new year. Obviously, this event helps us be confident, but we don't know how we're gonna start the year off. We're gonna start the event off. We're gonna try to continue where we finished. But yeah, we just need to go back to the work after the vacation and put in the same effort and same hours, and we'll see how it goes.

xL: m0NESY won the MVP for BLAST Premier World Finals. Could you give some thoughts on his performance at this event?

G2 NiKo: What can I say? I think he's a great player. He's been improving ever since he joined the team. I think it was just a matter of time for him till he grabs an important MVP, and I'm really happy that he's putting in so much work, and it's actually paying off. You're gonna see him be even better in the future.

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