G2’s record eight-event Counter-Strike 2 playoff streak is in peril as the IEM Dallas champions prepare for this week’s BLAST Premier Spring Final without standout AWPer m0NESY, who is unable to travel to the United Kingdom due to a visa issue.
The organization revealed in a June 10 post on X (previously Twitter) that coach TaZ will join the squad on the server for the BLAST Spring Finals, replacing the star AWPer. The team will have to beat the odds once more with a stand-in if they want to keep their playoff streak alive, since G2 has reached the finals of every offline CS2 tournament they have attended since the sequel’s release last September.
Without m0NESY this week, G2 will have a difficult task ahead. Photo by Helena Kristiansson for ESL Gaming.
The G2 social team joked that they wanted to “recreate the success from Dallas,” where the squad won the tier-one event despite the absence of captain HooXi, who was attending his sister’s wedding. With Stewie2K, shot-caller NiKo guided the team to its first CS2 victory. However, the absence of wunderkind m0NESY may be too much for G2 this time.
The 19-year-old Russian sniper has been the best player in 2024, with an impressive 1.34 HLTV rating across 70 LAN maps this year. Many pundits believe that only Vitality’s ZywOo comes close. As a result, the Russian’s absence will leave a significant void that many believe the Polish coach will struggle to fill, having last competed on the server with HONORIS in March 2023.
Following his stint with HONORIS and the team’s dissolution, TaZ declared his retirement from competitive play and transitioned to coaching. He eventually placed in the G2 setup for the 2024 competitive season.
It is uncertain who will wield the big green in G2, but we have seen NiKo play a hybrid role with the rifle previously. The IEM Dallas champions will face Donk’s Team Spirit in the BLAST Premier Spring Finals on June 12 at 1:30 p.m. CT.