Following their exit in the quarterfinals of IEM Dallas, Justin "jks" Savage talked with us about the team’s first half of 2023. He also spoke on changes to his style over his career, thoughts on international teams, and the CS scene in Australia.

ESL | Helena Kristiansson

So your time in Dallas has finished, quarter-finals, definitely nothing to be ashamed of. How do you guys feel overall about your performance at the event?

jks: I think pretty disappointed because I think we lost to Heroic and FaZe pretty poorly. I don't think we showed the way that we can play, like, our potential at all, maybe like 30, 40% of it or something like that. So I think we're just kind of disappointed in our performance and nothing to take away from the other teams. They played super well and we just made a lot of mistakes and they capitalized on them. So, yeah, I think we have a lot of work to do, at least for the next tournament and then we'll see what happens during the break if we can review our games and fix all of that stuff.

In late 2022 and early 2023, you guys were dominant and now you've gone down, but you seem to be going back up. Do you feel like there's still a lot of potential for this lineup to win more trophies than it already has?

jks: Yeah, for sure. But I think we just need to sort our sh*t out first and get on the same page before any of that can happen. I think during the two tournaments we won at BLAST and Katowice, everyone was on the same page. Everyone was like, playing for each other, sacrificing and everyone just had a really good mood in and outside the game.

Right now it's a bit up and down and with the season being so long, of course, that's going to happen. So, yeah, we just need to kind of recollect ourselves and get on the same page again and see what we can do. But I think everyone on the team knows that we can win more tournaments and the team has an incredible ceiling. So, it's just about what I said before, being on the same page and just working our sh*t out.

You're talking about the attitude of the team, how would you describe the culture within G2? I mean, you're an international roster, everyone from different places. What's it like being a part of that?

jks: I mean, it's pretty interesting. Of course, we have very different cultures. Like, we have some Balkan cultures and then we have the Danish Rasmus on the team who has a different culture, and then of course, Ilya as well, who's Russian and then me who's Australian, which is completely different from all of that. So, yeah, it's pretty different, but I think we've done a really good job at, like, figuring each other out and knowing what each other likes and what we don't like and we make it work, like, as an atmosphere.

Of course, it's not always going to be perfect and stuff like that when we have so many cultures coming together. But, I mean, everyone's really understanding of each other. Most of the time we're very supportive of each other, and it's just… yeah, it's nothing too crazy like that. We all get along.

For you personally, I know for the first large portion of your career, you played on just Australian/Oceanic teams, and starting in 2020 with Complexity, and now in G2, you've been in international teams. Is there anything particularly different or surprising about it?

jks: Yeah, I mean, when I joined Complexity, it was really different compared to what I expected. I think it was a little bit of a shock at the time, just because when you play with people from your region for so long, it's like you get used to it. I mean, like I said before, the culture in Australia is a lot different from the culture in, say, Serbia or Denmark or something like that. It's just about adjusting to other people. Of course, you want to be yourself and stuff like that all the time, but at the same time, you also need to account for other people from different backgrounds and cultures. So, I mean, it's a bit of a mix, but I think it's okay. I think, for example, if I ever played an Australian team again, I think it would be a lot more natural and normal for me, but right now it feels normal anyway.

ESL | Viola Schuldner

Do you feel your style as a player has changed throughout your career from when you started in Vox Eminor through later time in Renegades and now in international teams?

jks: Yeah, when I was in Vox Eminor and Renegades, I was like pretty much just the main lurker, and back then the game was played differently as well. So, I was a lot more passive, and I wasn't really taking many risks, but nowadays I feel like I can pretty much do anything that the team needs. Of course, I'm always more comfortable when it comes to clutching or being like a trade fragger or something like that, but nowadays in CS, everyone has to kind of do everything on the team. I think over time I've just adjusted, and it's become more normal and yeah, the way the game is played right now, everyone has to do everything.

Even with the changes to the way you play, I think everyone knows you as a remarkably consistent player throughout your career. Even now, from group stages online through playoffs, you're sort of a rock on the team. Is there anything you attribute that to in particular?

jks: No, I mean, I think I could be way more consistent than I am, but I will say more often that I play to the level that we're playing as a team. So if my team is performing well, then it allows me to play well and, yeah, I think when we're consistent as a team, that's when I have my best performances, and when it's a bit up and down, then I think I have my… sometimes I play pretty good, sometimes I play kind of off, but I think for the majority of the time I am pretty consistent.

But like I said before, I think I just play to the level that my team is playing on and I don't know why that is, but yeah, it's just how I feel on the team. I play the same way I do in practice. I do the same thing on match days as I do on practice days and stuff like that, everything is pretty much the same. Maybe that's the reason why.

Talking about practice, obviously you guys as a team boot camp together a lot. You practice as a team a lot. Is there anything you do outside of that stuff? Other than the obvious like aim training to improve your play?

jks: No, not really. It's just like watching normal stuff. I watch replays and stuff of other teams to see what I can add to my game and people who play my spots and stuff. Outside of that, I do my deathmatch and stuff like that, but nothing too crazy. I think outside of the game, I do things more consistently. Like, I have a morning routine and stuff and then I go to the gym. I try to go to the gym pretty much every day and do something active. I just have a list of things I want to do in the day just to make me feel good and I think everything else will fall in place if I keep doing that. On top of all that, we need to play well as a team. If I do everything that I need to do as a player, I feel like I'm going to be the most consistent that I can be. After that, it's just about playing well as a team.

Yeah, that makes sense. Right now, there are a lot of international teams on the scene. I mean there’s G2, FaZe, ENCE, MOUZ, and others. Back when you started there weren't as many international teams or not many until Kinguin. So what do you think has caused this change and do you think it is one of the main things that makes the meta different now?

jks: I think people just want to win. The scene is just way too competitive right now and everyone wants to win. I mean, it's really hard to pick up five people from the same country. Of course, you can do it, for example, Heroic, but it's a lot easier to pick up people from international regions if you speak English because it just makes the selection way easier. You don't need to focus on finding an AWPer from your country when there is no AWPer from your country or something like that. So, it's way easier just to pick up someone who speaks English if your team speaks English, from a different region and it just makes it way more accessible.

ESL | Helena Kristiansson

I want to quickly touch on the scene in Australia. It's not at the upper echelons that it used to be, but there are a decent number of teams like Grayhound, VERTEX, and Rooster. How do you feel overall about the state of play both in terms of teams and just the players?

jks: Yeah, I think there's definitely a lack of teams, but at the same time it's the same story as always. It's really hard for an Australian team to play well overseas because you can't live overseas for more than like three months at a time, or six months, whatever it is, for the visas and stuff like that. So, I mean, unless you have a visa to live in Europe and everyone commits to it, or even NA to an extent, but of course you want to live in Europe. It's just really hard for any Australian team to do something good consistently. There's too much travel involved, accommodation, all the sh*t that goes into it, so I mean, like, for an Australian team to go overseas and play, it costs a lot of money and unless you're living over there permanently as like a team of five, it's super difficult to do well.

I think the scene in Australia is also really small, so there's not a lot of people coming up in the scene. I think the Grayhound have been together for a long time now and the only person they have that is new is Vexite and outside of that, I'm not sure who else they could pick up so I think it's just a mix of things. But yeah, the biggest one is it's impossible to live overseas without having an organization or a visa or something like that.

Yeah, that makes sense. If you were to go back to the beginning of your career and give yourself advice, something you would do differently or something you thought you were doing right, what would it be?

jks: I think it would just be for me, just individually, I think I would have a better system that I would follow inside and outside of the game and just be more routine-based, and I think it would make me a lot more consistent as a player in the early days. Also just to be way less uptight about things. Like if I have a bad performance, not to care about it for the next week or something like that, kind of just get over it instantly and just focus on getting better. I think those things would benefit me a lot.

On a team level, I think if I was more open earlier on in my career, if I talked more and I was able to help people more often, then I think we would have done better than what we did. But I think over time, I've improved at that, and I think I'm pretty good at it right now. But it's just in the early days if I was as good as I am at it right now, it would be like, a lot better for my team, I guess.

Last thing, you guys are out here, but you have a tournament coming up very shortly in Washington. How do you feel about your chances to win or make a deep run going into it?

jks: Yeah, I think winning it would be super difficult because of all the teams that are there that are in form right now, you have Vitality, Heroic, and FaZe are even in pretty decent form right now. Winning it is going to be really difficult, honestly. But if we just take it from one match at a time, who knows what will happen? I think if we all show up individually, I think we have a pretty good chance of doing well. But, like I said earlier, I think we just need to figure out some stuff in the game and get on the same page on some of our map picks and once we do that, I think we will see some improvement in our game. But, yeah, I think it'll be pretty difficult, but we should just take it one match at a time and who knows? Because we felt the same way going into BLAST last year, and we won the tournament.

We would like to thank jks for taking the time to talk with us. G2 ended their season with a semifinal finish at the BLAST Spring Finals in Washington DC and we are excited to see them back after the break!

You can keep up with jks on his Twitter