Water is wet, and G2 Esports is once again in the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) Grand Finals this Winter Season. Despite earlier struggles, the team is here to reclaim its throne after defeating Karmine Corp 3-1 last weekend. In an exclusive interview, the team's toplaner, Sergen "BrokenBlade" Çelik, unveils the secret behind unique picks, talks about the level of the league, and highlights the steps to improvement for G2.

You had a monster performance today, but I also wanted to highlight Labros "Labrov" Papoutsakis’ recent growth. Do you think it’s finally time for people to start putting some respect on the name of Labrov James?

Sergen "BrokenBlade" Çelik: "[laughs] Once we lift the trophy, people will have no choice but to put respect on our names. It’s easy to criticize new players when they join a winning team and don’t immediately find success. We won today, but not long ago, people were losing their minds saying, “G2’s not making it to Worlds,” even though it’s still just winter. I think it’s all pretty funny. We spend every day with Labrov, SkewMond (Rudy Semaan), and Memento (Jonas Elmarghichi)—the new guys. They’ve integrated really well, and it’s been great working with them. Today was a strong showing from everyone, and Labrov especially was on fire. He was like a gigachad—just locks in Blitzcrank and lands every hook.

In game one, it almost felt personal with Caliste "Caliste" Henry-Hennebert—you really gave him the treatment, right?

BrokenBlade: Yeah, exactly. He didn’t have a nice game.

People doubted this G2 roster early on, especially after week one, but you’re back in the finals. Do you think any team can truly contest you?

BrokenBlade: We always stay humble when it comes to our opponents. Honestly, KC has been good, but I think they played a bit worse than usual today—that's just my honest opinion. At the same time, we played really well, so it was a mix of both. When it comes to competition, KC and Fnatic challenge us the most, both in practice and on stage. They’ve taken games off us in the regular split, and I expect it to stay that way. This kind of rivalry, where we push each other, is amazing. But at the end of the day, I want to be the one winning—I don’t want KC to win. So I have to work even harder than them. Today, we were better, and on Sunday, we’ll be better as well.

Was KC’s playstyle what you expected today? Looking at game 2, was there anything they did well that you’ll need to improve on for the next match?

BrokenBlade: In game 2, it was more about us making mistakes than them doing something good. We didn’t play our comp very well. Our map-play and fight setups were nice, but the way we actually fought was terrible. We were in such a good position—it should have been a 3-0. We should have won convincingly with our champs, even in that second game.

We had lots of engaging champions against an immobile mage, so it should have been an easy game. We were up 2k gold but still lost that dragon fight, which shouldn’t have happened. That fight was especially my fault. I used my ult on Nocturne, which wasn’t great, and the fight instantly went GG. After that, the game became much harder because anytime we engaged, we just lost. Luckily, we brushed it off quickly and went into game three with a solid plan to counter their comps. I'm pretty happy with our showing.

You’ve been uncontested in the top lane for some time now, but we’ve seen other players stepping up, and today you faced Kim "Canna" Chang-dong, who’s been looking strong this split. How was it playing against him, and do you think he could challenge you in the future?

BrokenBlade: Canna has been a strong player for a very long time. The first time I played against him was in an international tournament, and I remember winning back then already. But he’s very skilled, especially in the laning phase. Today, I just felt like I had the upper hand. The matchups and how we played them were mostly in my favor. Of course, a lot of respect to him—he’s probably one of the top contenders in the role in terms of raw skill. He’s very strong, but there are a couple of other names as well. For me, it’s just about delivering performances that meet my own standards, not anyone else’s.

I’ve had bad games too, like my Gragas in the first game against KC. It’s easy for me to reflect on those and ask myself why I’m not playing champions at a certain level. If I can’t perform on them, I’ll either work around it or work on becoming better with those champions. That’s also why I sometimes pick champions like Warwick, Swain, or Cho’Gath—these aren’t normal picks, so they require extra effort and thought to make them work.

As you mentioned, you’ve shown a lot of creativity and pulled out a ton of uncommon picks. How do you come up with these picks? Do you have help theorycrafting them, or do you see something in solo queue and decide to try it?

BrokenBlade: I come up with these picks when I either play against them or just feel like they could be strong. For example, when I faced Twisted Fate top for the first time in solo queue, I told myself, “Okay, this guy can’t be that good, but the champion is broken.” That’s how I started playing it. We also use stats a lot, especially with our analyst Rodrigo (Rodrigo Oliveira), who helps me with that. Sometimes it’s trial and error—I’ll think “Oh, this could be good, I’ll try it,” and sometimes it feels great in practice but doesn’t work on stage. I can’t give you all the details, because that would be revealing too much. But I do have a good structure behind it, and I know why it works. That’s why I have the confidence to pick it when it’s ready.

For example, if I pick Swain in the right scenario, I don’t need to be the best Swain in the world because the champion is just OP in this game. I’m sorry, but it’s true—many players lack the confidence to just say, “Okay, pick me that champion,” but Caps (Rasmus Winther) picked Anivia today, and it was a monster pick. It was perfect—Anivia was good against all five of their champions.

You need confidence, especially in Fearless Drafts, to play these champions. If you don’t have that, it’s fine; comfort picks are always good. But confidence is key, and I feel like we have that. We’re skilled players, so we’re very good with these picks. There’s a lot of responsibility in picking these unconventional champions. If you lose, it’s easy to say, “Okay, I played a troll champ, that’s why we lost.” So, it’s definitely a double-edged sword.

Your social media manager is wondering when we’ll see you play Warwick again. Any plans for it soon?

BrokenBlade: [laughs] Maybe on Sunday, we'll see! The Warwick always has to come as a surprise, so today we didn’t play it. We had to let it rest a little bit since we played two games of it. I had to show some other picks, but on Sunday, probably.

You still have the finals ahead, but with the First Stand coming up and three teams already qualified, if the G2 we saw today were thrown into the tournament next week, do you think you're ready to contest the other teams?

BrokenBlade: I do want to go there and beat LTA because they've been doing better than us in international tournaments, especially Worlds, in the last few years. So, regaining our throne there is the first step. The next step is to match up with the other teams. It would be a great experience for SkewMond if we make it there, and I’m hopeful we will. My hopes are definitely high, and it will be interesting to see how the newer players react to international tournaments. The remaining players from last year, including myself, know how we function in high-pressure moments at international events. So, I’m excited for it. But first, we need to win on Sunday to make it there. The focus is on Sunday first.

Any last words for the fans?

BrokenBlade: Thank you guys for supporting us through the tough and good times. Obviously, this split has had its ups and downs, but hopefully, we’ll have the most support we can get on Sunday."