Improving steadily, G2 Esports now finds itself at 2-0 in the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) Spring Season after taking down Team Heretics and Movistar KOI. With Rogue as its next opponent, the squad remains confident in its newly improved strategies and the lessons learned from the previous split. In an exclusive interview with Sheep Esports, star player and midlaner Rasmus "Caps" Winther sits down to talk about this new momentum, how he felt losing to Karmine Corp, watching First Stand from home, and the upcoming LEC Roadtrips in Madrid and Paris.

G2 had a rough 0-2 start last split, but now you're 2-0—how does it feel to start strong this time, and what's different about the team’s momentum?

Rasmus "Caps" Winther: "It definitely feels good to have a better start than last split. We obviously were quite shaky at the start of last split, but our mistakes were also quite obvious. We definitely improved on them throughout the split, and obviously we ended up losing to Karmine Corp in the end, but we definitely reached a higher level than we started off with. We're continuing that into this split. Just a little bit of improvement every week, and hopefully we’ll do better against KC this time around.

You faced Heretics today, and we’re seeing more and more rookie-heavy teams in the LEC. Do you notice any differences in how they play compared to more veteran teams? Are they more explosive or hesitant? And does that change how you approach the game?

Caps: There are some differences between rookies, it's hard to generalize. Everyone has a little bit of their own play style, their own habits and stuff like that, and what they value in the game. Generally, especially for teams with a lot of rookies, there tends to be a lot of following quite specific plans. Usually, we have pretty good scouting on what we expect them to do, and they follow a lot of the same strategies.

Obviously, when you're new to the league—it was the same for me—you need to differentiate between solo queue and these stage games, which are played quite differently. Just learning a few solid strategies definitely seems to be working out for a lot of these teams. At the same time, nowadays, most rookies that come in have a lot of experience from playing in their respective ERLs as well. So they obviously have a lot of experience from that too. But it's still like a different meta and play style than in the LEC.

Whether it's rookies or veterans, the LEC still seems to struggle with fundamentals this year. Many teams build leads but fail to close out games, which feels especially noticeable compared to stronger regions. Why do you think that is? Is it a coaching issue, poor adaptation, or a lack of coordination?

Caps: I'm not sure. I can't really speak for everyone's individual cases, but I definitely agree there are a few teams in the LEC right now that are struggling quite a bit. They’ve been consistently throwing a lot of leads—even last split as well—so it’s definitely something they’ll have to work on. But I also always feel like that’s kind of how it is, right? When there's a big difference—not necessarily in individual skill, but in team skill and decision-making—those leads often just end up getting thrown at some point.

We've seen it a lot in internationally when the West goes against the East as well. Western teams will get like a 5k gold lead and then suddenly throw the game. It’s just these small, consistent decisions that the Eastern teams execute a little bit better. It's those small decisions that, when added up, can lead to major advantages and throws. Once the throw happens, it gets hard to come back, right? It can be the same for some of the weaker teams in the LEC.

But I’m sure it’s something you can definitely work on. We’ve learned a lot from playing against the LPL and LCK when they were bullying us. And I think if you review the games, if you look at what other people do in similar situations, it’s something you can definitely improve on. But you definitely need to work on it.

Winter broke your six-split winning streak—you had been winning every LEC trophy since Summer 2023. Did it feel strange not being the one celebrating on stage? What was discussed after that loss, and how did you approach the offseason to make sure it wouldn't happen again?

Caps: To answer your first question, it definitely felt very strange to see KC lift the trophy and celebrate. Obviously, part of me was happy for Yike and Targamas, but at the same time, I definitely would have preferred and wanted to be the one doing so. So it was definitely hard to lose it.

Going into the offseason, we just talked a lot, and I thought a lot as well about what went wrong and stuff like that. Throughout the split, we’ve improved a lot, but KC kind of abused a few weaknesses we had that we still hadn’t managed to iron out. But it’s something that we are very conscious of now, and it’s something that we are working on. And I think we're getting better at it.

We actually had some very good scrims. We're learning a lot in these scrims, and we’re seeing quite a bit of progress. Is it perfect? No. I wouldn't even say it’s great yet, right? I think we're decent at it. But the important thing is that we're very aware of where we can improve. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s something we’ll keep trying to replicate. As long as we have these situations pop up in scrims, and as long as we keep talking about it, and we all keep doing our own part as well, it’s something we’re going to be very good at by the end of the split.

Obviously we still need to be ready for all sorts of other challenges that might get thrown our way—or look for other areas we can improve on—because the beautiful thing with League of Legends is that there’s an infinite amount of things you can do better, right? So we will improve a lot and try to take down KC this time.

First Stand was your first international event missed since 2021. Did you watch it, and if so, was it difficult since you weren’t playing? Was it frustrating, and did you learn anything from watching the other teams?

Caps: Yes to all of those. It was, for sure, frustrating at times to watch, especially the first best-of-threes that didn’t go well for Karmine Corp. But once they managed to turn it around, it became a lot more fun to watch. Watching how Hanwha Life Esports beat KC gave me a lot of inspiration. Just how they played in general was a good motivational boost. There are a lot of things we can take from that and implement in our play, so definitely a lot of things to look out for.

Missing an international tournament sucks, definitely. I think this is the third one I’ve missed in my career, and it always feels bad to watch the teams playing and having fun in these super high-stakes games, right? You definitely want to be there as a player. It just gives me a lot of inspiration and motivation to make sure we make it to MSI now. And hopefully, we’ll go all the way there as well.

With the upcoming LEC Roadtrips, G2 is the only team going to both Paris and Madrid. Do you think these roadtrips are the future of the LEC? And which one are you most excited for?

Caps: It’ll definitely be fun. These kinds of roadshows are always very fun and nice. I love playing in these huge stadiums. We had the Red Bull League of Its Own at the start of the year—it was very nice as well. Hopefully, if we make it far at Worlds, it’ll be the same, and I think LEC fans will enjoy it too. These events are always super hype.

Obviously, the stakes will be maybe a little lower than usual because, usually, if you lose, you’re out. We’ll see what our score will be by then, but having higher stakes definitely impact the hype factor. It could be very cool if, in the future, those roadtrips could be organized around playoffs. Still, it’ll be a great experience, and I’m looking forward to it. We didn't get to go to First Stand, so having some offline events to meet the fans again is going to be very nice, definitely. I feel the same way about both events though, I'm just looking forward to what they'll bring."