Pyth interview: From CSGO to Valorant & taking G2 Esports to the top
Riot Games / Dexerto[jwplayer ihjopLid] G2 Esports’ Jacob ‘pyth’ Mourujärvi has been to the very top in CS:GO, but now he’s taken his talents to Valorant, where the European outfit have a 100% win record in Ignition Series events.
Pyth has reached the very top of CS:GO. After devoting the vast majority of his playing career to Valve’s first-person shooter, the Swede bagged himself two notable wins with Ninjas in Pyjamas — the Intel Extreme Masters in Oakland and DreamHack Masters in Malmö.
But after reaching the top of Counter-Strike, pyth jumped ship over to Riot’s tactical shooter. Having placed competitive integrity at the forefront of their priorities, there’s an obvious appeal for the casual gamer and professional alike.
And it was Riot’s involvement in the growth of their esports scene that attracted the 26-year-old (and likely many others) over to Valorant. We spoke with pyth ahead of this weekend’s final European Ignition Series event, the BLAST Twitch Invitational.
ESLPyth: “Valorant will be bigger than CSGO”
Moving from Counter-Strike will have no doubt been hard for pyth. Having devoted much of his life to the game, the decision to jump ship will not be one that he took lightly. But when asked about the rationale behind his move, the Cypher Main simply emphasized on the “spark” which it ignited for him.
- Read more: Valorant Ignition Series event hub
“It was a new spark of motivation and like a new fire that ignited with this game. I felt like something new would be good for me, to get some new motivation.”
But aside from an intrinsic spark, pyth believes that Riot’s shooter will be “bigger than [Counter-Strike] in a couple of years,” and this, according to him, is largely down to the lack of direct support for CS:GO’s esports scene from Valve — an issue discussed at length by Dexerto columnist, Stephanie ‘missharvery’ Harvey in her debut column.
Riot GamesG2’s Valorant dominance
It’s no secret that G2 has had the dream start in Valorant. Five Ignition Series wins out of five events played as a team has rendered many tipping them to be the world’s best once international competition starts.
Pyth thinks that being the first “super team” in the region is the primary reason behind their early success. Together with Oscar ‘mixwell’ Cañellas, the pair bring a plethora of tier-one experience to the roster. Combine that with the breadth of talent which will naturally transition from CS:GO with the rest of the roster, and it’s no wonder why the squad are the ones to beat.
As for their stiffest competition, pyth believes that FunPlus Phoenix will be their closest rivals on this side of the pond. Led by Counter-Strike veteran, Kirill ‘ANGE1’ Karasiow, FPX have shown significant improvement since their first outing in the Allied Esports Odyssey.
G2 EsportsNaturally, the FPX vs G2 rivalry will transition across from Riot’s other premier esport, League of Legends, where the organizations have a storied (albeit one-sided) history. That’s not to discount the threat from the other teams on show during the EU Ignition Series curtain caller. Both Ninjas in Pyjamas and Team Liquid will be looking to cause an upset throughout the course of the weekend.
Pyth also touched on a range of topics during his interview, from how G2’s adaptive approach will lend itself to countering the North American teams, to how they look to implement more structure in the coming months with a new coach.
Catch the full 21-minute interview in the header of this article.