“Make it one last dance” - G2 leaf after making Playoffs at Champions Shanghai

G2 Esports has secured another international Playoffs appearance after beating Team Liquid 2-0 at VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Champions Shanghai. This will be the eighth time in a row that G2 has made it to the Playoffs at an international event. However, they have still not been able to lift an international trophy. Champs Shanghai is their last chance this year to prove themselves on the global stage.

After their game against Liquid, G2’s Nathan "leaf" Orf spoke with THESPIKE about qualifying for the Playoffs and their chances of making a deeper run this time around.

“I feel like we played 70% of what we played against Paper Rex and we still made it, so that's a good feeling. I feel like individually I didn't do much, but my team got me.”

A 2-0 sweep

G2 qualified for the Playoffs in style. Liquid didn’t put up much of a fight as G2 swept them 2-0 in a quick fashion. According to leaf, G2 didn’t have to try as hard as they did in their previous match against PRX to stay in control against Liquid.

THESPIKE: I think a lot of people expected more from Team Liquid in this matchup. Did you expect more?

leaf: “You know I honestly kind of expected what we got in a sense. I mean they won both pistols on Split. We knew that map would be hard. I mean, it's their bread and butter, you know. They picked it for a reason. But abyss, I feel like we were in control the whole time, you know? Our force buys didn't work, but that's okay. We still play through. And, you know, both maps, I feel like we were in control a lot of the time. So that's kind of what I was expecting.”

THESPIKE: What do you think is missing to get that one hundred percent on stage?

leaf: “Some calmness. Some tech issues, obviously, make people a little bit tilted. That makes everybody tilted, you know, it's not just us. So we can't use that as an excuse. Literally everyone is having tech issues. But you know, today was good. I think it's just calmness and making sure that we close it out. I feel like we struggle sometimes to close out games, but if we learn how to do that, then we'll be golden.

VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Champions Shanghai

G2 Esports

2

X

0

Team Liquid

Group C - Decider Match, Best of 3 - October 3, 2026 - 9:00AM

13

Split

10

13

Abyss

7

G2 Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

trent

1.37

253

41/26/12

+15

1.58

86.0%

160.0

29%

33%

2

4

valyn

1.22

233

36/29/14

+7

1.24

75.1%

140.2

36%

43%

3

4

jawgemo

1.11

221

34/32/11

+2

1.06

72.9%

147.5

19%

42%

5

7

babybay

0.98

211

32/31/8

+1

1.03

65.4%

137.0

26%

43%

6

8

leaf

0.70

152

23/31/8

-8

0.74

69.8%

114.6

21%

25%

1

3

Team Liquid

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Kicks

1.20

213

35/32/18

+3

1.09

72.3%

138.0

25%

80%

4

1

kamo

1.13

219

34/32/13

+2

1.06

71.3%

147.9

25%

77%

10

3

trexx

1.07

232

32/32/12

0

1.00

71.3%

153.8

25%

100%

3

0

nAts

0.77

160

22/35/14

-13

0.63

71.6%

111.7

22%

50%

3

3

GSR

0.76

168

26/35/9

-9

0.74

69.8%

111.1

30%

38%

6

10

Another international Playoffs run

Time and time again, G2 have lifted regional trophies and represented the Americas as the first seed at global events. However, they have failed each time to secure a win on the international stage. Their last run at VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Masters London 2026 ended abruptly with two back-to-back losses in the Playoffs.

If G2 doesn't step up in Shanghai, many fans will once again be disappointed. One factor that leaf thinks might affect their run is that they barely qualified for Champs in the first place and have a lot more experience fighting for qualification this time.

THESPIKE: Playoffs time again. Last time in London it didn't go so well. What are you trying to fix this time around?

leaf: “I mean, London, we obviously qualified into it directly by winning Americas. So this time around we qualified to it by playing a game in the tournament. And I feel like that's always good. Starting cold in a tournament is very hard. When the team that you're playing, obviously has had games to play, like warming up. And so, I mean, I think that'll help us majorly, but we're just gonna have to see who we play against in order to really know how we prepare.”

THESPIKE: Like you said, it was a tougher road for you guys to get here, and you almost didn’t make it. Do you think it helps that you went through that whole period?

leaf: “Yeah. I mean, definitely. We were, I think, all a little bummed after London and even the EWC - Esports World Cup 2026 and stuff like that. But we just kept it together. You know, we made sure that we played our best during VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Americas Stage 2. We had some regular season losses. But you know in the plans we just made sure we have an identity. We play to win. And then we went out all the way. So, um, definitely a very good feeling.”

Rumors on G2's roster

Before Champs kicked off, rumors started spreading online about G2 players leaving for other teams after the tournament. This sparked a lot of discussion on social media, and the players have had to put up with a lot of questions and attention while, at the same time, trying to focus on preparing to play in a major tournament.

THESPIKE: I just wanted to ask a little bit about how you as a player and a team handle all the rumors because there's been a lot online.

leaf: “I mean, we just live in the moment, we're here at Champs, we're here at Shanghai. There's a lot of, you know, fake stuff. There's a lot of true stuff, obviously, but there's nothing you can really do about it. That's just kind of how the off-season goes. And so we just make sure we're here in Shanghai, we're focusing on Shanghai. Whatever happens, happens. And we just play together and we have fun.”

THESPIKE: There's some people saying that you guys are playing like you have nothing to lose. Do you feel like that's true?

leaf: “I think so. And I think a lot of teams also share that sentiment. There's a big shift that's going to happen in every single region, every single team, I'm sure. And so you don't really know what's going to happen. Like it's, it's really weird. So a lot of people are just playing with all that they have to give, you know, make it one last dance with whoever is on the team and make sure they go out with a bang.”

Americas getting stronger

Out of the four groups at Shanghai, all of the Americas teams have qualified for the Playoffs as the last Americas team, LOUD beat Global Esports 2-0 to insure the region's success. The results point to the Americas region getting stronger than any other region globally, and leaf agrees.

THESPIKE: In general, do you feel like America's is at its strongest right now?

leaf: “Definitely. I feel like there's obviously teams like Team Vitality and PRX from other regions that are very strong. But America's as a whole, like I'm expecting to make it through the playoffs. And I'm expecting every single America's team to have a pretty good playoff run.”

THESPIKE: Who do you hope to meet in the playoffs?

leaf: “I have no clue honestly. I mean, we obviously have a fifty-fifty chance of getting an America's team. So, honestly, it'd be fun to play NRG with this crowd. I feel like they like both of us, and it'd just be a fun game.”

For more VCT interviews, stay tuned to THESPIKE.GG.

Featured image source: Lee Aiksoon/Riot Games.