G2 Rocket League Team Profile

G2 Esports have substantial history across a number of esport titles, including but not limited to League of Legends, Rocket League, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive amongst their plethora of teams. The organisation was founded by Spaniard Carlos “Ocelote” Rodríguez Santiago alongside investor Jens Hilgers back in February 2014, though now holds its headquarters in Germany.

G2 Esports in Rocket League

Despite being a European based organization, G2 have always had a North American roster in Rocket League, and they first entered the scene in 2016 by acquiring the RLCS Season 1 World Champions from iBUYPOWER Cosmic.

Over the course of 5 years the G2 esports Rocket League roster would be a fan favourite team, with countless highlights and low points seeing players. 0ver Zer0, Lachinio, Kronovi and Rizzo wrote their chapters under the watch of head coach Jacob “Jahzo” Suda who was synonymous with the team.

Their highest highs over that era included winning the ELEAGUE Cup in 2017 with the roster of Kronovi, Rizzo and JKnaps, and when the roster of Rizzo, JKnaps and Chicago reached the Grand Finals of the Season 7 World Championship at Newark’s Prudential Center in 2019, losing out to Europe’s Team Vitality. For a long time, in Rocket League G2 were one of the few well-known teams and something of a flagship franchise for the growing scene.

G2 Rocket League Roster

G2’s current Rocket League roster consists of JKnaps, Chicago and Atomic, with former professional player Satthew as coach. The Canadian Jacob “JKnaps” Knapman joined in early 2017, always a reliable talismanic shooter and humble in interviews. Reed “Chicago” Wilen joined in early 2019, having to fill large shoes replacing Kronovi at the time, but did so strongly and became part of a new era of players at the top level being ushered in. The newest member of the roster, Massimo “Atomic” Franceschi, joined as part of a trade deal with G2 youngster Dreaz in January 2022. He’s been dubbed “The Machine” has been one of North America’s best performers over the past year.

G2 Esports Playstyle

In the past, G2 was always known for their teamplays and passing, a factor that always helped them grow their huge fanbase. Whilst Rizzo also brought a lot of physical play through demolitions, the team and current trio under coach Matthew “Satthew” Ackermann seem to be able to do it all, from patient game management to explosive counter attacks. Victorious of course at the Winter Major in Los Angeles, they were one of the few teams averaging more than 9 shots a game, and the teamplay was still there with a respectable 85% of their goals being assisted.

G2 Esports in RLCS 2021-22

The RLCS 2021-22 season beginning last fall importantly marked the long awaited plans to return to international and LAN competition following the pandemic. G2 would start the season with 15 year old and former substitute Dreaz recently coming into the fray to replace the much loved personality of Rizzo. Despite some question marks, the team would perform respectably under the new coaching of Satthew, qualifying for the Fall Major in Stockholm as the 2nd seed for North America. Unfortunately the event would not have a crowd, with the critical outcome for G2 being an exit in the Swiss stage, missing out on the Top 8 in particular due to losses to South America’s FURIA Esports, and Europe’s Endpoint CeX. Also having exited in the Swiss stage and therefore looking to potentially make a change were Team Envy, and thus the scene was set for the trade that would make international waves for months to come.

To say G2 got the better end of the stick would be an understatement, as Atomic would hit the ground running, performing impressively as G2 would win a regional this time around, again qualifying for the Major, with this time the Winter event in Los Angeles. They went unbeaten all the way to the Grand Finals, beating out the Europeans of Team BDS and Evil Geniuses in the group stage, and getting revenge on Furia in the Upper Bracket of Playoffs. Team Queso (now Moist Esports) had ran the entire lower bracket, winning 5 series in a row that then became 6 with the win on Champions Field in the first series of the Grand Finals. But G2 held strong, claiming their first international title since 2017’s ELEAGUE, and who’s to say that there won’t be more, with G2 Esports having taken the first North American regional of the Spring Split too.