G2 coach sAw says his team are “stagnating, or maybe even took a couple of steps backward” after two defeats at PGL Masters Bucharest 2026. They face DENDELE in an elimination match at , and while G2’s place at the Major is safe whatever happens, DENDELE’s is not.
G2 are on no wins and two losses in Bucharest after 0-2 defeats to NAVI and Aurora, both decided by fine margins. Speaking to HLTV after Sunday’s loss, sAw did not take much comfort from how close the maps were. “There’s no prize in getting it close and then losing,” the Finnish coach said.
Asked whether the team’s level worried him, he was blunt.
No, there’s always worry because we want to take steps forward and right now it’s like we’re stagnating or maybe even took a couple of steps backward in that way.
He tied the frustration to the calendar. G2 went out in the group stage of ESL Pro League Season 24 at the start of October, which gave them more time to practise at home before Bucharest. “You wanted to see more improvement,” sAw said. “You want to see it faster, otherwise you generally have a feeling things are not working as you plan them to work.”
The last seconds of the round
sAw’s diagnosis is the same one G2 left Pro League with: rounds they should close out and do not. He pointed to two from the Aurora series, a 2v5 that woxic won on Inferno and a 3v5 in which kyxsan took a multi-kill at Sandbags while G2’s players were, in his words, “basically not on the same page” about who should react.
The fix, he said, has to come from individuals and from the team at the same time.
We need to be making better decisions individually, and then of course as a team also in connecting these last final seconds or moments of the round, closing it out, being patient and having the trust that we will close it out instead of doing an individual decision.
He called it “a bit of both”, a mental problem and a gameplay one, partly about players who want to finish rounds on their own and partly about not reading the situation and communicating it in time.
r1nkle is still a work in progress
The player under most scrutiny is r1nkle, who joined at the end of June after two years at Ninjas in Pyjamas and two months on their bench. He has had a quiet start in Bucharest, with 52.9 ADR against Aurora. sAw said the signing was always a risk, and one that would take longer than a month to pay off, but he defended the AWPer’s approach. “I like the mindset he has. I like the openness he has,” sAw said, calling the role still “a work in progress”.
The results since r1nkle arrived show a team that got close to a title and then dropped away. G2 reached the final of FISSURE Playground 3 in September, beating FURIA and BetBoom on the way before losing 0-3 to Legacy. Since that final, they have won one of six series, against ShindeN in Pro League.
| Event | Series won-lost | Out against |
|---|---|---|
| BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 2 | 1-1 |  Liquid |
| Esports World Cup 2026 | 3-1 |  FURIA |
| BLAST Open Porto 2026 | 3-2 |  Falcons (quarter-final) |
| FISSURE Playground 3 | 5-2 |  Legacy (final) |
| ESL Pro League Season 24 | 1-3 |  PARIVISION |
| PGL Masters Bucharest 2026 | 0-2 | Still alive |
DENDELE have more on the line
G2 and DENDELE have never met in an official match. The Brazilian side are also on no wins in Bucharest, after a 0-2 to FURIA and a double-overtime loss to Legacy on Sunday in which they had three map points on Mirage.
For G2, Monday is about pride and ranking points. They are tenth in Valve’s Regional Standings, and HLTV’s forecast has them staying there whatever the result, with 13 points to gain and 25 to lose. Their invitation to PGL Major Singapore 2026 is already secure.
DENDELE’s is not. HLTV’s invite simulator had them at 84.8% on Monday morning, eighth of the nine Americas places. A win over G2 would take that to 98.4%, according to HLTV, while a loss leaves them at 81.2% and with work still to do at Gamers Club Masters VII from Thursday.
The bookmakers have G2 as clear favourites. sAw’s own view of the match was simpler. There is “no time to cry about it”, he said, and the only way back is to grind towards the playoffs game by game.
