In an episode of Showstopper on Wednesday, G2 Esports VALORANT player Johan “Meddo” Renbjörk Lundborg talked about his past and future in the scene, going back all the way from his time on FABRIKEN in 2020 to now.
For Meddo, the transition to G2 Esports for the 2022 VALORANT Champions Tour felt inevitable. He trialed with G2 multiple times, including while he was with FABRIKEN and FunPlus Phoenix, and finally joined G2 in late December after a stint with Giants Gaming.
“It felt like it was going to happen at some point,” Meddo said, though the departure from Giants Gaming was bittersweet. “I loved the work, and I loved the players … but that was a big opportunity, so we had to take it.”
He thinks the new Giants roster has a lot of potential and wished his former squad luck in VCT 2022, but the high-profile nature of G2 made the option too good to ignore. Meddo said he understands the expectations will be higher for him entering the next phase of his career.
“There is always pressure when you join a new team. There is more when you join G2, of course, because you are expected to win all of the time,” he said. One of those expectations, for him at least, is to make it to VALORANT Champions and win the title.
In terms of the future, Meddo will most likely be playing Sentinel for G2 Esports. One option for the player, Chamber, made his debut in VCT during the open qualifiers this week with relatively mediocre results for the teams that played him. Meddo also doesn’t think the agent is viable compared to other options like Jett. With few alterations for Killjoy, Sage or Cypher on Patch 4.0, the Sentinel role will likely remain stable heading into the early part of VCT, though the addition of Neon when the qualifying stage is over could shake things up.
“I think they are pretty balanced,” Meddo said of the Sentinel agents, though he would revert the Killjoy range nerf if he could. “They have the impact they have. They are crucial to have in your lineup.”
Other than new agents, there is also the prospect of facing new teams. The one team that Meddo is looking forward to facing internationally is KRÜ Esports, which put together an incredible run to the VALORANT Champions semifinals by beating teams like Sentinels and Fnatic.
G2 Esports will compete in the VCT 2022: Europe Stage 1 Challengers Closed Qualifier 1, skipping the open qualifier and VALORANT Regional Leagues because they had were one of the top EMEA teams at the end of the year. However, they don’t get to skip all the way to the group stage portion because they failed to make it to Champions.
Meddo, and the rest of the roster, will aim to change that this year.
