Being tied down to G2
HooXi was G2’s IGL and had a good run on the team, especially in 2023 when he led the team to total victory at IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne, keeping up the momentum from the end of 2022 when he also won the BLAST Premiere World Final. However, things got rough in the first half of 2024 when G2 did not bring home a single trophy.
In fact, the first trophy they bought home was under Jake “Stewie2K” Yip’s leadership as he subbed in for the Danish IGL at IEM Dallas.
It is likely after the victory at IEM Dallas that G2 decided to bench HooXi in July, bringing on fresh talent in the form of Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski.
HooXi was interviewed at the time following the benching announcement, and he definitely did not feel good about it. When asked about his immediate reaction to learning that he was getting benched for Snax, HooXi said: “The immediate feeling was definitely disappointment. In London, I got told that they were exploring other options but that nothing was set in stone, so I had been sitting with a slight hope of staying, especially since the decision dragged out for so long.”
Part of the disappointment must’ve also come from the fact that his team won IEM Dallas without him as the IGL, regarding which he said: “I was thinking of one thing, and that was to help the guys as much as possible to get the best result. Coming up to the tournament and during most of it, I was working as hard as usual. Some would say it was like digging my own grave, but when I am on a team, and especially for this long, they become family to me and I don’t put myself before that.”
