G2 Esports have reached their tenth consecutive League of Legends EMEA Championship Final. The spot was secured after a 3–0 victory over Movistar KOI, but despite the clean result, G2’s support Labros “Labrov” Papoutsakis was far from fully satisfied, stressing that the team still has room to improve ahead of next week’s Final.

In an interview with Esports.Net, Labrov remained self-critical despite the milestone achievement, stressing the need to reset, review mistakes, and keep improving ahead of the Final. From adjustments in the early game to the growing strength of supports in the current meta, Labrov highlighted the team’s steady progress while making it clear that G2 are still aiming for a higher level.

Q) Congratulations on qualifying for next week’s Final. This is the 10th Final G2 reached in a row, how do you feel about making it?

Labrov: It feels nice to win and go to another final. I’m still not very happy cause I think we didn’t play super well today, but win is a win and we just need to reset, focus a lot on the learnings from this series so we can be prepared for the final next week.

We always start slow even in best-of-five series and it was the same for the start of the split and it gets better with time and we’ve been playing better for sure than in the regular season. So it feels nice that we are like there’s some progress there. I’m still not super satisfied with how we play today. I feel like we’ve made so many mistakes, everyone. But yeah, I mean I’m obviously very happy that we’ll fight for another title in one week from now.

Q) You seem very self-critical about what you do and how you play. Is that self-analysis necessary to reach your level of play?

Labrov: Yeah, I think so. I mean, most players, I think, can be angry at themselves when they make a mistake and right now I have so many thoughts about this series that don’t make me super happy. But obviously I don’t want to focus on the negative things. I think we’ve been playing well and we’ve been slowly improving and we’ve been drafting well. Also, it’s nice that we managed to win the games that are very close and fight well and come back. So yeah, obviously there’s a lot of good things as well. 

Q) What is something that you feel you’ve improved so much that it shows even just from the beginning of the season? It could also be in your champion pool maybe.

Labrov: No, I wouldn’t say champion pool maybe. I mean I would say that I think our early games have gotten a bit better and I think I improved on that as well. The game evolves a bit differently around jungle time and I think I got to understand them better by playing more. Basically the game is very different compared to World last year when we were there. 

Q) When I was looking at the changes for the new season, and looking especially at the Fae Lights, I thought maybe that is a feature that would help more players appreciate what supports usually do every single game. Do you also feel the same?

Labrov: Yeah, I think so. Honestly I think supports are very strong right now in the current meta. I think the Fae lights were OP, [Riot] kind of nerfed them, so I don’t think it’s as strong now. It was something nice, but I think the fact that you get a lot of goals or supports—for example, last game on Lulu, I have like three items, I’m really strong, I’m scaling to the moon and I think that’s a big reason why there’s so many in incentives on playing around bot lane right now. Nami, Lulu for example. So yeah, I think there’s a lot of gold on support. So that’s the reason why the items are kind of cheap and I think I would probably say that supports are kind of strong right now.

Q) I have been seeing a few support builds around more mages in the bot lane, especially damage-heavy champions. Have you explored any of those?

Labrov: Honestly, I haven’t explored much of those, but I think it can definitely be a viable option, especially in SoloQ. I think if you are good with those types of champions and you enjoy playing them, you can for sure have a lot of impact. I even think there is a Vel’Koz support player in the US that got rank one. He plays Vel’Koz in many roles, but also he plays in support and he’s rank one, he’s winning most of these games. So yeah, I think that’s basically what you said, it’s a valuable option especially in SoloQ.

Q) I was thinking more of the Diadem of Song and Echoes of Helia combo.

Labrov: Yeah, I think Yoon “Jun” Se-jun played Serafine and he built those items and I think that Diadem is very strong on Serafine especially, and I think people are building them and I think that’s a big reason why the support champions are being played a lot right now. Compared to last year, for example, you wouldn’t really see certain champions.

Q) So is there any champion that you might want to tease you might bring to the Finals?

Labrov:  Maybe some Yumi [laughs] Let’s see. It’s fearless. You dunno what’s happening.

Q) You played against MKOI today. Is there anyone that you feel is more inclined to reach the final between the teams that are still standing? Or is it going to be another G2-MKOI Final in Spain?

Labrov:  Honestly, I have no idea. To be honest I think MKOI played quite well today, especially in the third game. I think they kind of missed some team fights, but they had a really strong early game and they were kind of ahead and I think game two and game three. Game three mainly, they were playing really well. 

I just think the draft was maybe a bit harder in those games, but I can see them winning KC or GX, but also KC can be stronger as well. Even GX… in scrims sometimes they’re being called ‘Scrmm Gods.’ Maybe they will show it in Barcelona as well. Who knows? I think the future can be very unpredictable. So I’m just looking forward and I just want to focus on me and myself, me and my team being strong and solid.

Q) I’m curious about what you just said, about GX being considered the Scrim Gods. Can you tell me a bit why and also what is the difference between being really good in scrims but not performing quite as well on the stage?

Labrov: I think there were some periods, even throughout this year, but last year as well, that apparently there were rumors that GX is winning every scrim against every single team—even us. We faced them one time and they were actually paying very well and they were giving us a hard time. 

But this is not very consistent of them and I feel like usually on stage they don’t seem to play as aggressive. But sometimes they are. For example, in the last game there was a lot of fighting. So I would say it depends, but I can see maybe GX [reaching the Finals] if they overcome their problems.

Q) As a last question, I’d like to ask you something more personal, if you’re comfortable with it. I remember you were much more introverted and not as comfortable during interviews even one year ago. So, in January 2025, when we had our first interview together. Can you tell me what changed within yourself? So, within you personally, not as a player, since the time you joined G2.

Labrov: First of all, I agree with you. One thing is… when you’re in a new environment and you’re feeling… like you’re also a bit shy as a person and stuff, you need some time to get used to new stuff. But I think also I’ve grown a lot here as a person, and that’s thanks to my teammates, but also to my staff, Romain and Isma. I feel like they really helped me become the best version of myself. And I guess it also shows how I am in interviews as well.