Gaming
Rasmus 'Caps' Winther talks us through one of his career-defining moments during the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational semis.
As professionals in any sport will tell you that it's the reflection of specific moments that allow for growth and development as a professional. The competitive arena of esports is no different, with every loss and victory presenting the opportunity to learn or celebrate. Sometimes, a moment stays with a player forever, symbolising their playstyle and giving fans something to talk about for years to come.
These are the moments we want to emphasise and explore during our In The Moment series, drawing attention to the shocking, ground-breaking, or even career-defining plays of an array of esports stars. We discuss with them the emotions running through their head at the time of the play, documenting their reaction to everything that occurred within that memorable moment.
Rasmus 'Caps' Winther joined us for this episode, where we delve into one of his most iconic moments playing League of Legends for G2 Esports. The 22-year-old midlaner has had some incredible victories over his career, winning back-to-back MVP awards across two separate teams, but here we look at his game-making play against SK Telecom T1 (now known simply as T1) at the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational.
High stakes
G2 Esports were down one game against reigning champions T1 at the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational and the tides didn't seem willing to turn. The legendary South Korean team had fared well so far in the tournament, but G2 had already upset them twice in the group stages, so the hype surrounding this match was reaching fever pitch.
Every move from G2 was quickly countered in the first match and the team were struggling to ground themselves against the elated T1, who took the first victory in the best-of-five clash. "We knew we had to change things up a little bi and try to get some momentum back," Caps recalls.
Knowing he had to turn the tables somehow, Caps chose to play as Akali, who he says "couldn't really get caught." Given her penchant for teleporting and jumping out of harm's way, Caps believed she would give him the edge in a head-to-head fight, allowing him to manoeuvre skillfully out of the epicentre.
G2 had managed to secure First Blood in this second match, but some server issues and a brief pause meant the team looked in danger of losing their thread once again. Despite this, G2 stood their ground and Caps was initially sacrificed for several kills and a turret, which gave G2 their lead back.
All guns blazing
By the time this play started, G2 had managed to clamber into the enemy base and hold fast, while T1's jungler waited to respawn. The game had already stretched on for 30 minutes and Caps says he knew this was the time to close. It was now or never.
T1 had other ideas, though, and Kim 'Khan' Dong-ha was lurking underneath the base. He suddenly rushed G2, who were crammed in the top corner of the map with Cho 'Mata' Se-hyeong, Park 'Teddy' Jin-seong and Lee 'Faker' Sang-hyeok, who came in from the top. All of the action was now condensed and both teams threw caution to the wind for this fight to the death.
Incredibly, despite Khan's ambush, G2's Marcin 'Jankos' Jankowski and Mihael 'Mikyx' Mehle managed to hold their own, allowing Caps to circle back and take out both Faker and Khan in a pair of flawless assists. He then turned his attention to Mata, who was slain in seconds, finished up by Teddy for a complete quadrakill.
It would, at this point, have been tempting to grab the Nexus and be done with it – a neat victory to equalise the stakes. However, G2 had bigger plan and wanted to, as Caps puts it, "demoralise SKT for the rest of the series."
The perfect pentakill
Caps and G2 knew that there was "no way SKT would come back from a pentakill" and decided it was time to strike. Cornering Kim 'Clid' Tae-min in the enemy base, Caps and Jankos bombarded him on the steps of the fountain, equalising the game in the flashiest way possible.
Caps describes this moment as leading to G2's victory over T1 in this best-of-five semi-final, which led to them taking on Team Liquid in the finals and coming out on top: "It was a huge, huge win. It meant a lot to us in terms of believing in ourselves and that we can win against anyone – not just for us, but for all of Europe."
Watch every second of this incredible In The Moment episode over on YouTube right here.
