Jake “Stewie2K” Yip is back to tier-1 Counter-Strike under G2’s banner for IEM Dallas, and he’s already making waves.
Stewie2K had stepped away from CS2 when he was in his prime. The top North American pro looked at
Valorant
to continue his career, but his journey as a streamer was short-lived. After dipping his toes in Riot’s shooter, Stewie2K made a return to CS2 in March 2023, but IEM Dallas is his formal comeback to tier-1 competition.
Known for his ability to crack open bomb sites with a flick of an AK-47, Stewie2k was anointed as CS’ “smoke criminal.” His comeback was highly anticipated, but the first few games were a bit of a letdown, at least for Stewie2K fans.
On May 17, G2 Esports announced a significant change to its IEM Dallas lineup. Stewie2k, a former North American superstar, would fill the spot vacated by Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen, who was away for his sister’s wedding. This meant the team was captain-less for IEM Dallas.
A quick shuffle saw Nikola “NiKo” Kovač take over the captaincy and Stewie2k step in as the team’s firepower. The whole setup seems to have injected new energy into G2 Esports, who are now raising eyebrows with their action-packed performance, thanks to the newcomer to the squad.
The team started on a high note, beating Falcons 13-10, but were kicked to the lower bracket by Dan “apEX” Madesclaire-led Vitality. While Stewie2K’s performance was underwhelming, his addition to the team seemed to work as G2 beat world’s best team MOUZ in lower semi-finals.
Now, the team is set to face off against Team Liquid in the lower finals. This means Stewie2k will go up against his long-time former teammate Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken at IEM Dallas. The anticipation around the game is at an all-time high as the winner of this game will advance to the playoff quarter-finals, whereas the losing team will be eliminated from IEM Dallas.
Liquid vs G2 will take place on Thursday, May 30.
Fariha Bhatti
About Fariha Bhatti
Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.
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