G2 NORD Markoon's advice for climbing as a jungler: "Just don't listen to your laners. If you don't understand the game yourself, you will never be a good jungler because your laners do not understand the jungle well enough."

Home > Articles > G2 NORD Markoon's advice for climbing as a jungler: "Just don't listen to your laners. If you don't understand the game yourself, you will never be a good jungler because your laners do not understand the jungle well enough."

G2 NORD jungler Markoon recently helped his team secure the Prime League Spring 2026 championship, taking revenge on BIG before defeating Eintracht Spandau 3-2 to claim the title. Despite a quarterfinals exit at EMEA Masters at the hands of Solary, Markoon and G2 NORD are preparing to come back even stronger this summer. We sat down with Markoon to discuss his past split, his overall journey from Minecraft to pro play, and the difference between top ERL and LEC teams.

After being eliminated by BIG in the winter editions of both the Prime League and EMEA Masters, G2 NORD claimed revenge against BIG in the semifinals of the Prime League Spring Playoffs before winning the championship 3-2 over Eintracht Spandau. What were the biggest factors in your success this split as a team and as an individual player?

Markoon: I think after winter, we realized we just had to get a lot faster at making the right decisions related to lane assignments and objective planning. That's something we focused on a lot. One thing that BIG does well, and Spandau to a certain extent, is they play very fast. We struggled with that at some stages, but I think now we are way better equipped to handle that.

Personally, I just tried to be more consistent. I felt like the previous finals versus BIG was a pretty bad series for me. I wanted to make sure that in this finals and semis, if I made mistakes, I was fine with it as long as they were just caused by me making a mistake, not by other factors like poor sleep or outside influences. I think overall I played pretty consistently, so I was happy with that.

At EMEA Masters, G2 NORD reached the quarterfinals before bowing out to Solary, a team which has consistently battled with Galions for the top ERL team this year. What steps do you think you and G2 NORD need to take to dethrone the LFL?

Markoon: Honestly, I don't think there's one single thing. It's the same realization we made after winter. We just have to get smart quicker. These teams are individually at a higher level and they make decisions slightly quicker, and we basically just got outclassed. For summer, we need to figure out how to get through the early game with more consistency. Some of the games we lost based on the early game alone, and if that happens, we're not going to be able to win. Once we fix our early game, we can work on getting that quicker decision-making in to beat these very fast teams.

Outside of G2 NORD, you recently represented the Netherlands in the Esports Nations Cup qualifiers. Team Netherlands ultimately came within one series of qualifying before falling to Team Belgium. How was your experience competing on a team outside of the ERL and LEC environment?

Markoon: Our roster on paper wasn't the best, so I didn't come in with the expectation that we were going to beat everyone. I just wanted to see what we could do and try to make it far as underdogs. The experience was pretty fun. We proved that we were better than the teams that didn't have five strong regional league players, but the games against Germany and Belgium were just a bit too much for us.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how we played. It's very fun to have this kind of experience in the offseason where you don't have much pressure. We didn't have much practice, just a few evenings and two scrim days right before the tournament, so it was mostly just trying to get our stuff together and seeing what happens.

Let’s take a step back from recent events and discuss your career from the beginning. What was your introduction to gaming in general? Was League the first competitive game you played?

Markoon: I used to have friends that played Minecraft, and I begged my parents to get a laptop so I could play as well. I never really thought about it, but my first competitive experience was playing Minecraft Hunger Games and Bedwars. That was pretty fun. From Minecraft, I hopped straight into League and never left after that.

How was your initial climb to high elo in solo queue? When did you realize that pro was an option for you?

Markoon: I started off playing on my laptop at 10 FPS, so I struggled a bit for the first few months. After I got a new laptop, I managed to climb to Gold in my first season of ranked. My progression wasn't insanely fast. Every year I just went from Gold to Plat to Diamond, then high Diamond, and eventually Master.

I never really thought too much about going pro. When I hit Master, I started getting DMs asking if I wanted to play in low-stakes tournaments like Go4LoL. I tried that, it was fun, and from there I played in the German circuits, which were basically slightly bigger tournaments. I just slowly worked my way up. During my last year of school, I decided it was fun and that I would try pursuing it after finishing school. It was more of a gradual buildup rather than one specific moment where I decided to go pro.

What were the biggest challenges transitioning from solo queue to competitive play?

Markoon: I got my first taste of real teamwork and how to behave in a team. I was just some 17-year-old kid fresh out of school; it's not like you have any social skills yet. I moved to Spain, so I kind of just got thrown into the deep end. It was a very fun experience and my teammates were great, but you have to learn how to deal with pressure, figure out what routines work for you, and learn how to be a better teammate. Playing in League tournaments was essentially my first real work experience.

You first reached the LEC very early into your career. You experienced several close 2-3 losses in playoffs to teams like Fnatic and Vitality. If you could go back in time and give your younger self one piece of advice on how to handle the absolute highest-pressure situations, what would it be?

Markoon: I think it would be to be more realistic and honest with yourself. When I was young, it was a lot easier to just ignore certain factors. If I was tilted, I would still queue up for solo queue, and I wouldn't really acknowledge that I was feeling the pressure or that it was affecting my play. If I had bad routines, I wouldn't admit that they were impacting me. If I had just been a little more honest with myself, I probably would have improved faster.

Outside of individual skill, how would you describe the differences between a top ERL team and an LEC team? With the performance of teams like Solary and Galions in the recent EWC qualifier, is there a gap at all?

Markoon: I would say to get into the LEC, you at least need a good individual level. I think the difference between good ERL teams and bottom LEC teams is usually that the top ERL teams gel well together and have more of a teamwork sense. I'm not sure if their individual level is that much higher than bottom LEC teams, but what those bottom LEC teams don't have is that camaraderie or teamwork. I feel like that's usually where the LEC teams got outclassed in games against Solary.

Throughout the years, there hasn't usually been a difference. Maybe this year it's a bit much because I feel like Solary and Galions are clear outliers, and then maybe BDSA back in the day. But I think the bottom LEC teams would have always struggled against top ERL teams. The difference between top ERL teams and mid-to-high tier LEC teams is that the teamwork of the high LEC teams is just too much. They get matched in individual skill, but then the top ERL teams just get outclassed in teamwork, team fighting, and that kind of stuff.

What’s one element of your approach to League (whether mental or in-game) that you think would be most helpful for solo queue players to adopt?

Markoon: One thing that has helped me a lot recently is realizing that everyone usually says they play solo queue to improve, but I think that's a big fat lie. I used to tell myself that too, but I was really just playing for LP and getting my enjoyment out of winning. When you do that, it's very easy to get tilted and forget what you should actually be focusing on. If you're a solo queue player, you need to build good habits around it: accept that your teammates are sometimes going to int, actually play to improve specific things, and genuinely stop caring about the LP in the end.

If you could choose 1 piece of advice to share with lower elo junglers in particular, what would it be?

Markoon: Just don't listen to your laners. If you don't understand the game yourself, you will never be a good jungler because your laners do not understand the jungle well enough. Figure out the game by yourself and do not listen to your laners.

What would you consider to be your signature champions? What about your least favorite jungle metas?

Markoon: I would say my signature champions are probably AD bruisers. Throughout the years there have been different ones I've been good at like Viego, Xin Zhao, Trundle, and Volibear. Right now I've been having some good performances with Lee Sin. As for metas I hate, I am not a fan of the AP jungle metas with Zyra, Brand, and that kind of stuff. I'm hoping that doesn't come back anytime soon.

When you’re not busy with League, what other topics/activities/games interest you? If you weren’t pursuing pro, what career would interest you?

Markoon: I enjoy climbing and bouldering, so when I have a full holiday I'll be doing that a lot. I also consistently go to the gym. For other games, Civilization is pretty fun, and when I take the time to learn a TFT set, it's very fun and highly addictive. As for a career outside of pro play, I still have no clue. That's a question my parents ask me, and it's a problem I will try to delay for as long as possible.

Any shout outs/thank yous?

Markoon: I'll keep it pretty general, but the G2 NORD fans have been very lovely this year. Thank you for the support, and I hope you'll keep cheering for us.

Markoon and G2 NORD are currently competing in the Prime League Summer Split, where they hope to claim back-to-back titles. If you want to improve your own League gameplay, whether in the jungle or any other role, check out League of Legends coaching from pros like Markoon on ProDiff.

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