Maniac: Müssen lernen, über Probleme zu reden

„We need to learn how to talk about our issues“

EnVyUs‘ coach Mathieu 'Maniac' Quiquerez talks to readmore.de about the issues of his CS:GO lineup. He addresses the reasons and effects of the recent roster change, in which Fabien 'kioShiMa' Fiey was replaced by Timothée 'DEVIL' Démolon.

Until recently, EnVyUs around their ingame leader Nathan 'NBK-' Schmitt has been a dominating force in the international CS:GO scene. They managed to participate at the finals of ESL One Cologne and afterwards won the DreamHack Cluj-Napoca. However, the throne of the reigning CS:GO major champion is currently shaking.

EnVyUs showed a disappointing result in the group stages of the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice and hit a new low. The team then decided it was time for a change. kioShiMa, who had played with Vincent 'Happy' Cervoni Schopenhauer and NBK since September 2014, had to leave the team.

How is the moral of your team at the moment? Would you say that you can observe the effects of the „honeymoon phase“ after the recent addition of DEVIL?

I’d say DEVIL’s arrival surely gave a boost in terms of energy and motivation. Everyone is pushing in the same direction and is investing more time into the game, which is exactly what we need. But we are aware that other issues also have to be addressed. So I don’t think honeymoon is really a fitting word here, but at least everyone is heading into the same direction.

In which way does the play style of EnVyUs change with this new addition?

I don’t think it changed that much. DEVIL will pretty much fill kio’s shoes in many ways. NBK did not really change his original plans with the roster change.



When hastr0 announced the announcement of roster changes for EnVyUs, a lot of redditors were expecting you to be replaced as a coach. Were you surprised by this wide-spread assumption at that time?

I think the work that a coach puts into a team is something extremely hard to grasp from the outside. Many people have the basic conception that if a team wins then the coach is doing a great job, if not then he is doing something wrong. I joined a team with ongoing problems and fixing them takes time. All that matters is that the team has faith in my methods.

Kioshima said that in the recent past before this roster change EnVyUs could not have been called a „team“ anymore. Could you tell us specifics about the issues of the lineup in regards of cohesion and communication at that time?

I think one of the biggest issues of EnVyUs before I joined – and that is still the case – is the ability to talk openly and address issues directly. When people have problems or don’t feel good in the current situation they would have a hard time just talking about it. So people keep bad feelings to themselves that grow bigger until it becomes a real problem. That’s a pretty ordinary issue in a working team – even in other jobs – and my role is precisely to tackle them and make sure issues are sorted out.

Kioshima also explained that the players lost respect for each other. Does this one roster move negate this issue? Do you think Kioshima is to blame for anything bad that happened to EnVyUs?

I think the team is aware that removing Kioshima was a necessary move but that does not solve the other issues as I already mentioned. The team felt like we needed a fresh start with a roster change. Everyone is aware that if we don’t work harder and don’t communicate in a better way, the problems we’ve had in the past will just come back.

At the Counter Pit League Finals, you will be facing NRG in the quarterfinal. What is your mentality going into this match and what do you think about the developments this roster mix of one German and a few American players has went through so far?

I think right now we’re in a mindset that every match counts and there is no easy enemy. We feel like we have everything to prove again. NRG might not be the best team in the world but they will still be the first match of our tournament and it will be hard. Bringing gob b into the team probably boosted their tactical approach of the game, so we really need to focus and do not take this game lightly.

On my way to CPL Lan Finals! Bergen ✈ Oslo ✈ Frankfurt ✈ Split! See you there? 😆 @ Bergen… https://t.co/Vy30du1SPy — Maniac (@Maniac_CSGO) 16. März 2016

Following the event in Split you will be participating at the MLG Columbus. Currently a few Legends teams, namely NiP, VP and nV, seem to experience a rough time. What has been the reason for their issues and do you see them performing well in Columbus?

My hypothesis is that with the huge economical development of CS:GO some of the biggest teams might have the wrong feeling that they secured themselves a spot in paradise, so to say. Some upcoming teams still have the grinding and fighting spirit and that’s what allows them to put more work into the game. They really want it, probably even more than some of the current top teams and that’s in my opinion the reason we see so many upsets. The big teams need to realize that if they don’t put in more effort into the game, they will leave their spot for people that want it more than them. The major is a different story though. In that kind of big tournaments experience often prevails – most of the time, we’ve seen upsets indeed. I expect the top teams to perform better at MLG Columbus than they would do in less important tournaments.

What are your thoughts on the Brazilian teams Luminosity and Tempo Storm? At IEM Katowice they managed to surprise the international scene by entering the Top 6.

Brazilian teams are exactly the kind of teams that really want it and just put more work into the game than others do. They are innovative and really willing to win. I think we should all take them as examples and put as much effort into the game as they do. Luminosity fully deserves the spotlight they are getting right now. As of Tempo Storm, time will tell if they just had one upset tournament or if they can really integrate in the top 10 on a long term basis.

What is your prediction for who is going to win Columbus?

If it’s not my team, then I have to pick the team that simply won all the LANs they attended: fnatic.

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