Saying bye to the Benelux.

 

More than one year ago in August, I was a really inexperienced coach that had a lot of motivation to do better. I felt like 2022 was just the beginning for me: I had invested most of the time as a trainee for a 3rd division Italian team, but then realized I could do much better bringing my own ideas to reality.

 

I asked Dante (Pyres) to create a project that I couldn't have imagined being this good. We were really motivated to achieve greatness together: every day we went to sleep at 3 am after having scouted for hours, filling spreadsheet rows with player names and texting people on Twitter. We were hosting inhouses and trying out new players every day, looking to see who the best were for our project.

 

At the start, we thought about building two third division Italian rosters, as that was what we both had experience with. The idea was to have two very similarly skilled teams to scrim against each other without leaking information about picks and stuff. Around September, we met Martijn and Emiel, who really symbolized the players we were looking for. We wanted to destroy the delusional mindset most people had in the esport scene back then.

 

None thought about coming up with solutions; they just stared at the problem, unable to give solutions. These two people were much more different. They didn't play a champion because it was meta, trying to copy without understanding, and didn't need to flame people to boost their ego. They didn't think of themselves as always being right, but rather always doubted themselves and how they could do better. Instead, they focused on bringing creative solutions to problems.

 

I remember I used to permapick Tristana, Jinx, and Jhin to MJ in inhouses, and he just stomped people, though the champs were not meta because he truly understood what they were about. After inhouses finished, they decided to trust us with our project, and so we started really looking to go for a second division Benelux roster instead.

 

At this time, we started looking for even better players as stakes were much higher. We started doing inhouses as well as normal scrims, and this is when we really experimented with Fiddlesticks support and all of that (Yeah, Emiel had that pick prepared for one whole year but we didn't bring it out until Rakan was meta, as we knew how powerful it was). I remember we met two other Benelux players that I really respect now still, Baran and Squarepantsu, that decided to stay in contact with their previous staff, that were really talented. I'm sure all four could become leaders in the elite series in the next years.

 

November was starting, we were still doing late hours to have proper scouting. I was watching VODs of scrims, interviewing players. Pyres' Twitter looked like a maze, and we were really trying our best to select the proper players. A lot of people were dropping interest in the project, so we were really finding it hard to lock players.

I remember very late in November, we started tryouting GM players exclusively, with some challengers as well. This was when we found Wind, Tr1nket, and LorLor. I remember one inhouse where Trinket and Lior were on one side with an unplayable draft and Wind and JBDutch on the other. The draft was unplayable for Trinket/Lior's team, but they were still tryharding and performing very well. Wind was on Olaf, gigafed and destroying everyone and everything, but them with Lee Sin and Orianna (both pre-buffs, so very mosquito-like) still putting up a good challenge. At the end, Wind and JB won, but we saw the potential in the right people, and so the team was completed.

 

The first time we met, we just played a bit of scrims and found out very early how to play around meta stuff with our unique approach to the game. I later worked on some draft ideas on my own, and then had a talk with Trinket where we were talking about how broken Maokai was with a 57% win rate and how he had plenty of experience on it. I refined draft ideas in the next few days, and well before the open qualifier we had to play in order to enter the competition, we scrimmed against RIFT.

We ended scrims 2-0, and they canceled the third game, as their coach got tilted. This made me honestly quite proud as it gave me a lot of reassurance, and so did to Dante, as even their manager told him we would have done great coming into the league. Qualifier days were there. We felt ready and completely swiped everyone. And so, just like that, the split started.

 

I remember everyone was putting us as the best team coming into the tournament. The meta-read felt great and everyone was performing at their best. After the first few weeks though, we started having some trouble. We really couldn't figure a proper way to face some of the teams and started losing confidence. It felt like we had to start all over again. We had to find a new way to play the game.

 

I think this was one of the times that made me grow the most as a coach as I had to face team development issues for the first time, and not just gameplay issues. We really put effort into finding our identity back in the following weeks. Earthquakes in Turkey delayed the whole tournament for some time, and in this period, we scrimmed with a heavier schedule and with stronger opponents, and this really proved to be the best strategy. Going back into the tournament, we had the most solid meta-read ever, with Kennen and Jinx being ready for 13.5 on top of our priority list, highlighting our best assets as a team, that being teamfighting.

We knew MJ and Wind would carry these engage teamfights, we knew how much we could push. We got back into the competition knowing we had no room for error if we wanted to get to playoffs and so we delivered. When we won playoffs, I was so happy I cried. I think this is the truth for many players and personalities that get to participate in competitions. It's hard to understand the beauty and the joy of putting months into a project and see all the effort pay off in the end. One thing I was not ready to do was to let go. Me and Dante really worked on a plan to get to 1st division because of the open spot, but knowing we had no funds and little to no networking in the Benelux, it was really difficult to even start looking for an organization or some sponsors.

At some point we met Myth, and they really put trust into us, which I'm really grateful for and I thank Tutus and iKipsate for. We went to 1st division with the same roster as div2, and this honestly was not the best idea. I should have been more open to close some doors and open new ones and build a roster for the new upcoming challenge, especially because we knew from the start that we would have to sub some players. Nucleus had some severe health issues back then, and we looked for a new assistant coach.This is when I met Swonzer, who I shared a lot of opinions on the game with, and we really started cooking as a duo coaching partners. We both shared an unconditional love for Ivern strategies, which we later showed in the split with Ivern + Darius, as well as many other things.

 

The first few weeks didn't go well. Practice wasn't going great, and officials also didn't. At some point, I knew we had to change things. We got Aliplane and Darkxo to play in the roster in the last part of the split, and we felt like we had an overall better metaread. At the end of the split, placing 6th, we felt we underdelivered. I went LFT as a coach, as I didn't share some of the values of the organization anymore, and parted ways with Pyres.

This is when the most depressing time of mine started. Every day I felt like I was getting nowhere. I didn't get any offers I felt amazed with, and my schedule was just becoming that of a lost guy. I started getting many offers from university teams in the Benelux. I want to thank all the guys that I coached in this period, although it was very brief, such as Moosey, MrHb, and some others. All of these people were enthusiastic about working with me, and it felt really good to be recognized positively, especially since I wasn't feeling in the best mood myself.

I was still in contact with Pyres and knew he was putting together a cool project for Pro-Am. I asked him if I could spectate and help out with some review/vod work, basically like a freelancer strategic coach for the team that helped out a bit, as I wanted to stay up to date with the meta and I was sure being able to work with EMEA masters level players. It was really nice seeing the roster play some of the top slots in other ERLs, and I am also glad I was able to connect with some of them, especially Pump, who I bonded the most with, and Anonymouss, who helped me out with some things. And of course, I'm still talking to this day with Wind as well, that was also part of the roster and literally my brother.

 

I won't take credit for any of the work the Pro-Am roster did, as I feel like I did nothing, and I am really glad Pyres and other people I had worked with in the past could achieve the result, even if just a minor 1st division Pro-Am tournament, which some people could find to be an underwhelming achievement.

 

And now I guess it's time to talk about my present and my future. After working briefly in the Pro-Am, I understood how to let go of some of my past, and I'm now with a fresh mentality, ready to compete. I found a new organization that I share views with, being Deltaland in Italy. I want to keep on improving as a coach and make this my job full time in the next few years. I have already been meeting some amazing people, which are really different and stand out from toxic mindsets that a lot of other people have.

 

I want to thank everyone that worked with me in the Benelux. There I found a way to express myself when I most needed and wanted. But the person I want to thank the most is Pyres. Dante, I thank you because of how much time and effort you put into the work we've done together. I'm sure you'll be able to achieve greatness in your future, and you'll definitely be able to achieve EMEA masters in the near future.

 

Goodbye Benelux.