coolio: "Even if I said 'let's just go and die' they'd follow it"
FUT are the breakout stars of 2026. Tier one rookies who were formerly members of NAVI Junior, they’ve made a huge dent in tier one already, winning PGL Bucharest despite their limited experience.
With the team set to play BLAST Rivals Forth Worth without their star man lauNX, we sat down with coach coolio to discuss standing in against Vitality, cmtry’s confidence boost following his MVP, and why his team are so good at handlings pressure.
“I'd be happier as the coach”
Coming into this event, unfortunately, although you won your last event, you won't be playing with lauNX here. Is that a disappointment?
Not a disappointment, but it's something unique and new. We'll try to do our best. We feel bad for lauNX and our team, because there was a good chance to do damage here, but it is what it is.
Are you at least a little excited to play on the server yourself?
It's a weird feeling. I got the news when I was flying, and then I probably didn't really realise it meant I would play at first. But yeah, I'm a little bit excited, I get to face Vitality, who are the best team in the history of CS. It's motivating me to beat them; it would be a good meme.
How much time did you spend DMing after you realised you'd be playing?
Last night I did two hours of deathmatch, then this morning I woke up early, did another two or three hours, some FACEIT, some scrims. After this media day, I'll probably go and do the same.
When it comes to playing Vitality, do you think being on the server against them and experiencing it first-hand will potentially help more than watching it as the coach?
I would say I'd be happier as the coach [laughs].
It would be better that way, and if we had lauNX. We have a really good team right now and good preparation, and I was so happy when they won the Grand Slam because I knew they'd take a week off and come into the event without any preparation.
We would have had a good chance to beat them, because it's not that their motivation would have dipped, but it won't be as serious for them after winning that, whereas we just won an event.
For me to be on the server, though, I can give more ideas and communicate non-stop, but the firepower will drop. We'll see how we handle it.
You do a lot of the tactics for FUT. Will you potentially take over calling whilst you stand in to let Krabeni focus on fragging?
I don't think so, I don't want to change too many things. I don't think it's a good thing to take over the IGLing, I haven't played in a team in a long time.
The communication is so hard as well. When we played praccs, I had to tell them, "Guys, shut up, I can't hear," I had to take in so much information and speak, and it was so new, so if I had to call, it would be a mess. Mid-round, I'll speak and have ideas, but we'll probably stick to what we have, and I hope I can fill lauNX positions.
Why do you think the coach/IGL partnership you have works so well when other teams are struggling to do the same thing?
I think in our team we have a lot of trust in each other. I started my coaching career with them, and many of them started their pro career with me. They've respected me since the start, so whatever I say, they follow it. Even if I said, "Let's just go and die," they'd follow it.
Even though we have some bad calls and bad decisions sometimes, we trust, and we do it, and it gives us extra. We work hard to be on the same page and have the same ideas. We've been together for a long time, so we know what we want to do in every situation.
When it comes to actually calling in-game, though, Brollan has had struggles and chopper and magixx have both been criticised, too. Do you think Krabeni is maybe just a stronger caller at the base level?
The good thing with Krabeni is that he has so much confidence and so little fear. Whatever he calls, he's confident with it, and he's able to move and shoot, and you don't see anyone else like him in CS.
He's similar to apEX in that sense. Both of them have some stupid moves; they take risks like walking through smokes, but they do it with an understanding behind it, and they're so confident in it.
Maybe in those other teams, they lack confidence, or don't trust each other, or have more egos, but in our team, we function together really well. If Krabeni says to do something, we all do it.
A lot of academy players have struggled in big games and arena games after promotion. From what we can see, your team and makazze who used to be on NAVI Junior with you, don't do that. Do you think this is because they have a natural ability to handle these situations, or was that something you worked on whilst you were still in the academy phase?
With makazze it's a bit hard to say because he was in the NAVI main team already, but these Kosovar guys, they just have no fear or pressure. It's the same with Krabeni.
But also, I think this generation is a bit different. Maybe my team is a bit special and maybe a gift in that sense, but they all learn so fast. I know my team had some pressure at their first event, but they were able to understand what was good or bad so fast.
It's so important how you handle these things. Sometimes I have to shout, but we all get along so well, and we always work to fix our mistakes and figure out what is best.
It's also what B1ad3 is doing. He says in interviews that he understands expectation, so we do the same. Before our first event, we said we had nothing to lose and to just have fun. If we won, it was a bonus. At PGL, of course, we had an expectation to go to the semis, so we were already happy when we made it to the final, and we ended up winning.
cmtry is quite an unconventional player; he's very well-rounded but maybe not a "star" AWPer. He won the MVP award in Budapest. Do you think that's something that will boost his confidence and maybe help him become more of a star?
Yeah, it's really good for him. It means a lot to me as well, because he was in the first lineup I ever coached.
This year, he's worked so hard and improved so much, and there have been so many haters, but he's proved them wrong. We've had a lot of talks about his confidence, but there were points when he's had hard times, but after getting to big events, he's realised it's the next step, and he can set up his life. He's a better player and person for it.
This MVP will give him a boost. I can already see in practice that he is better for it, and it's also motivated the rest of the players to get their own MVP.
