BIG's coach ScrunK: "I can see the progress that we're making, but unless we convert it into results, it's not worth that much"
After a tough first half of the year, BIG have suffered early eliminations from their first two events of the season at FISSURE Playground 1 and IEM Cologne.
However, with BLAST Bounty Season 2 on the horizon and the team improving with every game they play, their new coach ScrunK is optimistic that the best is yet to come for the German organisation.
Ahead of the event, we caught up with ScrunK to talk about the issues he identified when joining the team, the form of some of BIG's stars, and the importance of making the next Major.
"The main issue was that it felt like they were playing too structured"
You probably didn't have the start to the season you would've liked to have, how are you feeling afterwards?
In both events we didn't reach the results we wanted, but I could see the progress in both tournaments. Especially coming into Cologne, we set clear goals to work on our communication and have less nerves, and even though the results don't show it, that improved by a lot.
I can see the progress that we're making, but unless we convert it into results, it's not worth that much. We're on the right path, at least.
What issues did you see with the team before you took up the coach position?
There were some internal issues that were visible within the documentary that was released, the players had differing opinions in terms of how to approach the game.
I felt like the main issue was that it felt like they were playing too structured. The way I see it is that nowadays, you have to give the individuals space to shine. You have to give a lot of freedom to the players to make certain decisions.
Obviously, in the end, the IGL has to make the call and the team has to follow, that doesn't change, but the way you approach the rounds should have freedom for each players to make decisions and the IGL should put it all together.That was the first thing we worked on, I tried to implement a structure with more freedom and more mid-round calling, instead of just planning it all out of spawn.
There's also been some positional changes, putting players in places where I feel like their potential could be used more. For example, kyuubii got more anchor positions than he had before, and Krimbo is in more rotational role where he's more free to make decisions.
Now it's just about the process to get it all to work, it will take the players a while to get used to the new system that I want to have.
Photo: @BIGCLANgg/@HaakonGropp/@artijonasGoing back to what you said about the structure, a lot of the other national teams are regarded as being quite firepower heavy instead of being incredibly tactical, do you think that's something missing from BIG's game in an era where firepower seems more important than ever?
I feel like we have a lot of firepower in the entire team. Everyone is an insane aimer and they've all shown it, so I feel like we have what's needed but it's just about getting the people in the positions to use it.
Krimbo has struggled a bit more this year than in previous years but has performed better since the player break, do you think that's down to positional changes or was there something else you might have said to him to help him find his game again?
The team has been on a downward trend for a long time, so players get frustrated a lot and especially someone like Krimbo who has been loyal to BIG despite rumours about him leaving. Obviously, when that happns, it's frustrating to see it go down despite staying. I think that's been a fundamental part of it.
For me, I've known him for a long time, we played together years ago. We have a good relationship and I know what he likes to do in game, I know what he's good at and what he isn't. I feel like I can utilise him in that way.
Also, overall, I can see it with all of the players that I've come in with fresh and new energy, and that's helped them all unlock their game better. From watching them I can see that everyone is feeling better when they play.
In kyuubii and hyped you have two younger, more inexperienced players, how do you go about ensuring that they are ready for the intensity of tier one given the results from the first half of the year?
It's always going to be a lot of individual work to make them comfortable in the game. In my mind, the biggest difference between the tiers is the pressure. When you play on LAN you feel like you need to win for the VRS points, so you have to deal with the mental aspect of that.
We have a good coaching team behind the team, we're all trying to help them implement good routines. If you eat and live healthily, obviously, you'll be less affected by pressure as well.
In game, it's really important for me that the game just feels normal and the same every time we play. Whether we meet tomorrow for practice or play in the semi-final of a tournament, it should feel the same. That's how I try to make it, but it's going to take time for them to get accustomed to it and really use it, then it will become easier for them over time.
Photo: @BIGCLANgg/@HaakonGropp/@artijonasYou've mentioned the internal issues a couple of times, if results don't pick up, how do you prevent that from happening again?
I feel like we did a good job in the last couple of weeks to create a positive team atmosphere. We've been going on team walks together, doing exercise together, and having the feeling that we're a group of friends that wants to achieve things together, that nobody feels left out or isolated. We had to come together in everything that we do.There can't be anyone in the team who thinks we lose because of one person, we were really clear that we win as a team and we lose as a team.
I've seen already over the two events at the start of the season that the mood in the group is really good, there were no issues whatsoever. It's been going really well, so I don't think it will be the issue, we just need to fix our game.
BIG have been absent from Majors in the last few years, were there any expectations put to you when you joined about the importance of making the Major, or was there an understanding that it might take some time because of the downturn before you joined?
There's always expectation, it's a business at the end of the day, but it's not like they told me "you fix this and go to the Major."
Also, I have expectations in myself, I'm pretty confident and I feel like I can steer the ship into the right direction. But, we're in a rough spot right now, so making the Major this year will be a tough challenge with the VRS because we've already bombed out of two tournaments.
There's no excuses, we just have to deliver now and we'll do all that we can in order to do that. Everybody knows how important the Major is within the eco-system for BIG as an organisation, so that has to be our goal and if that is our goal, I don't know if we'll reach it or not or what will happen if we don't.
My focus right now is on the current times. We have a run of events coming up, so we're just focusing on it all on an event by event basis.
Looking ahead to the events that are coming up, your next event will be a CCT before you play BLAST Bounty, how important is it to get a solid result out of events like those?
For me, the CCTs are really important. If we attend one, we're one of the favourites, so in my mind, we should win it. If I remember correctly, so far, BIG hasn't won a CCT, and that shouldn't be the case. We should be able to win these tournaments.
BLAST Bounty is also hugely important, there's going to be a LAN stage and with how VRS is, getting on LAN is the most important thing. Getting to that stage would be huge for us, so there's huge importance on that event.
There will always be tournaments, no matter what they are, so all we can do is work hard for each one.
