Former Titan member Mathieu “Maniac” Quiquerez has joined EnVyUs in a coaching role for their CS:GO team.
The 25-year-old has been out of action since September, when he was replaced by Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom on Titan’s starting roster as the French team looked to overcome a poor run of results.
At the time, Mathieu “Maniac” Quiquerez declared that he would continue to play on a professional level and vowed to “bounce back and come back stronger.” But as weeks went by, the Swiss continued on the market, and he eventually turned to casting, working as an analyst at IEM San Jose and at the FACEIT League Stage 3 Finals.
Maniac takes up a coaching role in EnVyUs
Quiquerez will now continue his career by coaching EnVyUs, the biggest domestic rival of his last team. The DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca champions have not had a coach since leaving LDLC, in which they worked with Emmanuel “MoMaN” Marquez, a former Counter-Strike and StarCraft professional.
Contacted by HLTV.org, Quiquerez revealed that his analyst work convinced him to take up a coaching role but stressed that he will not put down his mouse just yet.
“I think the few experiences I had as analyst made me realise that I really much enjoyed stepping back and thinking of the bigger picture in the game,” he told HLTV.org.
“Thinking that my abilities could help EnVy become the best team in the world is very appealing for me.
“I am not saying I won’t ever play professionally again. But I want to explore this path for now and I want to see EnVy sitting on the throne.”
EnVyUs will be in attendance at the SL i-League StarSeries XIV Finals next week, but Quiquerez will not be standing behind the team there as he is part of the tournament’s on-air crew. In the future, his analyst appearances will be restricted to events in which EnVyUs will not be competing.
Below you can find an interview with EnVyUs managing director Mike “Hastro” Rufail, who sheds some light on the decision behind signing Quiquerez as a coach.
This is the first time that the team will have a coach since leaving LDLC. Why now?
I believe there were a few instances in 2015 where we let some games slip away that we should have won. Better preparation probably could have prevented some of those losses. In addition, the players can now have someone in Maniac to guide them or give them a fresh perspective. This job is very specific and the talent to do it is very, very rare. Now that Maniac is available, it makes complete sense.
What made you go for Maniac? Was a request from the players?
Like I said above, the type of coach we consider capable for our team is very rare. 1) We needed a French speaker. 2) We needed someone with a professional level knowledge of the game. 3) We needed someone who can mentally prepare the players. Maniac provides all of those things. The players were responsible for making the request to bring him on board as a member of the team.
Maniac is a very experienced player, but in his last team, Titan, it was Ex6TenZ calling the shots. What will the extent of his involvement in the team’s practice routine and during LAN appearances be?
I think his duties will evolve, but right now we plan on having him behind the team at every important LAN we attend and with the team in daily practice routines.
EnVyUs will be without Maniac at the StarSeries finals
Next week, the team will be attending the StarSeries finals, where Maniac will be working as an analyst. Will he be coaching the team in Minsk already? How will this work in the future, if Maniac continues to work as a caster?
Mathieu had already committed himself to the StarSeries finals as an analyst so he will be performing his role there as so. Moving forward, his analyst/casting jobs will be limited to the LANs the team decides not to attend.
After winning the Cluj-Napoca major, the team had modest showings at the FACEIT League Stage 3 Finals and at the ESL ESEA Pro League Season 2 Finals. What happened? Do you think that the team needed a break after such a long year?
We were one of the busiest teams in all of eSports last year so I do think the players needed a break very much. However, I also think we just needed some small changes fundamentally and psychologically. That is a big part of why we are making this change.
Source: HLTV.org
