Florence: "Our communication is not very good in terms of mid-rounds"

TSM Shimmer had a rough time at ESL Impact Dallas Season 5 Finals, dropping the event without taking a map. They have, however, cemented themselves as a top two team in North America, snagging a much-needed organization in the meantime. After the elimination, Dust2.us' Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore spoke with Sebastian "Florence" Ogarev, the coach of the squad, about the team's performance and more.

Tough loss against NAVI Javelins, what went wrong?

We prepared the game plan too late. We weren't expecting them to drop down to the lower bracket honestly. Maybe me trying to rush a game plan may have went a bit bad. Honestly, in my opinion, even though it was rushed, when we looked back at the rounds we lost, when I called pauses, I called exactly the things I saw in the demos. I guess people just weren't accustomed to the game plan and still making mistakes even though we kinda knew how they played.

Shimmer has been a strong team domestically but have struggled internationally, yet to win a map in the last three LAN seasons. As the coach, do you view it as a firepower or experience problem?

I don't think it's a firepower problem at all. I think it's an experience problem because online when we're scrimming, even when we're scrimming here in the practice rooms, people are playing great, but as soon as we get on the stage, there are some players that are less experienced than others that drop down in performance and get a little quiet. That drastically changes the way the team plays.

To what extent do you think it's a mental problem?

I do try to help them work on their mentals, some pauses for example were completely used to have people relax and keep their mind in the game and not shut down. I think that mental is a big part of this and any team honestly. If you had a bad mental then it's hard to play. The vibes are good but people are just getting a little quiet on LAN. madss, our newly installed IGL, has to call a lot and sometimes that hinders her because she's talking so much she can't focus on her game, and I'd like for her to be able to focus on her game and other people to call.

You mentioned madss was the recently installed IGL, I was under the impression it was someone else. Is this a recent change for you guys?

Honestly, I can't think of the timeline. I joined, we played a cash cup, and then the cash cup after, right before that, I decided to install madss as IGL as I think she has the most experience on this team. and she really sees eye to eye with me. She really understands everything and is able to bring a lot of experience to the leadership side of the team. She's a born and bred leader.

When we had a chance to talk with empathy, she talked about the process of bringing you on board. Before you came into the board, shimmer tried a number of coaches. She was overall glowing about your presence on the team. What was the road like for you to become the coach here?

I'm in college and in all honesty when CS2 came out and I had my season with friends after Detonate, I just didn't really enjoy the game that much so I decided to focus on graduating. I kept getting asked to coach and some teams offered me to play but I didn't feel like playing. I thought I would bring a lot to the table experience-wise even though I never played at a full international LAN.

What would you say are the main qualities you bring to the team as a coach?

Structure. Definitely structure. I would say throughout the past two months or month and a half we've moved to a six-map pool. It was seven, but then Overpass was removed. I do try to keep their mental up. Last time you interviewed me, I was a player. I had a bad quality of being a little toxic towards my teammates when things were going wrong. I overcame that problem as a coach because I realized that if my team is not in the greatest mood, I need to be there for them. They can rely on me to get their mood up.

With the season now over for TSM Shimmer, you'll head home. What does the team need to work out?

I definitely think that the problem that was first on this team was too much information I was putting on this team. I was expecting them to absorb it super fast so I had to slow it down. The way that they learn new maps is at a decent speed, so the thing we need to fix now is the way people play mid-rounds because communication is an important aspect of Counter-Strike obviously and our communication is not very good in terms of mid-rounds.

On LAN, especially, people shut down and don't realize protocols. I have a whole document of protocols and I really need my teammates to learn those because we're still not really doing the right things late round in game because people are forgetting the right thing to do. I think, honestly, we just need to play and play and play until we play every single scenario ever on every map we play. Then, people will get comfortable with the roles and hopefully for the next LAN, if we quality, which I'm really hoping we will, and I'm doing my best as a coach to make us get that last slot.

This is your first time in your career on a big organization like TSM. What's it like for you to be on an organization as prestigious as TSM?

It definitely feels surreal. We have a meet and greet tomorrow. I never thought in my life that I'd do a meet and greet. The thing that's always on my mind is that now that we're on such a big org, we need to have good results to bring to this org. There's always the thought looming that we're not good enough, or something. I think everyone here worked hard and they're gonna keep working hard to get even better.

Is TSM going to give you that time? Has there been a conversation about that?

I'm pretty sure, yes. We should be bootcamping before next season.