TaZ could be a great coach, but he won't mesh well with HooXi

Another member of the legendary Virtus.pro roster has returned to Counter-Strike competition, making the leap from coach to player, and Viktor “TaZ” Wojtas’ first outing comes as the sixth man in one of the most prestigious and high-pressure roles out there with G2. TaZ’s stints as the in-game leader and hype-man of the super-strong Polish quintet, not to mention his underappreciated subsequent stints on domestic squads as he tried to nurture the next generation of national talent, should make him well-suited for the role, but a look at his past tenures suggests he’ll struggle to fill in for HooXi’s weaknesses.

For longtime Counter-Strike fans, TaZ needs no introduction. A member of the Golden Five – often mistaken for the popular Virtus.pro squad in CS:GO but actually referring to the quintet of TaZ, NEO, LUq, Loord, and kuben from the mid-to-late 200s –, he was one of the most dominant and towering presences of Polish Counter-Strike, one of the few who were able to make the grand leap from 1.6 to Global Offensive while staying on top of the ratings charts.

I’d be remiss to ignore the other Polish coaches spawned from the actual original Golden Five: NEO’s doing wonders at FaZe Clan right now, kuben’s just been picked up by ENCE to replace sAw, and Loord’s been doing the Lord’s work on the floundering IKLA project. (It’s the one with Lekr0 and the recently-benched Draken.)

While TaZ himself has never made it on the HLTV Top 20 lists in the CS:GO era, he does have a #6 spot in 2011, not that you needed any special confirmation for the fact that a player who had such a long and storied career knew how to click heads in the game. (Amusingly, karrigan was #8 on the same list.) Over the Global Offensive years, he’s done an excellent job motivating and rejuvenating his team, with unprecedented stability in the roster leading to many renaissances and reimaginations on their way back to the top, or at least, the base camp near the summit.

However, a critical eye on the Virtus.pro roster’s weaknesses show flaws that are very similar to the ones he’s now tasked to address on G2. “The plow” were unplayable at their very best, but the team often struggled to find the motivation in online events and group stages against lower-level opposition. Sound familiar? HooXi’s G2 is also known for its incredible highs and devastating lows, and TaZ, who’s always been super-strong on mentorship and man-management but was never really known as a strong innovator on the tactical side of the game, is now going to have to bring some stability and a higher floor to the combustible combination of the current G2 roster. May I remind you that VP were known for the slumpiest of slumps?

Also, if we’re in the business of being harsh, how about the trophy cabinet? The charitable (and genuinely valid) read of discussions past was that VP were the team to beat on your way to the top, the worthy gatekeepers who are always there or thereabouts, and if a team like Fnatic or Luminosity were able to push their way past them, they were worthy contenders for big titles. However, in terms of notable title wins, they were actually few and far between. The 2014 Katowice Major on home soil comes immediately to mind, sure, but what next? Cross-referencing his ten title wins after that on HLTV with Liquipedia’s event rankings shows impressive triumphs at S-Tier events, but mostly from the earlier years of the game, when the tactical depth was nowhere near where it is today. And that's before wondering whether his insights will translate well to CS2 matches.

In fact, VP’s often remembered for the big series they didn’t win, be it the Atlanta Major final or the best-of-five clash that concluded EPICENTER 2017 against SK. Dare we say they had a bit of the choking gene?

TaZ’s post-VP career yielded no notable title triumphs and little in the way of international presence. However, his decision to stick to his Polish roots and help nurture a new generation of talent is definitely to be commended. But those of us who remember Aristocracy and the devils.one (formerly Kinguin) contract mess may question his big-picture decision-making when it comes to partnerships and org management. Again, is that a good sign from a coaching perspective?

G2, as a team, need stability and a cool head when they are losing their poise under fire, someone to keep the tilt levels low and the motivation high when the stakes are not where the big guns might need them to be. A higher level of baseline tactics would not go amiss, either. Not every coach has to be a zonic-like mastermind to provide tangible value: I can easily see TaZ slot in well with a team of cerebral youngsters who need help to keep their heads high in critical moments, a team like MOUZ, maybe, but G2 seems like an evident cultural clash – then again, perhaps it’s also a bit of a freeroll.

What’s been interesting in the past is that when coach and IGL came into conflict, they deferred to the former. When Aleksib and XQTZZZ were brought in together, it was the Finn who was first shown the door. It was under the Frenchman’s watch that the team brought in HooXi and jks – one of them, of course, already benched – and he was also booted after their failure to qualify for the IEM Rio Major. It’s tough to imagine TaZ having a say in the nexa move, but surely HooXi’s next on the chopping block if results continue to stay below expectations? How much input will the Pole then have about the new direction of the squad? It’s a fascinating question, and I can’t wait to find out the answer soon enough.