Greetings Shanei, thanks for doing this interview with us! Although you have been working behind the scenes during Millenium’s revival, the public barely knows anything about your past career or your work. Could you tell us about your career in eSports and explain your role on Millenium?

Hey. I’ve been with this team for around 10 months. At the start the lineup was composed of Kaze, Djoko, Myw, Bloos and Sardoche and they were with Imaginary Gaming. I knew Djoko and Sardoche from my time as a player, so I joined them a few days before the 2015 Gamers Assembly tournament to help them out as much as I can. We had to make difficult choices and work hard for months to get to the result you see now.

I’m currently Head coach of the Millenium League of Legends team.

Your players haven’t really had any exposure outside of the French scene before you entered the EUCS. To give some more insight into your team’s inner-workings could you briefly describe each of them and their role in the team?

I would describe them as follows:

Djoko (Jungle): Our captain, shotcaller and pillar of the team. He probably has one of the best macro understandings in Europe.

Kaze (Top) : Guy can learn any champion in 2 days and never tilts. Really aggressive player who shines on all-in champions like Riven or Hecarim. He calls half of the engages.

Masterwork (Support) : One of the best Morgana/Thresh players in Europe who can be very impressive mechanically and understands the game really well.

Pretty (Mid) : Our Greek talent. He plays Orianna and Anivia like no one else which brings a lot of stability in the team. While he usually is a safe player, he can also go crazy on Ahri when needed.

Hans sama (Adc) : Simply one of the most mechanically talented players in all of Europe with a fantastic mentality. He is young and can be impatient sometimes, but I don’t have a single doubt in my mind that he will be a world class AD-Carry later in his career.

Your team is currently the only one to not drop a single game. What do you think sets your guys apart from other teams in the Challenger Series?

I think there are 3 main points that set us apart:

1: Every single player is insanely talented and we have no weak link.

2: Very good shotcalling and a military atmosphere ingame.

3: A great strategic understanding and natural team synergy

Djoko and Kaze have massively improved and both have been great performers for your team, can you enlighten us on how they have transformed themselves into top-tier talents recently?

Kaze and Djoko had issues with their internet connection for the last few months. Now that we are all in a Gaming House and practice everyday they can play to their full potential. Both have always been talented.

Djoko has been playing for Unicorns of Love in the European LCS recently and delivered respectable performances. Did the experience prove useful and was there ever the fear of him permanently joining the Unicorns?

Before that I used to make the drafts and strategies almost completely alone.  After Djoko went to UoL he learnt a lot in just a few days. We will use his new knowledge wisely.

It was clear from the beginning that Djoko was loaned and we trust him a lot. He knows what's on his shoulders. There is a lot of mutual trust, he would never leave like this.

Which teams in the current European Challenger Series look the most competitive? If you had to predict the Top 3 right now, who would it be?

I’m very confident that we will make Top 3 this split. Besides that all the teams in the EUCS are very interesting, but I would say that Inspire is the best. Other than that I like mousesports a lot, their roster is very interesting and I would love to meet them in the playoffs.

Let’s switch focus to your local scene. The French scene has always been known for a large fan base and good individual talent. Do you think the French scene is in a good place, and does it deserve a national spot in the qualifiers like some others?

Yes, the French scene is massive and they definitely deserve a national spot. The main problem with French players mindset is the ego. They lose too much time for nothing and don’t focus on the essentials. I hope it will be settled one day.

Which other French players outside of Millenium look promising?

I will name one promising french player for every role:

Mid: Polyokov

AD-Carry: Myw

Support: GotoOne

Top: Gob

Jungle: Narkuss when he plays Fiddle

Now let’s talk about coaching for a bit, the inclusion of coaches in the European Challenger Series is becoming more and more important. How would you judge the current level of coaching and teamplay in the EUCS?

If you aim for LCS or just high level competitive play in general then a good coach is essential. A solid decision-maker is something you absolutely need to perform in a team game. Performing as a coach can be really hard, especially when you join a team late.

You have to earn the trust of your players through discussions and your work, you can’t force it. Teams in the Challenger Series usually lack a lot of synergy and teamplay, but I think that’s because nearly all of them are newly formed.

What do you think are the most important qualities for a coach to achieve success?

You’ll need a lot of patience and mathematical understanding. Basically, as a coach you have to make sure your team morale is high and boost it so everyone can achieve their best. You have to make sure no one feels apart and work on strategy and maths with them so they are optimized in the game.

In important games we think like a military unit: No flame, no wasting time and quick reactions.

That will be all for today, thanks for the interview and good luck for the rest of the split!

It was a pleasure. Thanks to you and special thanks to Orange, Logitech and Alienware for their support. We go LCS with all the french supporters behinds us.

 @DanEsports covers the Challenger scene extensively. If you enjoyed this piece, consider giving a follow.

Photo Credit to Millenium