MiLAN — new Spirit coach, Korb3n explained why they chose him and not Astini

Team Spirit announced that they will compete at the upcoming tournament with Larl, who has returned from vacation, and also unveiled a new coach. It is former pro player and coach of such teams as Nouns and Natus Vincere — MiLAN. He is already listed in the team’s roster for PGL Wallachia Season 7.

Some media personalities have already shared their expectations for the work of the new coach.

The roster manager, Korb3n, noted the key difference between the new coach and Silent: the main difference between MiLAN and Astini lies in communication during the game. If they had signed the latter, the team would have been forced to communicate in English during matches, whereas with the arrival of MiLAN the players can speak Russian in-game. This can significantly simplify communication and speed up decision-making during the game, given the fact that some players have a poor command of English.

Commentator and streamer Autodestruction believes that the team’s main problems are not related to the players’ individual performance. In her opinion, the key difficulty was in the drafts. The team had already tried to independently build the hero-picking process (Yatoro took on this responsibility at previous tournaments), but this did not bring stable results. She expressed hope that MiLAN will be able to structure the drafting process so that Collapse can shine on more aggressive heroes, and Yatoro will receive strong last picks.

Fishman also did not stay on the sidelines and gave a positive assessment of the appointment of MiLAN. According to him, the Bosnian player has always been very smart and often said the right things about strategy. At the same time, he noted that during his playing career MiLAN was sometimes mentally unstable, but in the coaching position these traits may not become a problem.

Analyst ArsZeeqq was more skeptical. He believes that MiLAN does not understand Russian that well — due to his Balkan background he can catch individual words, but it is difficult for him to understand chaotic in-game communication.

By the way, speaking about MiLAN’s past achievements and his career as a whole, he is a former position 4 professional player and the first Bosnian esports athlete to compete at The International.

He became known on the CIS scene in 2017, when HellRaisers signed the international roster of Planet Dog, which played at The International 2017. Later he also played for Ninjas in Pyjamas.

After finishing his active playing career, MiLAN moved on to coaching. Before joining Team Spirit, he had already worked with such teams as Natus Vincere and Nouns.

Korb3n said that the team is currently in the stage of getting to know the new coach and adapting. According to him, the roster is still in the «honeymoon period»: MiLAN is sizing up the players, and the players are sizing him up. Communication with the coach takes place in English, but during matches the team uses Russian.

The first serious test for the new coach will be PGL Wallachia Season 7, which will be held on March 7‑15 in Bucharest, Romania. The prize pool will be $1,000,000.