Kenz, who started out on Playstation and came to Xbox, played one season of Pro League and managed to qualify for the Six Invitational 2017 on Xbox. At the time, he played for Lethal Gaming, and they lost to Vitality in the quarterfinal. After switching from Xbox to PC, he subbed for 1nFamy for Year 2 Season 1, and then decided to retire as a player, considering a role as coach.
In Obey Alliance, you work as a co-coach alongside Snake_Nade; what are each of your roles in the team?
I joined Obey as their head coach with Snake moving to a more of a support role. I focus on the team as a hole while he focuses more on the players individually, we both do VOD break-down, make strats, listen in on comms. Without getting into too much detail, I think it’s a great system we have going.
In order to qualify for the Paris Major, the Obey roster played 12 maps in a single day; how did the team handle this and how did you prepare for the games?
The team handled it great and in all honesty it was probably the best thing for us, the progression of the team from match to match was amazing. Being as we just picked up Benji the week prior we had very little time to actually get some practice in. It was do or die and everyone was on the same page. There was multiple pro league matches as well that week leading up to it so we spent most of the time dry running before each match up and going over whatever notes we have from VOD’s.
How important was VOD watching in preparing for your best of 5 Grand Final?
VOD’s are important to watch period. It allows you to find gaps or holes in your opponent. As far as the mouz game went, we found what we thought was a major hole in their game and used it to our benefit. There wasn't any doubt in my mind by that point they were going to win the event.
In Pro League, Obey is currently struggling in 7th place after 4 playdays; how are you planning on improving on your performance so far?
Like I said earlier, being as we just picked up Benji we were prepared to take some losses, it was inevitable. Simply put there wasn't enough game time under our belt, we figured it would have been around 3 games before we really seen some improvement given the amount of practice time we had and in our 3rd match we ended up tying with rogue which was our major turn around point. We are just going to stick to what we are doing, we practice every day and when we were not practicing in game we were talking about every possible improvement we can make. I don't think there's a group that's more focused on their success then these guys, I love working with them.
Your next game is against mousesports, the team you beat 3-0 in the Paris Major Qualifier Grand Final, can we expect an equally as dominant performance?
First off just let me say i think mouz is a great team, I think we exposed a hole in their game and i would assume they are going to work very hard to close it. It’s a Bo1 so anything can happen but yes I expect the boys to take another W.
Finally, what advice would you give to others who are wanting to become a coach?
I think to become a coach in rainbow competing first is probably the most beneficial thing you can do. Understanding the game at its base level is one thing but understanding the way a push is coming from a pros perspective is an entirely different beast. Coaching is really something you gotta commit too. I spend 12-16 hours a day with these guys, you really need to be able to understand each players individual issues and as well as the teams issues and find ways to improve upon them so that takes time.
You can watch Obey’s next game against mousesports on the Rainbow6 Twitch channel today at 8 PM EDT as they continue playing in Pro League Season 8.