"I joined the team because I saw a lot of potential in them at the Six Invitational": JULIO still hungry for success as a coach

_{Banner image: Ubisoft / @ericananmalay}

Heading to the Six Jönköping Major, MNM Gaming's captain Leon "neLo" Pesic talked about a change in the team's mentality. “Our goal shouldn’t be anymore qualifying for them (international competitions), it should be being the best team in Europe and the best team in the world,” the Croatian mentioned in an interview with SiegeGG.

Although the marshmallows made their top-flight debut last year, the team has already delivered great performances. In just one year, the roster has qualified for five of the six last Siege international competitions. Looking at their consistency, neLo's words made a lot of sense.

At the Six Invitational 2023, all the memes around the team faded away as MNM Gaming topped their group standings with a perfect record over Soniqs, Team Liquid, Wolves Esports, and Dire Wolves. Unfortunately, their bright group stage was watered down following the team's defeats against Oxygen Esports and Team BDS.

In the meantime, Julio "JULIO" Giacomelli reached the Six Invitational 2023 grand final with w7m esports, his third since 2020.

Ten days after JULIO's match against G2 Esports, the former Ninjas in Pyjamas player announced his retirement to join MNM Gaming as a coach.

"I knew I was leaving w7m esports before the Six Invitational," JULIO admitted in an interview with SiegeGG. "However, I decided to look for opportunities as a player or coach only after the tournament had concluded," he explained.

Despite receiving offers to extend his career as a player, JULIO had something different in his mind. "I received some offers as a player but the one from MNM, as a coach, was the best."

Being a coach for MNM Gaming allows JULIO to "work with people from other countries and cultures" while "being supported by a European company."

As a dad of one son, it's also important to find a balance between real-life responsibilities and staff duties. Apparently, that's exactly what he has at the marshmallow home. "Most importantly I am able to spend more time with my family, it's the dream!"

Although it's JULIO's first experience in Europe's top flight, this is not his debut season as a coach. The Brazilian was part of FURIA Esports' staff for the second stage of Year 7 where he reached the Six Berlin Major quarter-finals.

"The coaching experience at FURIA showed me that I enjoyed competing as a coach, the adrenaline was similar to competing as a player. I've always been the 'oldest' player on the team who's always taken care of others so the coaching role came quite naturally to me and I really like it."

However, the experience as a coach in Europe feels different for him, as he was used to being in a gaming house, as "Brazilian teams live and play together under the same roof."

Now, by joining the Europe League, he has followed the steps of his fellow compatriots Karl "Alem4o" Zarth and Marlon "Twister" Mello. According to the former w7m esports player, Twister has helped him a lot to adapt to the region's needs. "Twister has helped me a lot to understand some of the differences between working with European and Brazilian teams/players."

JULIO also remembered with joy his time with Twister at Ninjas in Pyjamas and Black Dragons, where they competed together for one year.  "I'm always rooting for him because he's my friend."

After picking up the Brazilian, MNM Gaming has now one of the most rock-solid staff teams in Rainbow Six Siege. Loïc "Eden" Sennepin, who stepped up as a coach in May 2022, was moved back to an analyst position following JULIO's arrival. However, both members have been working side by side.

"Eden helps me with the strats and I help him with the analysis, and so far it has worked out very well and Eden is a very easy person to work with," JULIO revealed. "Similar to how I worked with Kizi at Furia, I try not to separate the Analyst and the Coach from the team."

According to the Brazilian, the former FURIA Esports coach has tried to implement multiple "takes (...) both in and out of the game." His wide experience as a player makes it easy for him to empathize with the players, understanding their feelings and needs during the match. 

"Having been a player myself, I believe it's easier to pass on my vision of certain aspects of the game while being able to understand the players' vision."

In the Europe League, MNM Gaming finished in second place of Group B following victories over Team Secret, Wolves Esports, and KOI. The roster's only defeat was against WYLDE, who they would face in the lower bracket final of the Europe League Deciders.

Back then, Nathan "Nafe" Sharp and Fatih "Solotov" Türker led the marshmallows with SiegeGG ratings of 1.33 and 1.28. Despite being a highly interesting match, most people will remember it for what happened outside of the server.

While being 2-3 down against WYLDE on Villa, MNM Gaming was forced to forfeit the initial map of the series due to "internet provider issues in the United Kingdom."

"We already had the pre-game analysis done so the extra half day was not that impactful. The map lost by WO only served as extra motivation for the victory, and it tasted very sweet," JULIO revealed.

"I joined the team because I saw a lot of potential in them at the Six Invitational. I feel a constant evolution in training and each loss in this season helped us to improve as a whole," he concluded.

Today, MNM Gaming will debut at the BLAST R6 Major Copenhagen as they will face Team Falcons, the first MENA team to qualify for a major international Siege competition. The match is expected to begin at 1 PM CEST (-2 UTC).