C9 Inero: “We always joke, “Don’t get an ego, guys. TL is still gonna win the split.”

Q: How high is your blood pressure right now? That was insane.

Inero: I mean, I’m chill now because I’m relieved we won after that shitfest, but my blood pressure was definitely high before. I stress out during games always, […] even when we’re winning. I spent too many years on Golden Guardians — I think I’ve thrown maybe the most 10k gold leads in LCS history the teams I’ve been on. So I’m not used to feeling comfortable even with the leads. I’m always stressed. Today was no different, but I feel great now.

Q: What happened going into today?

Inero: So, Phil obviously had some personal stuff going on back home that he had to attend to. […] Riot even helped accommodate this game to be later in the day so [he could] get here for it, which is really great from them and a nice gesture. We had two days off of scrims as a group […] we didn’t have our whole team there. Then Phil flew in this morning.

I think he got into got into the airport at 11AM; that’s when he had to go through customs and everything. So, yeah, a bit of a gauntlet run for him, but he powered through. I mean, Phil was locked in today. In terms of communicating everything that he wanted for the team, he’s such a big piece for us, and he was still powering through and getting it done.

So yeah. It was a tough week to get through, but we we did it.

Q: Spawn mentioned the idea of playing better when you’re a bit uncomfortable. Did you feel that from Vulcan today?

Inero: I mean, I definitely think he was as locked in as he could be. There’s always some level of benefit to it, […] like in this case yeah, your teammate hasn’t slept the whole day, so you need to be on point with the rest of your stuff.

And that and that can be different from person to person, whether that stresses out them [or helps them]. […] At the end of the day, being ready for competition is all psychological, so it’s really just depending on how you as a person get yourself locked in for a game. So it’s kinda different person to person.

Q: Can you talk about coaching DIG for a bit last year?

Inero: Yeah. So, when IMT was knocked out, I reached out to Dignitas because I know a lot of people over there and just offered, “Hey, I’m down to help out for you guys.” Because I’m really good friends with Eric, I wanna see him succeed. I was friends with Mabrey, the coach there at the time, and Spica as well.

I was like, “I just wanna help out. I’m not doing anything. I might as well just help.” So I showed up, and I told them it was one of the most interesting team cultures I’ve ever seen. Because in IMT, we’re sweating our asses off trying so hard to just get a win to get anything, and it’s not a bad environment, we’re all chill with each other, but it’s super serious all the time for everything. We’re focused.

Then I go to Dignitas, and it’s just like, “Alright, guys. We’re here for the morning meeting. We go outside. We play Avalon. We do board games for fifteen, twenty minutes, and then we talk a little bit about the day and we go in and play scrims.”

And I was just like, “Damn.” First, I was just like, “I hate you guys” because [IMT’s] last game was vs DIG. And I was like, we threw these games versus you guys, and then I show up at your house and you’re playing board games. It’s like, this is so stupid. I feel so shit because of that.

But it was just a cool environment. Like, everyone’s always playing board games together. They have internal meme culture around everything related to the game. They played Secret Hitler first, so they’re calling everything fascist and liberal in the game. If someone’s inting in the game, they’re saying “This guy’s a fascist! Get him and hunt him down!”

It was just so dumb. Even they’re going through stress. Their scrims weren’t great — like, they lost a lot of scrims. It was like a way for them to cope through all of it too. It was just fun. It was a fun culture to be a part of. All the guys are really chill.

Like, they obviously had their their own issues as a team to get through that you can’t really tackle over the course of a few weeks, especially at the end when it’s all kinda built up over time. But it was really unique and really fun. And, yeah, we still get together to play board games sometimes. Our last one, we were supposed to do last week, because Mabrey was in town. Jensen and Mabrey both had to cancel, so we didn’t do it.

So those guys suck. It’s their fault. You guys ruined everything. […] Getting food with Eric tomorrow, though, so that’s fun. Me, Eric, and, Spookz from 100T are gonna go get food. Talk about our nice event for the weekend.

Q: You’re known as a vibes guy, perhaps because of how highly your former players speak of you — do you resent or embrace that title?

Inero: I definitely don’t resent it at all. All of my time at GG, Spookz was the vibes guy. It’s really obvious when you talk to him — this guy is just too charismatic, and he’s just a goober, honestly. Like, he’s just too funny to be around, so he was our vibes guy.

But I don’t know. I like to make it fun. I mean, you know, being in my position… I was on lower teams for a while, [so] you have to find a way to make things still enjoyable for everyone, because at the end of the day we’re playing a game. Like, I think that’s an important part of coaching […] balancing that and enabling learning for the team environment is important.

I don’t resent that at all. I think it’s important to be able to do that as a team.

I learned a lot about that on Echo Fox, because it really stuck in my head what Fenix had said to me at one point. Like, we had a really stressful review, and he just said “Playing on this team feels like I’m in a prison, and it feels too hard, because everything is really negative.” Because it’s really easy to go into a review and look at all the negative things you’ve done and all the bad things. […] And I mean, Echo Box, we were doing well. We were 9-1 in the league when this happened.

But, you know, it was losing a scrim. We’re focused on the negative of what’s happening and what’s occurring. And that really stressed to me the importance of, like, it needs to feel fun too. I need to make sure that I’m alleviating the stress as a coach as well and not just trying to say “This is what’s wrong, and this is what we should do better.” That’s not just coaching. Anyone can point out mistakes and say what to do better than that.

Q: Can you say your favorite thing about each player?

Inero: Thanatos is great.

Thanatos is maybe one of the best individual players I think I’ve ever worked with. Guy is insane. I don’t work with him as much anymore right now, because my role kinda moves around depending on where it’s needed. He’s really solid right now, so I don’t think he needs too much from me.

Very funny guy. I don’t know. He’s just very funny. I don’t know how to describe it other than just the fact that he’s just funny with how he handles things, and I love it. He’s also an Arena king. Me and Zven were [playing] Arena yesterday, and Zven was just giving me shit because we couldn’t win.

We’re getting second place, and to me, that is like a win. Thank God we got second place because I just can’t play the game right now. I’m so bad at it. And he messaged me last night,
“Crazy. I played four games with Thanatos, and he gets whatever champion and immediately wins the game. Interesting how I can win with him and not with you.”

I was like, “Oh, sorry. The pro player is better than me? This is shocking news. Thank you.” But still [Thanatos] is an arena king. Like, he spams this stuff whenever we have a free time in between games.

Blaber, I think people like to describe him — rightfully so — as the guy who can just win you a game 1v9 and throw it. But he is incredibly smart about the game. I didn’t realize he was just the super detail oriented guy. Like, he knows every small detail about every champion, I swear. Like, he’ll be the guy who comes in on patch notes, [and] he’s already tested everything for everyone pretty much. He knows what he thinks is good or what got changed.

[Also] he loves his crabs. I think everyone knows that. I don’t think that’s any new info. But, yeah, he’s a super detail oriented guy, which is which is nice to have.

Loki, I work with the most right now, to be honest. Loki Mochi [has] really opened up over the year. Like, at the start of the year, he was so quiet, so shy — which is understandable. He’s talking in a non native language and learning it at the same time. The first thing he said about me was that he thought I was scary, which is always funny. But he talks to me all the time now.

He always makes fun of me for stuff. I make fun of him. Today he came out of the game and was just like, “Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. *bows head and mimics exaggerated apology*. And thank you for draft.” But, I don’t know. He’s a very sweet kid, and he’s also really smart about the game for a rookie, which is great. I think his biggest issue is mainly confidence of just bringing up whether something is good or bad in his opinion. He’s more likely to err towards what the team wants.

I mean, for Zven, Zven is a shit poster. He is a complete goober. He’s obviously the content king. He really turns it on for content, and it’s very obvious. And it’s very funny to watch happen, but he’s also the guy to immediately lock in and be like, “Guys, we need to take this serious. What are we doing? What is all this stuff?” But one of the funniest guys I think I’ve ever met. We have a good dry sense of humor back and forth where we just flame each other constantly, so that’s good.

Phil is maybe the best player in the world for Blaber. Like, he’s so good at keeping everyone in check. Blaber says something, and he’s immediately just on it, whether it’s good or bad. He’s like, “Yeahyeahyeah.” Or “No, Blaber. What are you thinking? Don’t do this.” This guy knows everything that’s happening on the map at all times, which is so perfect to have as a support player.

I’ve worked with a lot of different supports, and huhi was also really good at this and understanding what to do in the game, which is great, but I feel like Phil is just like an extra level. He’s so, so good at it, and it’s just a complete necessity when you have someone like Blaber on your team or else he’s gonna jump in there and and get some shit started.

He pulls Blaber in just like, “Hey, bro. That is a terrible play. Do not do that.” They’re very blunt with each other, but it’s no hard feelings, which is nice. He’s just so smart, man. It’s so nice to have. [Also,] he’s the same as Zven — like, he’s pretty funny. Them as a duo are very funny to have on your team. It’s just constant flaming each other for things, or sarcastically flaming the other team and just making fun of it.

Anytime a team is paused and FF’s the game [in scrims], I can guarantee you Zven is jumping up and doing the L Bozo dance and just laughing at the other team the whole time. Shit’s too funny.

Q: Do you have any message for TL?

Inero: I mean, I personally really respect the the coaches over there. I know […] Swiffer and Spawn. Like, I’ve known those guys for a while, obviously, coming from OCE. I love playing against them.

I think they’re one of the teams that actually challenges people who do stuff consistently, and draft the same things over and over, which our team has been abusing right now. We just [have] very set-in-mind picks and bans, and this is what we’re gonna do. So it’s nice that their team that challenges that type of thing — I think them and FlyQuest are the best at it. So I’m just looking forward to it.

I can’t wait to see what what curveball they’re gonna throw. To keep ourselves in check […] we always joke, “Don’t get an ego, guys. TL is still gonna win the split. Even if we 6-0 them in scrims, these guys will still win everything.” I’m excited for it, it’ll be fun.