ToH1o returns to coaching in Nexus

The Bulgarian is active once again, just one month after his ban was lifted by ESIC.

Anton "⁠ToH1o⁠" Georgiev has taken charge of Romanian side Nexus, it was announced on Thursday. This will be the Bulgarian's first coaching stint since he was handed a 10-month ban by the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) in September 2020 for exploiting the spectator bug on two occasions in 2017.

ToH1o had his ban reversed by the esports watchdog in mid-June following a successful appeal. He was able to prove that he experienced the bug without his knowledge while coaching ex-Outlaws in an IEM Oakland open qualifier game against hASSeLsNOk, and Windigo in a CS:GO.NET Cup 1 match against Tricked.

ToH1o's coaching CV includes guiding Windigo to victory in several Balkan tournaments in 2017 and 2018, as well as to a semi-final run at Copenhagen Games 2018. He also took charge of SMASH for nearly six months and had a brief stint with Excellency before his ban was announced.

"I am really happy to have been given the chance to be Nexus' new head coach and to return to the Counter-Strike world," he said in a statement. "We are in the process of rebuilding the whole roster, and I am really happy that I will work with young and highly motivated players. I love the challenge of working with a fully Romanian-speaking roster.

"We have a lot of work to do, but I am really happy with how things have gone so far after a few days of practice. With my ban lifted, I can enjoy what I love doing the most again. I will do everything I can to reach the top 30 with this roster as soon as possible."

Nexus hope that the appointment of a coach of ToH1o's experience will bring the team back to where they were last fall, when they reached their highest ranking of Number 40 in the world. In May, the team competed in BLAST Rising, finishing in 17th-18th place.

Meanwhile, the Romanian organisation has announced the return of Mihnea "⁠mhN1⁠" Gheață, who played for the team between April and November 2020. The 20-year-old, who went on to represent GameAgents and INFINITE, will fill the role left vacant by Alexandru "⁠s0und⁠" Ștefan.

"These are the in a series of performance-focused decisions that we're currently making," Nexus CEO Octav "ang" Cretu said. "We felt that we needed someone like ToH1o and mhN1 in order to steady the ship and shift our immediate focus to team performance.

"Nexus Gaming's goal is to proudly represent Romania's esports ambitions. We want all viewers and friends to be proud of the work that we're doing, and our aim is to improve upon our 2020 performance."

Nexus now have:

Cătălin-Ionuț "⁠BTN⁠" Stănescu
Adrian "⁠XELLOW⁠" Guță
Raul "⁠Blytz⁠" Gligor
Laurențiu "⁠lauNX⁠" Țârlea
Mihnea "⁠mhN1⁠" Gheață

Anton "⁠ToH1o⁠" Georgiev (coach)