Apeks prepare to tackle ESL Pro League with a new coach and philosophy

Joakim "⁠jkaem⁠" Myrbostad and Torbjørn "⁠mithR⁠" Nyborg spoke about Apeks' coaching transition and their short-term goals.

Apeks experienced new heights in May, when they reached the semi-finals of the BLAST.tv Paris Major after a Cinderella run, accompanied by a jump to the No.8 spot in the HLTV ranking, the highest in the organization's history. Coach Jakub "⁠kuben⁠" Gurczyński stood behind the players during every match, just like had done for the previous nine months as they climbed through the ranks of tier-two European Counter-Strike.

Their success was short-lived and, soon after the end of the French event, Natus Vincere came knocking to acquire Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius and deprive Apeks of their star player. The team has since struggled to bounce back, leading the organization to part ways with kuben just four months after the Major run, citing "differences in long-term development philosophies for the team."

Apeks now prepare to tackle ESL Pro League Season 18 with mithR following the Dane's promotion to head coach. The 33-year-old helped the European mix with anti-strats and leadership during the Paris Major, and now will have the larger task of steadying the ship and help the European mix replicate even just a fraction of what they achieved in Paris.

Read more

Apeks and kuben part ways; mithR appointed as new head coach

HLTV spoke to jkaem and the new coach mithR ahead of the team's ESL Pro League campaign to learn more about the reasons behind the switch and what changes there will be moving forward.

The Norwegian reflected on the time with kuben, highlighting the Pole's focus on changing the team's playstyle and preparing them for their Paris Major peak. "kuben was a super good coach. He has a unique way of playing and he wanted us to learn it, and we did that in Paris. We were really drilled and everything was working well." jkaem explained to HLTV in an interview before Apeks's EPL campaign.

However, everything changed a month later after NAVI poached jL during the player break. "I think jL was really important for kuben and the team because they were very close," jkaem said. The team filled the Lithianian's vacant spot with Aleksandar "⁠CacaNito⁠" Kjulukoski, but despite some solid performances from the North Macedonian player, Apeks have struggled to build on their Major success. They were knocked out early from IEM Cologne 2023 and Gamers8, and their online performances have also suffered.

The drop in form and the decline in results after the player break left the team scrambling for a solution, which ended with kuben's departure. "I wouldn't say there were any problems, but maybe something had to happen," the Norwegian confessed. "Even if it was a player, if it was a coach, something had to happen. The results were not good enough, the team was not connected, the group was not good, and that led to this change."

The transition to the new regime has been smooth so far and mithR has been able to settle with the new team without too many issues. There are differences, of course, mainly related to their coaching approach, but nothing jkaem and company were not aware of before the change. "mithR was also in one way a motivator," the Norwegian rifler explained in regards to mithR's previous work with Apeks at the Major. "I would say they are a little bit different there. mithR is very hype while kuben is very detail-orientated, much more than mithR for example.

"kuben likes small details on how to make things better and perfect things while mithR is more like the big picture [guy], and then he's really motivating. In our team, I would say that we were lacking a motivator and mithR was there to help us with that so when shit is getting rough, we are not just giving up or ending up in a bad mood. He was just taking care of that stuff."

When talking more specifically about the changes mithR has brought with him, jkaem explained that the Dane has started to tweak the previous structure developed under kuben. "It's not like when you change coach, you're taking the old playbook and throwing it out the window," the Norwegian said. "We're still keeping most of the stuff. We're changing small details. We're changing how the days are looking, we're changing a little bit how we're working, we're changing the structure, how we are preparing is also going to change a little bit."

The main difference according to jkaem is mithR's switch to a more inclusive style of preparation for the team, focusing more on the collective rather than the individual. "The team has the same values and the same goals, it's just that we are working a little bit differently," he explained. "With kuben, like I said, we were working very self-sufficient. He wanted the players to take a lot of responsibility, be able to do their roles perfectly, and just learn to master their own roles. Now it's more like, we as a team are going to reach this together."

mithR has traveled to Malta alongside the squad, and despite not being able to stand behind the team on the ground the experience with the squad will prove invaluable. He will get more time to understand the mentality of the team, how the individuals think, and what will need to be changed in the coming months.

These tasks are made easier by the fact that the mithR is already familiar with his players. "Having worked with the guys in Paris gives me an advantage," the coach explained to HLTV. "I already know a lot of the players personally [and] a lot of the things that move outside the server, their strengths and weaknesses inside of the server.

"The transition itself has been rather easy and I'm familiar with tier one, having worked here before. It has been rather pleasant and surprisingly relaxing in some ways. I remember when I joined tier one for the first time ever many years back then it was all kind of overwhelming. At this point it's more like, yeah, it feels natural, it feels like home in some way."

mithR has no lack of tier-one experience thanks to stints coaching North and MOUZ between 2019-2021. The Dane then took a job at Apeks Rebels in late 2021, stepping down from the top echelons of European Counter-Strike to focus on improving his approach. "I wanted to fine-tune some of my methods and to experiment a little bit more and see how I could improve coaching-wise," the 33-year-old said. "I felt like I needed a team where the experience wasn't that high, and the trust and the support from the organization was there in order to experiment with such things."

"I feel like I'm more suited and more competent now than ever to return to tier one, so yeah, I feel very, very ready for this."

mithR then outlined the internal changes he has introduced to Apeks since taking over. "The change that I'm bringing is more behind the scenes, but there's a very, very clear structure that we work by, and also that we are very strict when it comes to the kind of routines and game day rituals and stuff like that.

"What I hope to achieve short-term is that we can stabilize, hopefully within the top 20 and even higher. Obviously, we're going to fight to get the best possible results we possibly can get."

The individuality that kuben cultivated in the players might help Apeks out at ESL Pro League, as mithR won't be able to stand behind the players due to roster restrictions. jkaem is not concerned about the coach's absence during matches, and believes it will be up to himself and the more veteran players to keep the team steady. "It sucks that he's not behind us because he is that motivator and we really need it, but I am sure that the rest of us will step up and make sure that we all do his role."

mithR echoed jkaem's sentiment, confident the team will perform without the coach behind them. "The coaches are winning games during practice, they're not winning them during the official itself," the Dane explained. "All my energy is going into the practice we have as preparation for EPL, and then I just have to trust that the players can bring it home once we start playing."

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
13/09/2023	Apeks 16:00 M80	Match