kassad on becoming BLEED's head coach: "My first task is finding an IGL and AWPer"

The Serb has been tasked with leading BLEED's entry into Counter-Strike.

Aleksandar "⁠kassad⁠" Trifunović is a man of many roles in Counter-Strike. The Serb started CS:GO as a player for iNation before he transitioned to a coaching role in the organization and then went on to spend a short-lived period in MOUZ. He then moved over to the Australian scene and led Renegades, 100 Thieves, and EXTREMUM becoming ingrained in the Australian community.

After his exit from EXTREMUM in October of 2021, the 37-year-old turned his sights to broadcast roles and worked at the Rio Major, IEM Katowice, and IEM Cologne. The competitive fire within him kept burning, however, and the release of CS2 pushed kassad back into a coaching role.

"Coming back to the competitive environment was a long consideration, but with the new game coming out, the competitive spark was just too strong. I was considering a lot of options and finally made my choice with BLEED."

The Singaporean organization has a presence in other esport titles, such as Dota2 and VALORANT, but the move marks their first entry into Valve's shooter. kassad says that several reasons convinced him to choose them as his next destination and believe in the project. "The organization came to me with a healthy approach and vision for the game. Everyone knows they don't have a team, so I'm tasked with gathering a squad that will start competing as soon as possible. The timing is a little bit off, but it is what it is.

"They have a very stable structure inside the organization itself, their VALORANT team is doing very well. LEGIJA [BLEED's VALORANT coach], my friend and former CS coach, told me many positive things, and I decided that they are the team I want to join after a couple of meetings."

While kassad's primary role will be that of a head coach, he also has other managerial responsibilities, something he expressed his interest in previously. "BLEED gave me a little more responsibility than just being the head coach. They want me to lead the acquisition of players and assemble the whole squad based on the current market. My first task is finding two players for the IGL and AWP roles, those are the first positions I'll be looking for. I'm going to be hiring my own staff outside of that, too."

Given that no contracts have been signed so far, kassad is keeping his options open and says he is ready to consider every possibility. "I want the players to fit together perfectly, regardless of the region. As long as they fit in the vision we have for the squad, I don't care where they come from.

"The general plan is to have a European-based squad, as we will be based in Europe. I don't know about the rest of the players [outside of the IGL and AWPer], I'm going to look around and see who is available. Being based in Europe doesn't specifically mean we will sign five EU players, but the core will be European for now."

When asked how far the negotiations have advanced, kassad stated that the process is in the beginning phase. "I have a couple of players lined up that I will talk to very soon, especially for the AWP role, but nothing is set in stone. I want to see how they feel about joining, how they think, and if they share the same vision when it comes to the future in CS2."

A lot of work lies ahead for kassad and his team, but the Serbian tactician remains confident that the project will be up and running before the new year. "The plan is [to start competing] in a month or so. It will be a lot of work starting immediately, but it's possible. It depends on how fast we can make the deals done, that's why I'm acquiring a team manager and staff to make sure we do things efficiently and in a proper time frame."

Despite that, kassad admits the Copenhagen Major qualifiers might come too early for his new project. "The timing is a bit tight. I wish we would have done this in the summer, that would give us quite a lot of time to organize everything and be ready for the qualifiers, but that doesn't mean we won't try to qualify. We have seen bigger surprises and younger teams qualify, so I don't think it's out of reach, but realistically speaking, it's not going to be easy. We must be ready for that and turn our heads towards the bigger picture.

"In the beginning, I aim to build a culture, set up a specific way of playing, and build a structure around that playstyle. I'm not going to predict that we will be champions immediately, but people know I don't care about mediocrity. I will always aim to at least be a contender. You have to be realistic first, and we have to go step by step to get to the level we are looking for," kassad said of the team's goals.

kassad then touched on his approach to coaching and said that his philosophy won't be much different from his previous teams. "I don't think anything is going to change in the way I see the game itself. Maybe I'll have some different approaches when it comes to coaching due to the experience I gathered across several years in broadcast, coaching, and everything else I was involved with. I can use that to be a better coach than I was," he began.

"In terms of the game, I have my vision and the way I want to play, I don't think that's going to change too much, but it's obvious that I have to adapt to the game itself. I can't be stubborn, I have to see how the game is developing, what the meta is currently, and what the capabilities and instincts of our players are. Only then can I develop a proper system that will fit everyone."