kuben interview: ENCE, Apeks, and the future

The Polish tactician is eyeing a return to coaching in the near future.

Jakub "⁠kuben⁠" Gurczyński is most known for being a member of the Golden Five, a dominant Polish 1.6 lineup, but his coaching credentials are nothing to be scoffed at either. The 36-year-old won nine titles with the legendary Virtus.pro roster before transitioning to coach an international team.

Stints in Apeks, with whom he reached the Paris Major semi-final, and ENCE followed, but the Pole found himself out of a job after leaving the Finnish organization in August.

Following a period on the sidelines, kuben spoke to HLTV about his successful Apeks stint, why things failed to work out in ENCE, and his plans for the future.

The conversation began with kuben reminiscing about the good times from his Apeks tenure. "Apeks will always remain in my memory as a project in which I received a lot of trust from the board. The semi-final at the Major was not a fluke, but the result of our joint hard work. I remain in good relations with all the players," he said.

kuben spent just over a year in the Norwegian organization, taking over when the team was ranked outside of the top 50 and leading them to a well-documented Paris Major semi-final, but he left the organization less than four months after the famous result.

"I don't regret that our paths diverged, despite the fact that our adventure was quite successful. When I signed with Apeks, our common goals did not go that far, and the place we found ourselves in after the Paris Major, in my opinion, required strengthening the staff. I had good intentions. I was looking into the future and wanted to prevent what eventually happened later," kuben shared about his exit.

"It is hard to find a team at the top with an undeveloped staff. In the past, only five players traveled to events, now, including media guys, it is usually about 10 people."

kuben showed an eye for talent during Apeks, bringing along Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius from MAD Lions and signing Damjan "⁠kyxsan⁠" Stoilkovski from BLUEJAYS, with both now playing at the very top of the game, and kuben says working with young people is something he enjoys very much.

"I believe that I can see the potential in players and I help to release it through conversations. In both cases, I was able to identify their identity and set a direction for their development. I have been in a relationship with CS for 25 years, so I have already learned a lot of solutions to every obstacle I have encountered and I'm still exploring new ways. Ultimately, it's all in the hands of the player and how badly he wants it."

The conversation then transitioned to kuben's ENCE stint, which ended in unceremonious fashion after a 10-month period.

"It's hard to deny that the beginning looked promising," the Pole began. "Very few people expected such a good performance in Katowice. The change of environment for the Polish core gave them a lot of confidence. Combined with the style in which I lead teams and gla1ve's server experience, it clicked."

The new-look ENCE debuted with wins G2 and Vitality to reach the quarter-finals of their home event, but that result proved to be a false dawn for the squad. Just four months after their breakout event, results soured enough for management to ring the changes, and the team never reached their previous heights.

"It's hard to say exactly what the reason [for not working out] was. If I had to mention a few aspects, it would definitely be the differences between my and gla1ve's vision of the game, as well as individual underperformance, which over time deepened the lack of faith in the success of the project. I think that it was too much pressure for some."

When asked to share more on the difference in philosophy as the biggest reason for his departure, kuben gave an honest admision of the process.

"We [me and gla1ve] saw this from the very beginning when we started working together. We had a lot of respect for each other, balancing it and giving each other space to make decisions. Month by month we noticed more and more differences between us, which finally forced the need for change.

"The lineup we announced in December was a short-term solution, and in my previous projects in Mad Lions and Apeks, we were putting the puzzle together to create a long-term project. Maybe that was a mistake."

kuben then shared some more insight about the last-minute signing of the Polish ENCE roster, saying that the situation was far from ideal. "When I joined the team, I got information that there would be some changes in the lineup and that gla1ve is going to be IGL," he began.

"It sounded very encouraging, and the goals were ambitious. However, the situation took on a different dimension when during the BLAST World Finals, we received information that three players from the lineup were leaving ENCE.

"We were in Abu Dhabi and the team was being assembled remotely. There were two options — one was an international team made of benched players from other teams, and the other was a Polish core from 9INE.

"In the end, we decided to bet on Poles in a slightly different lineup than we had planned, which caused the role clash. But with this lineup, we had a guaranteed participation at the RMR and were one step away from the Major," the 36-year-old shared about the decision.

"I think that the team's stability was more influenced by the fact that we regularly missed out on big events, which caused lack of experience further on," kuben said about the team's struggles, while admitting there was some bad luck involved too.

"For ESL partner teams, invites were only sent when the team was in the top 20 of the ESL ranking. ENCE was in No. 20 in late December 2023 and early January 2024, and on the day when invites were sent to two tier-one events, we dropped to No. 21, only to return to the top 20 the following week."

Despite his stint in the Finnish organization not being a long one, the Pole reiterated that ENCE are not the culprits for the messy situation. "I don't blame ENCE for the course of events in any way, because you have no influence over the players' decisions when Falcons come in with their budget," he added.

"I was disappointed that I didn't get a chance to rebuild the team, like I did at Apeks, where a month after I joined I presented a plan of action to the board and after many talks I got the green light to act, which eventually resulted in the best ranking position of the club at No. 8 in the world. ENCE wanted to take a different path," he lamented.

"However, after some time I understood that the fact that if you don't fit in somewhere, it doesn't mean that you have to lose your values, break down, and step down from your profession. Maybe I was in the wrong place then? I no longer have regrets, I got rid of anger and made room for new experiences because every failure is a starting point for the next evolution."

kuben has now been out of action since August and shared he used the time to give his family what he couldn't during the season, as well as taking care of his children while his wife had a surgical procedure and keeping in tune with the current CS meta.

"I am not a fan of long breaks from work, although after I got benched, I took a step or two back to look at the situation from a different perspective. At first, I felt a lot of resentment and it was hard for me to agree with this decision, and it took me quite some time to go through a process of forgiveness and open up to the future again," he admitted.

The conversation then transitioned to the future, and kuben shared that he wishes to remain in the international scene and that he is ready to return when an opportunity arises.

"After 5 years in Virtus.pro, I decided that I would like to coach an international team. The pressure from the community is part of our job, but Poland is a pretty big country with a huge CS community and believe me, you can really feel it on your shoulders when your plans don't go your way.

"The episode with ENCE was an exception to the rule and a somewhat forced situation. I am not closing doors forever, but at the moment I would prefer to return to an international team," kuben said about his next project.

"Coaching is my passion. When I look back at where I was five years ago and how much I have matured as a coach, a smile appears on my face, and a sincere belief that many beautiful moments are still ahead of me.

"I would like to chase dreams together with a group of people who share similar values ​​to mine. Help players become better human beings and let them feel they develop. I have the skills to coach a top team and such a job would be a dream. However, my recent projects also show that I can take over a team with ongoing issues, help rebuild it, and consistently achieve the set goals.

"Taking over a team in the middle of the season is rather unrealistic, but I see my chance in the summer transfer window. I'm ready to come back."