Janko “YNk” Paunovic has gone from top CSGO analyst to CSGO coach, and FanSided spoke to him at his final ELEAGUE about all things Counter-Strike.
It’s been a busy few months for Janko “YNk” Paunovic. The best analyst in CSGO returned to the competitive scene this summer, when he was hired as the new coach for MIBR.
The news wasn’t a huge shocker, because Janko had a solid playing career, then proved himself to be the best tactical mind on the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene — a scene he understands well both on and off the server.
Before he stepped away from the analyst desk, FanSided sat down with Janko at the ELEAGUE Premier to discuss several of the current topics in the CSGO scene, and how he always kept his competitive edge.
Read what he had to tell us below, then keep up with Janko and the MIBR Counter-Strike team here.
FanSided: What’s your perspective on the current CSGO scene overall?
Janko “YNk” Paunovic (YNk): I think the players may have too much power within the team to demand changes and knock out some players. A lot of teams have the problem of not having the right culture within the team and they just take the easy way out. Something bad happens, they change a player or they want to change this or want to change that … You just want a way for you to get motivated and start working again.
I think we should see more of it being [led by] the coach or the general manager. Those are the people who are going to be talking to the players, to form the team, and the player’s job is supposed to be to practice and play. Other people will be managing the team. You’ll have a coach who will hopefully introduce that culture and create the right attitude and everything with the team.
FanSided: Do you believe there’s any truth to the idea that less CSGO tournaments would make for a better quality of Counter-Strike?
YNk: A hundred percent. You go from one tournament right to the next one, how are you going to be any better? You haven’t had the time to change anything, to work on anything. I think we’re going to see more teams in the near future pick their tournaments better.
We’re going to see teams play only one online league as well, because it’s such a long season. Sure the prize pool is high but first place, as far as I know, it’s between 200 and 300K. It’s great money, but considering you have to play for three months and then still go to the finals and have a lengthy tournament there, some teams are going to figure out okay, we don’t need to do that. It’s better to just focus on one [league] and then we have more time to focus on practicing and preparing and playing the big tournaments.
FanSided: Speaking of playing, when there’s a showmatch at ELEAGUE or elsewhere, you are always one of the first picks. What’s the secret to your success?
YNk: I think it’s because I play the game. All of the other guys don’t really play CS when they get back home, because they are only home for a few days or they play another game. But for me [CSGO]’s also fun because some of my friends I met on CS and the people I play with on the server, we always have a lot of fun. It’s not just about playing the game, it’s about having fun.
FanSided: Do you miss playing professionally at all?
YNk: I do sometimes. I miss competing a lot. Playing, I miss it but I’m realistic in knowing that it wouldn’t be reasonable for me to get back into playing. Something like coaching would be more realistic for me to do in the future. Maybe in the far future, [forming] a team with some of my ex-teammates or something, we could do something like that, where we take it casually.
FanSided: Regardless of your role, your enthusiasm for Counter-Strike is always obvious. What keeps CSGO exciting for you?
YNk: What I love most about my job is when I see someone tweet at me or come up to me at events and say hey, I really appreciate your work. You really got me interested into like paying attention to CS when you point something out, and it’s like you show this whole new level of the game that’s super-interesting and gets me hooked to watch the games. That’s what I love the most, to make more familiar to people how great this game is.
I’m personally excited about having new regions become competitive … I think that’s super-cool, to have all these regions coming up and putting up a good fight. CS is becoming more global, so I’m excited for that.
Also hoping that the scene will clear itself out a little bit. That we won’t have as many tournaments or there will be more distinction … I think the teams need to pick their tournaments more so when we actually have a tournament like Cologne, there’s not asterisks to it or anything like that. You can just have the best teams be at full strength and competing for that top spot.
FanSided: What’s one thing you’d like to see happen for Counter-Strike in the future?
YNk: I’d like to see more players act in a professional manner. I can understand them — no one got into CS to make a living out of it. Everyone started off having fun and enjoying their game, and then they got really good at it. They went to tournaments and started playing on teams, and all of a sudden you were getting thousands of dollars in salary, and you’re traveling the world and have sponsor obligations, and so on and so forth.
It’s become more of a job for you than something you do for fun, and I think they need to catch up in how they need to act and behave inside the server [and] outside the server. Their demeanor and being part of a team, I don’t think a lot of them understand what that means and [about] being professional. I think Astralis is one of the teams that’s kind of leading the way in that sense and I think it’s one of the reasons they’re so successful at the moment, too.
I’m hoping — and expecting because I know some of the owners are going to start demanding that of their players — that we are going to see people be a bit more professional in how they act.
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