XBOCT Talks About Coaching NAVI in 2018

Oleksandr “XBOCT” Dashkevych recently shared his past experiences of coaching his former team, Natus Vincere (NAVI) in 2018, during a livestream on Twitch. During his five year tenure with NAVI, from 2010 to 2015, XBOCT became well-known as a legendary carry player and became a TI (The International) champion in 2011.

In 2018, XBOCT returned to his former organization as a coach while also reuniting with former teammate Danil "Dendi" Ishutin. However, the team was unable to qualify for The International 2018 (TI8) following a disappointing run in the Open Qualifiers.

XBOCT thinks that Lil’s arrival became the downfall of NAVI in 2018

According to cybersports.ru, XBOCT started off by saying that the team’s performance went downhill following the arrival of Ilya "Lil" Ilyuk and the departure of Vladimir "RodjER" Nikogosian with the former being well-known for his toxicity.

“Ever since Lil came and RodjER left, everything went to s***. There was no saving the team at that point anymore. [Question: What's so bad about Lil?] The reasons behind it are so long, I could write a thesis about Lil alone. It's the basics of relationships. I mean, he played on a lot of teams. He wasn't the only problem, but he added even more to the [bad] situation as it was.”

He then went on to talk about the 2018 NAVI roster in general, saying that he tried his best to coach the roster while also trying to bond with them but it was to no avail.

“That's what I say, as if they are all freaks, and I'm good. No, in fact I also tried to help for a while, tried to do a lot of things, played with them all the time, watched replays, hung out with the players everywhere, took them out together. However, when I see that [nothing] happens, I was like, "Yeah I also *** to score. ”

He then pointed out that the atmosphere within the team was so bad at the time that it had reached the point where players within the team did not even want to play with Dendi.

“So for the last couple of months, I've probably been sitting so purely watching the replays, saying some mistakes, not doing anything beyond my duties as a coach. In the beginning, I directly tried and constantly talked to each of them, with all of them together. I really tried to solve problems, but not everyone gave me feedback. And then, when I see that everyone has completely ***ed up, I said: "Whatever, I can play Hearthstone 24/7 and enjoy life too."” 

[transcriptions via cybersports.ru , translations via DeepL]

XBOCT ended up leaving the organization after the TI8 Open Qualifiers and went on to become a broadcast talent in the Eastern European (EEU) scene.