Rank Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
    View Today
    Sun, Nov 5

    To combat complacency, RSG reveals the massive changes in their regimen

    RSG are hoping that they can bounce back in Season 10
    Aug 28, 2022
    undefined

    RSG’s struggles this season may possibly be giving Coach Brian “Panda” Lim a bad sense of deja vu.

    When ArkAngel won in Season 3 under Coach Panda’s guidance, the team suddenly collapsed the following season.

    And with the defending champs RSG PH losing to the likes of Omega Esports and Onic PH, could Coach Panda be on the road to a second downturn?

    However, their victory against Bren Esports yesterday, August 27, in a 2-1 slugfest revealed that the team still has a fighting chance in Season 10.

    Given how the team struggled this season, Coach Panda made massive changes in their training regimen, which also explains the reason why the likes of Kenneth Jiane “Kenji” Villa and Clarense Jay “Kousei” Camilo were given an opportunity to be selected on the main five, despite the formidable reputation of RSG’s MSC roster.

    Kenji, Kousei in rotation for RSG

    “No roster is perfect. If you take it to the next season paulit, so we decided, no more main five. It’s just team A and team B, and then we will do tests every week. Whoever performs better will be chosen on the main five,” shared Coach Panda during the post-series press conference.

    To qualify for a playing spot requires a huge effort.

    “For example, EMANN is always playing in the lineup before, but Kousei played better this week so he was in the first lineup. We also decided not only do you need to pass the scrims, but you need to pass the tournament as well.”

    He added: “It’s not about you doing well, it’s just really about how do you deal with the pressure, how you communicate, by listening through the comms from the tournament.“

    During the match against Bren Esports, Coach Panda dropped Kousei and replaced him with Eman “EMANN” Sangco after their Game 2 loss.

    Surprisingly, his decision wasn’t based on tactical matters.

    “We didn’t change because Kousei underperformed. It’s just that if you lose, switch player, if you win, tuloy. That’s what we’re trying to implement ngayon. It’s still hard to accept because syempre momentum, you lost, you want to make bawi, but it’s the same thing for everyone kase. That’s what we’re doing right now.”

    ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW ↓

    The pros and cons of RSG's approach

    With RSG’s new approach comes both the pros and cons.

    The downside? Players could end up depressed.

    “Let me start with the bad things," explained Panda. "The bad things are: Yes, you want to bawi, you want to do better, and if you cannot prove yourself again because your chance was taken away, of course you’ll end up depressed. But we always remind them, there’s always next game and it happens every week. We need to let them know that it’s not over."

    However, this could also serve as a source of motivation for the team.

    “The good thing is, the players are always looking forward to making bawi next week, so they always want to have expectations that they want to fulfill. Isipin mo lahat ng mga practices, they’ll take it seriously, they will not think na it’s paulit-ulit araw-araw, win or lose, the main team will still play.”

    CONTINUE READING BELOW ↓
    Watch Now

    He added: “We have 10 players. If I just focused on the main five and paulit-ulit, the players will think like, tomorrow I’ll be playing naman, the next day, I’ll be playing naman, next week I’ll be playing naman, when will this be over? They will get pagod because there is no competitiveness. They’re all young, they want excitement."

    But besides eliminating the repetitive nature of the grind, Coach Panda’s new philosophy will allow his players to maintain their edge.

    “We tried using the main lineup at the beginning and we decided if this variation swap is worth it ba kase the MSC lineup already proved themselves e, but what I felt and noticed is that we need a new ambiance.

    “The players take it for granted that their main slot is secured because they’ve won the MSC and what happens is they become lazy and they lose focus,” he said.

    ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW ↓

    How the players reacted

    While Coach Panda’s new approach could cause a rift within the team, the players have responded positively.

    For Nathanael “Nathzz” Estrologo, the new system would eliminate the team’s complacency.

    “Masaya kasi binibigyan ako ng kaba at hindi ako nagiging kampante araw-araw kase malay mo mapapalitan ako kahit bata pa at wala akong magagawa.”

    In addition, Kousei revealed that this would further enhance the team’s chemistry.

    “Masaya and exciting dahil lahat nabibigyan ng chance makapaglaro, kailangan mo talagang ipaglaban yung slot sa MPL. Masaya din kase nagkakaroon ng bagong chemistry and bonding,” said the veteran gold laner.

    Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph

    Read Next
    Watch Now
    Sorry, no results found for
  • POLL

    • Quiz

      Quiz Result