Hooch praises K27 after three-day coaching stint

Dmitry “hooch” Bogdanov coached K27 for three days at the RLG Tesla Cup after the team’s owner, Kondrat, asked him to provide temporary support. He praised the roster’s talent and character but remains uncertain about returning to coaching full time.

Kondrat first contacted hooch before the WINLINE MPKBK CIS LAN Season 9 event in Moscow. Scheduling prevented him from attending that tournament, so the RLG Tesla Cup became his first opportunity to work with the team. The roster includes Danila “kashl1d” Dronov, Daniil “qw1nk1” Kabilov, Aleksey “xeedo” Mikulich, Daniil “X5G7V” Maryshev and Timur “clax” Sabirov.

“I’d always liked this team; they’re very talented, and I wanted to help them somehow,” hooch said. “I believe that many players on this team and the team as a whole can play at the very highest level.”

Hooch described experience, confidence and composure in certain in-game situations as areas that K27 needed to improve. He also praised the players’ personalities, which he viewed as one of the roster’s strengths.

The brief coaching stint allowed hooch to experience tournament competition again after working in media and on broadcasts. He described coaching as a difficult and often thankless profession, and added that he could consider returning by the end of the year. He currently has no definite plans to take a full-time coaching position.

Hooch also discussed the shortage of coaches in the Russian-speaking Counter-Strike scene. In his view, a coach does not need to have played professionally, but must understand the game, lead the team and support players psychologically. He added that burnout causes some coaches to leave the profession.

He identified K27’s kashl1d and Nuclear TigeRES player Ilya “flouzer” Selifonov as two promising young players in the region. Hooch highlighted their mechanical skills, approach to the game, work ethic and personalities.

“Very promising guys, both of them,” he said. “Most importantly, their characters are very good.”

Hooch also pointed to the growing number of young players from the Russian-speaking scene. He mentioned prospects from K27 and other teams, as well as players developing through FACEIT, and predicted that more could join European lineups.

Discussing the region’s esports economy, hooch noted that many teams had cut their budgets after changes to betting legislation. He added that leading organizations continued to receive support from betting sponsors and urged teams to seek partners from other industries.

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