Coaching, Data, and the Future of Rocket League - Metsanauris (Part 2)

Join us in Part 2 of this interview with retired Rocket League pro, Metsanauris, to explore his transition into coaching and the evolving landscape of Rocket League esports. Discover his insights on data-driven coaching, the importance of statistics in gameplay, and his aspirations to coach an RLCS team. We also delve into the dynamics of team formation, the role of sports psychologists, and the impact of young talent in the esports scene. Don’t miss this deep dive into the world of Rocket League!

You can watch or listen to the video on YouTube or read the transcript below. Enjoy and if you haven’t, check out Part 1 first!

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The Interview Transcript

*Editor’s Note: This transcript was generated with AI assistance and then manually proofread and edited for readability. It is not a 100% accurate match to the recording.

Metsanauris’ Transition From Pro Player Into Coaching

Are you officially a coach now?

Mr. Pirate: All right, Metsa. So, you know, you retired I believe last summer. And in your announcement, you mentioned interest in going into coaching as well as maybe, you know, casting or watch parties and just still being involved in the Rocket League scene. So, what have you been up to since then in RL esports? Are you officially a coach now? Is it coach Metsa?

Metsanauris: I’m mostly doing coaching stuff at this moment. Obviously, I’m doing my civil service and that’s taking a lot of my time. So, this year it’s been a lot less coaching and my metafy coaching has been on break for a while now. But once I’m done with my civil service, it’s going to be a lot more of that. But after retiring it’s been a lot of coaching and then getting involved with Data Coach and kind of all these different things that I could kind of get into. But the coaching is the main thing. I really want to pursue more coaching opportunities as much as I can.

Did you always plan to become a coach?

Mr. Pirate: Yeah. And, you know, was coaching something that you were interested in during your playing days, or was it just kind of when you were considering retirement and you were thinking, what do I want to do next? That it came to mind?

Metsanauris: I was really focused on just being the best player I could when I was playing. I enjoyed that role. And that’s what gave me great joy. So I wasn’t really too focused on what I wanted to do after. But once I was done with Rocket League, it felt like I wanted to stay in this scene. This is the only thing I know about, this is my whole adulthood that I’ve spent on this game and this scene. And I have a lot of friends and connections here, so I wanted to stay connected. So I thought coaching was the next natural thing that I could do and kind of share what I know with other people as well and try to learn something new every day about a different kind of, skill and, push myself forward.

What type of players are you coaching?

Mr. Pirate: Yeah. Awesome. And, what kind of players are you working with right now? Are you coaching people who are just trying to rank up? Are you coaching bubble players or pro players?

Metsanauris: Basically I have no limitations. Basically, I’m looking to coach anyone that wants to improve because that’s what I wanted to do. Anyone deserves the chance to improve. I would love to work with a team or, any kind of like CRL, RLCS, anything like that. Individual coaching, lower team level coaching. I want to gain experience in this field as well. And I don’t have any certain things that I only can do at this moment. I’m not limiting myself to anything right now.

Will we see you coaching in RLCS?

Mr. Pirate: You mentioned CRL and RLCS. Is that kind of the big aspiration right now to coach an RLCS team? Will we see you behind the players at one of these LANs coming up next year?

Metsanauris: Certainly I would love for that to happen. But I know esports is a lot of friendships and there are a lot of opportunities that are about luck and stuff. So I’m not forcing myself to be in a situation where I’m just going to have either I coach a team or I’m not doing anything. I want to pursue as much coaching, as many coaching avenues as I can, and then hopefully that gets me somewhere. I’d love to coach a team or something like that but as of right now, I don’t have a team to coach or anything. So if you’re one, hit me up.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, you heard him guys. Orgs and players out there, a lot of you could benefit from Metsanauris’ experience and his brain.

The Value of Data in Rocket League Esports.

What is RL Data Coach?

And I can vouch for him actually because I attended your coaching event last week and I learned a lot. It was really eye-opening and you know that event was put on by rldatacoach.com. Can you tell us what is RL Data Coach, what are they offering, and kind of how did you connect with them?

Metsanauris: Yeah, so RL Data Coach is like a data analytics tool for Rocket League coaching specifically. How it works is you upload replays into the site and it kind of analyzes them, and tells you what to improve upon. Then we have training plans that you can follow and community discovery, you can ask for help, and a lot of different stuff. Basically, it’s meant to be a data-driven coaching tool for anyone to use. I got into it early this year, maybe April time. They messaged me with what my aspirations were and kind of if I wanted to be involved in this project then our visions very much aligned already in the first conversations, where it feels like data is really important in the future of coaching. Not just in Rocket League or esports. For me, it felt like it’s going to be the future of coaching in sports or anything. So we got talking and then slowly we’ve been doing different stuff, and I’ve been trying to help them with the project as much as I can as well.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, that’s really awesome. I’ve been checking out the community and also the website. I just made an account and started uploading some replays there. It’s definitely a unique approach because I think data is not something that is utilized a lot in Rocket League.

Is data undervalued in Rocket League?

Outside of the typical goals, assists, and saves that you see on the leaderboard, do you think that statistics and data are just undervalued and people are not realizing how they could be beneficial? Or know, is it… do you need an AI to analyze them or it’s something that anyone can use?

Metsanauris: I feel like it’s underused but I don’t think everyone needs to only look at data to learn what they need to do better. I think it’s a great tool to further your knowledge and it helps you kind of guide which areas you want to focus upon and see things, see things that you don’t maybe see with your own eyes or something like that. It’s an extra tool and it’s really useful because it only states the facts, it only looks at the data, which is not something that you can really manipulate. It’s data and the results are the same, and they keep happening. So I think it’s really important and in the future of any kind of coaching, you’re going to see it a lot more.

Mr. Pirate: Okay, yeah, that would be really interesting.

What are some interesting stats to look into?

And we have seen Rocket League broadcasts utilize some advanced statistics from time to time. Do you think there are any specific metrics outside of the obvious goals, assists, and saves? Are there any metrics that you think are really interesting or give you kind of a unique insight into a player’s playstyle or a team as a whole?

Metsanauris: There’s definitely a ton, now that I’ve kind of gotten more to see what kind of data you can gather. Like so many things. Maybe the most basic examples would be kind of your distance to your teammates or the distance between the ball and yourself or how fast you recover or whoever gets the first touch on a save or who keeps control of the ball. There are so many things that you can track, that are really interesting to look at and it’s really beneficial to individuals or teams when you can actually kind of gather what you’re looking for.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, no, I mean I follow you know, soccer or football a lot and they’ve started using a lot of advanced analytics in that sport over the years. And I’m really curious to see specifically kind of what, what attacks or what types of shots are the kind of the highest percentage, especially in 3v3. Because you see a lot of people go for. You know, early on there were backboard plays where, you know, very, very strong and people got really good at defending them. Infield passes were really strong and people got better at defending them. So I kind of want to see what are the highest percentage shots. I would love to see this applied to RLCS so we could find that stuff out. Outside of looking at these teams through a statistics side of things, you also have replay analysis and tactics essentially which you went into during your coaching class last week.

Is Rocket League strategy figured out?

Do you think that Rocket League still has a lot of tactical evolution left in the game or have we kind of figured out how it should be played and the general rotation that people play is kind of set now?

Metsanauris: There’s always stuff to learn, and I don’t think any sport, you took football or soccer as an example. Right. But it keeps evolving after all these years. Even though it’s pretty simple if you think about the whole idea. But, the game always keeps evolving. There’s never going to be a time where, okay, this is the only way to go where people are going to learn to do things more efficiently all the time. I think it just becomes slower a little bit, the way things evolve. But people will find ways to do things better and it will evolve for a while. Obviously, the basic rotation and stuff will probably stay very similar, but with the little nuances, there are always new things to learn.

Is Rocket League evolving because players are improving mechanically?

Mr. Pirate: Do you think some of these new things are due to players improving mechanically or maybe new mechanics coming in? Or is it just we learn better how to fundamentally position?

Metsanauris: I think it comes down to a little bit of everything because people are learning these new mechanics and they’re recovering quickly. It gives them chances to do positional stuff differently because they’re not taking themselves out of the game for as much. They have a lot more boost. For example, there’s a lot of stuff that helps other aspects of the game. So I think it goes kind of hand in hand.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, I mean, I think your argument is proven just looking at 1v1. In the early days in 1v1 was everyone playing super safe on the ground, with simple dribbles and flicks. And if you go for an aerial, you’re all-in, really risky. And now it’s like you go for an aerial attack any chance you get because of how strong it is. And players are so good at recovering off of these plays.

Do players focus too much on mechanics and neglect the fundamentals?

Now, do you think players maybe focus a bit too much on mechanics? Because if you look online, if you look on Reddit or any community, everyone is asking, how do I air dribble, how do I flip reset, how do I chain dash? But rarely people are asking, what is wrong with my positioning here? Do people kind of neglect the fundamentals?

Metsanauris: It’s hard to say. A lot of people just seem to do the mechanical stuff because it’s more fun to learn. And I agree because that’s what people want to do. They want to get better, but get enjoyment while they’re doing it, right? So, you want to focus on stuff that you really like. There are a million things that you can improve upon. So if you like doing more mechanical stuff, you can focus on mechanical stuff. And when the time comes, you can focus. If you feel like you’re lacking behind in positional or very basic aspects in Rocket League, then you can start catching up. And then you have an advantage on people that don’t have the mechanics in that scenario. So I, don’t think you’re not supposed to look at the basics. But if you feel like you’re improving, I think that’s the most important part for me at least.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, that makes all sense. I, definitely see, at least in my ranks a, lot of players who maybe are really good mechanically, but then they have no idea how to play the game mode. They’re just cutting each other off or they’re double committing. A lot of mistakes that I would hope would be ironed out by the champ or grand champ ranks. These are plat or diamond level mistakes that I would not expect to see, but you see them every single game.

What is the biggest mistake players in ranked make?

What’s the biggest kind of positioning issue that you see in rank twos and threes, that you think if players just fixed this one thing, they would immediately improve and shoot up the ranks?

Metsanauris: I think probably the number one thing is people, just drive really close to their teammate’s backside. There are some words you could use for that, but yeah, if you just keep driving really close to your, the backside of your teammate, you’re probably not in a helpful position. And usually, you’re better off keeping your distance further apart.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, I call it sniffing ass. I always feel like, yeah, they’re right up my butt. And I’m just like, what am I supposed to do to help you out here? Like, can you give me a passing option? Or can you at least cover if I lose this 50 or something? But no, they just want to take over the ball as soon as I get a heavy touch or something so they can take over. And I’m just like, I don’t want to play this. But, you know, that’s just solo queue ranked. Ah

What mistakes do RLCS teams make?

What about for RLCS teams? I assume you watch RLCS when you can. Are there ever, you know, kind of like, positioning issues from pro teams that you see that you’re just like, facepalming? You’re like, you know, how is this team getting away with this? Or how are they making this mistake?

Metsanauris: I’m not really a great judge of what teams have, like, kind of, decided what they want to do. If they want to do, odd rotations or stuff like that, then they probably have a reasoning behind them. So I can maybe tell you about my teams or something that when I was playing, we did some horrendous defending at points. But then obviously you learn from those mistakes, and I don’t think anyone does the exact same mistakes intentionally. They get better at it. So, yeah, there’s been some horrendous ones in my career. But you live and you learn a little bit.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, I mean, hopefully you live and learn. You learn or, the team falls apart, you know, and that happens a lot too. You know, I guess you’re saying that it’s kind of hard to judge because you don’t know what they’re trying to do. You don’t know their intent or what rotation they’re they’re trying to aim for. You know, that kind of speaks to coaching, I would say.

How involved are coaches when it comes to tactics?

Like, my first question is, how involved are coaches with the rotations and with the tactics of a team? Or is it, you know, the players come together and they decide how they’re going to play, and then the coach kind of comes in to maybe assist or maybe they’re more involved with the psychology. How influential are the coaches in tactics?

Metsanauris: There are a lot of different coaches when it comes down to this. There’s been a lot of coaches, especially in the past, that don’t really do much of anything when it comes to tactics. Or trying to help the team become better. But I think slowly, it’s become less and less. It’s a really important part of Rocket League. And you want to be able to help the team when they can figure out the answers. Usually, it’s a team kind of working together with the coach that tries to come up with your play style or something like structuring your team and designing these rules for how you want to do stuff. So ah, I think the coach is one extra voice that has an opinion that is very neutral compared to players because they see it from their own perspective. Right. So it’s a really important role. But it’s not really a coach who decides this and that and the players follow. I don’t think anyone does it quite like that.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, that’s another pretty big difference from traditional sports where it kind of is the coach decides and the players just follow.

How can fans judge coaches or hold them accountable?

You know, there has been some conversation about coaches in RLCS recently online. And you know, a lot of fans will kind of jump on a coach and criticize them for a team not performing. But it’s kind of hard, like you said, to know what the coach’s role is, what their influence is, and whether the mistakes were because of the coach’s strategy or was it just the players not executing. How do we as fans or the media or whatever judge coaches? How do we hold them accountable if we don’t know what they’re doing?

Metsanauris: It’s a great question. I’ve always thought you shouldn’t judge the players or the coaches as individuals. I think you should judge the teams, because someone might not have as visible a role as a star player, for example, but they have as big of a role, and if they weren’t there, the team wouldn’t function as well. So people really want to individualize teams and stuff. But I think the best way to see who’s a good coach and who isn’t is by the way the teams do and how the teams adapt. And does it feel like the coach is influencing that? Right. And with some coaches, it seems pretty obvious that they’re good. But there’s no real way to judge people from the outside. I think so, yeah. I would just say, look at the teams and how they’re doing instead of trying to individualize who does what and who deserves credit.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, I mean it’s a great thought. But I don’t think people are going to do that, yeah, people love to you know, point fingers and blame people, even if it should be that everyone is held accountable and it’s all shared.

What coaches do you admire?

You know, in your career, you worked with a few different coaches and also got to probably speak with many others at these events. Are there any coaches that you really admire yourself?

Metsanauris: I admire probably quite a few of them. But the one that comes to mind is Ferra. I think he’s just such a well-spoken, charismatic, I know he’s a really good tactician when it comes down to Rocket League. He’s great at person management, and very emotionally intelligent. Yeah, I think he’s the full package when it comes to a coaching role. So yeah, I admire Ferra a lot.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, I was at the Boston Major a couple of years ago where Ferra I think had probably the best coaching speech in Rocket League history where he won over the American crowd who at the time I was there, we were hoping to see an American team do well, a North American team. And after Gen.G, I think went out there was none left and you know, Vitality was coming in as favorites, and people were not rooting for them. And then he just completely won us over with that speech. And you know, and I think you can see that when he joined Karmine Corp, they had an amazing start to the season as well. And I think that was a big part of you know, was his influence. So yeah, I agree Ferra is an excellent coach.

How would Metsanauris want his teams to play?

And you know, if you were coaching an RLCS team, maybe going up against Ferra how would you want your team to play? Would you look at teams from the past that you would want to emulate their style? You know, what would your team play like?

Metsanauris: I’m no football manager where I would say you need to do this formation and do this. Well, I ah, think you need to copy whoever’s doing the best at certain stuff. I always like to copy other people. When I was a pro. You try to see what other people are doing better than you and you try to adapt that to your playstyle. Obviously, you want the players to play to their best comfort and you want to make them feel like they’re doing their role, and they’re being impactful at all times. But you want to always keep adding stuff from other teams and other players that feel like you could do better or your team could do better or anything like that. So any current team that is doing better than you. You should probably be watching what they do better than you and try to copy them. And obviously, if you’re the best, then you can always try to be one step ahead and try to come up with new stuff. But that’s always harder than trying to copy the best.

How Rocket League Has Changed At A High Level

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, for sure. That makes sense. And I think you see that in every esport and RLCS as well. You know, “Monkey See, Monkey Do”, or “Monkey Moon See, Monkey Moon Do”, I guess.

Some of the best players ever weren’t flashy. Are non-mechy players undervalued?

Do you think for Rocket League specifically, like, the way that things have kind of evolved…players are becoming more and more fast, more and more mechanical. Do you think that players who play kind of this “support” play style, who are maybe more defensive, maybe they look for more passes? Do you think that they kind of get undervalued? Or do you think that it’s key to have those types of players in your team as well? Because I think a lot of times people would say you were that type of player for your team, where you were supporting the players so that they could pop off. And, we’ve seen a lot of players, some of the best players of all time kind of fill that type of role. Turbopulsa, some would say Monkey Moon, maybe Kaydop even at times. Do you think that fans and even other players kind of underrate these players who are just always in the right spot? Or do you think that we should be praising the players who can just score on their own?

Metsanauris: I think these days it’s gonna become more and more. You don’t really recognize those players anymore. But they’re there, right? Because they’re so mechanical. a lot of people can do those exact same things where you do mechanical plays, but it’s the mindset that some people have where they’re enabling their teammates really well. I would even say, like, Zen is the future of an enabler. It doesn’t feel like he’s a star that takes up a lot of space and kind of makes it hard for his teammates, but he’s more of an enabler and makes his teammates do well as well. So, I think that’s kind of where it’s going. You have the same kind of traits, but they get masked under the mechanics and stuff like that.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah. So you think that every pro now, you know, needs to have kind of that high level of mechanical quality where maybe in the past you could get away with, you know, not being quite at the top mechanically if you had the game sense, but now you need both because the competition has just gotten even tougher.

Metsanauris: Well, if you want to be the best, then you would need both. Right? But obviously, you can still compete if you have a lower mechanical level and you’re higher in other aspects of the game. But, to be the complete player, you want all aspects, right? So, yeah, if you’re striving towards being the best, then yeah, for sure.

Did you feel under-appreciated during your career because of your playstyle?

Mr. Pirate: I mean, you know, just speaking from your perspective, did it ever, you know, bother you a little bit that you didn’t necessarily get the same level of, attention or praise because you were playing more of a supportive play style and getting more assists rather than maybe just going for goals yourself or you didn’t care as long as you were winning?

Metsanauris: I didn’t really care as long as I was winning, except for when my confidence was really low. Then, you’re looking for someone to boost you up, and if no one’s boosting you up, then, it’s hard, right? But slowly, you start building your own confidence that doesn’t relate to other people’s opinions. And that’s really important for all players, to not look at Reddit and see, okay, this guy thinks I’m bad. Maybe I am bad. Or even more threatening is they look for Reddit to see their praise. And they see, okay, okay, I’m doing really good now because people are praising me because that’s not going to happen always. Sometimes it’s going to be the opposite way and then it’s going to affect you a lot more.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, I bet. I’m sure Twitter is even worse for a lot of these young pros.

Will young players keep replacing older pros?

You know, speaking of young pros, I guess, I did want to ask this question a bit later, but I’m going to ask it now. Rocket League is a very young esport. I think it’s kind of an outlier in this regard. A lot of other esports do see older players continuing to thrive and do well. But in this game, it seems the player base… we see young players coming in and just immediately making an impact. And they’ve even lowered the age requirement, this past season from 15. And it’s now 13 years old and you can play in RLCS. Do you think that the player base will keep getting younger? Or do you think that the older players have a bit more staying power now?

Metsanauris: Well, I think how it is right now where a lot of the best players are young, it’s going to stay like that, but it’s not going to get younger and younger. I think this is how it’s going to be, pretty much. I think young people learn new stuff really quickly and they adapt really well. But more importantly, it’s a team game and it’s hard to get that spot in a top team if you’re getting older and kind of in the latter part of your career. People prefer the young new talents because that’s their ticket to the top a lot of the time it feels like. So it’s harder for older people to get into good teams and in that way, it’s harder for them to stay at the top. But I don’t think the ability is going anywhere. I think some older people definitely can compete at the top for sure, but it’s hard to get those opportunities these days.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, I definitely can see that the young players have more time to put into, grinding than an adult would. They’ve got career and family and other responsibilities.

Is it okay for a 13-year-old to compete as a professional?

But I do think that 13 is just so, so young. They barely have any life experience at that point and now suddenly they might be competing as a professional. It’s just kind of crazy to think about. Do you think this is kind of a dangerous idea to have a young kid competing at 13, or do you think it’s fine?

Metsanauris: It’s definitely dangerous but, they’re going to play anyways. It’s just going to be a bigger stage and more pressure. I don’t really know. I haven’t been a 13-year-old trying to become a pro. I can’t say I’m an expert in this way. I was only 18 when I went pro and that felt like a perfect age for me. So 13 sounds really young. I can’t even think of what I was at 13. Definitely not ready to be an esports pro, but some people might be for all I know.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, I mean, who knows? Like I won’t be totally shocked if we do see a 13-year-old at LAN sooner or later. But I just worry about the person, how is this going to affect their development. Seeing as we mentioned, all the negative criticism on social media and just dealing with the pressure of having to compete and being expected to win. It’s a lot for a young person to deal with. But you know, at the same time, it is very exciting and I can see why people would want to see that.

The Future of Rocket League and Its Esports Scene

Does RL esports have a bright future?

The Rocket League esports scene is a lot more mature now compared to when you were competing. When it started off it just naturally grew, which was great to see. But, we’ve also had kind of some setbacks in the last couple of years. There’s a lot of uncertainty about the growth and finances of Rocket League esports. Do you think that, this is just kind of a bump in the road and that Rocket League still has a lot of growing and bright future ahead of it or, you know, we kind of stagnated and we’re in for some tougher times?

Metsanauris: It doesn’t look that bright right now. I feel like a lot of it is because of the RLCS format and the really long breaks and off-seasons. That kind of breaks the whole ecosystem where orgs don’t really want to be involved for so many months, where there’s no exposure or anything, you want to have as much stuff happening as possible. But yeah, I think as an esport this game still has a lot to give and I want to see it grow and I feel like it could grow, but, something about the ecosystem should change and improve for teams and orgs and for the esports to stay healthy.

Do you like the current RLCS format?

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, there’s definitely been tons of conversation around this since the season ended, and a lot of people are asking for Psyonix or Epic to change the format or the schedule. Do you like the current RLCS format? Because you’re one of the few pros who competed in the old format, the league era, as well as the pandemic era, you could say the online era and then also the open era. You know, do you like the current format they have now or did you like one of the older ones better? And what would you like specifically for them to change?

Metsanauris: I think I liked the format when I was playing, not this current format of two majors and worlds, but I liked three majors and worlds and hopefully there would be some third-party LAN tournaments in between. Like there are a couple now, but if there are more RLCS tournaments, then the stuff that happens in between wouldn’t be so separated from them. Right. But it would be more part of the ecosystem and trying to build it together with other people. So I think as many tournaments as possible is the healthiest for any esport. So obviously for some players or for players sake, you want to have breaks at some point, but this is way too many breaks that we have right now.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, I agree. I mean I can’t wait for RLCS to come back. It feels like we had two breaks because of the long break after major two. But you know… we just have to wait it out I guess.

If you were in charge, what changes would you make to Rocket League?

A lot of people have also been commenting on you know, Rocket League has had some updates in the past few months, which is a refreshing change after many years of nothing really. They’ve added the boost meter and now they’ve added this match history. I’m hoping they keep adding more stuff. If you were in charge, if you were the lead designer at Psyonix for Rocket League 2, you know, the Unreal Engine 5 update that’s been rumored or whatever it ends up being, what changes would you make? Would you add new game modes or new playlists? Would you try a bigger map, bigger team sizes, or just add more toppers and cosmetics and keep everything the same?

Metsanauris: Definitely not the last option, but I think what they want to do already and what I would imagine is to create this platform where people can create freely and you can play multiplayer in Workshop maps and you can have this platform to have the community drive itself up again, where you give yourself opportunities on playing on new kinds of maps that people do or completely new game modes where it’s workshop or something, where it’s like racing modes or something. That is not limited to normal Rocket League, but giving yourself unlimited opportunities to do stuff with friends. And I think that’s what they would want to do as well. So I’m hoping that’s going to be in the future.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, that sounds like a brilliant idea. I would love to see that. And it’s kind of a shame that they haven’t done that because there are so many great workshop maps out there, but you can’t easily play with someone on them. And you know, Rocket Racing didn’t really end up being related to Rocket League at all. And yeah, I think one of my big complaints is that they have this friends list system in Rocket League but you can’t message anyone. And so all you can do is send them an invite and it’s like, well, what if I just want to tell them, “Hey, I’m free in 20 minutes”?. Or, “Sorry, I already have someone in my party”. Like, you can’t do anything other than just ignore it or accept it. So that’s. I would really like that change. But, yeah, there’s a lot of things they could do to improve the game, I think.

How do RLCS teams form?

Yeah, you know, we kind of touched on this earlier, but speaking, of RLCS specifically, and, you know, there’s been a lot of teams, forming right now because it’s the off-season. And I guess as a fan, I want to know, how do these pro teams come together? Is it just players, you know, chatting with each other and saying, like, hey, let’s try out. Is it an org reaching out to them? And what do players prioritize when they’re forming a team? Are they looking for, I want to win. I want a team that can compete for, you know, LAN a world championship, or I want to play with my friends. I mean, this guy and I really get along. I want to play with him. Or I think if I play with this guy, I’ll get signed to an org because he’s got a big following. What’s kind of the mindset of players when they’re forming teams?

Metsanauris: It’s usually just players talking to each other and trying to find the best combination. Hopefully, you find someone who really links up with you well, and you become kind of like a duo that’s looking for a third. Or perhaps you are a duo from before and you’re just looking for a new third, and then you can just try out new stuff. But a lot of people just try out with a million combinations, and it doesn’t really lead to as much as when you find that one person you really enjoy playing with, and then trying to find a third for that, I think becomes a lot easier. But, yeah, it’s just mostly, players messaging, other players that they think are good or something like that, where they feel like the team could work. Usually, they prioritize their friends. If there are two options and one of them is their friend and one of them isn’t, then they’re gonna go with the friend. Right. And a lot of teams throughout the years have been best buddies just making teams, but obviously, they have some kind of synergy already from before, so it makes some kind of sense. But they also limit themselves by just looking at who they like to hang out with instead of trying to be the best. But a lot of the time that’s. They just want to enjoy their time in a team. So a million factors go into it. Some are more ambitious than others, but yeah, it’s a really. It’s kind of like trying to find your perfect teammate out from the wilderness. It’s. You have to try everything and you have to hope that the other guy that you want to team with wants to team with you.

Is trying out for rosters stressful?

Mr. Pirate: And when you’re doing these tryouts, is it kind of stressful? You’re like, I’m not sure what team I’m gonna land on. I’m not sure if we’re gonna have an org or is it just kind of exciting because you’re getting to see all these potential teams that could be great. What’s it like?

Metsanauris: For me, it was always really stressful. Just you’re always trying to perform to your highest level, even if you feel like maybe this isn’t gonna work. But, everyone talks to everyone and it’s really important that you do well in every tryout or, you wanna find the best possible scenario that you can from that off-season. So it’s tough and it’s really stressful. Yeah. For me at least.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, I can imagine. We’ve been seeing the. I don’t know if you follow, but, there’s been a lot of, you know, people post tryouts and rumored team combinations, and then fans will speculate on, oh, this team looks dope, or I don’t see the reason why these players will play together. But for the players themselves, it must be like, oh my god, like, please, I hope I can find a good team. And we, get signed and everything. So it’s ah, a lot more consequential, for them. You know, as a pro player, obviously, you want to get paid and have that financial stability.

What should orgs do to support their players?

And you played for a few different orgs. Some of those experiences, seem to be really good and I think a few early on maybe weren’t so good. What do you think orgs can or should do to support their players? Other than just, you know, paying them their wages?

Metsanauris: The funny part is that what they should do is counterintuitive to what the players want. I think what they should do is give the structure behind the team, give them boot camps, sports psychologists, anything like that. But what the players want is the highest salary and they’re always going to choose the one where they get the highest salary. So it’s impossible for the orgs to kind of compete with, okay, I offer this and that, boot camps and everything, but this guy’s offering more money. So most of the time or every time, people are just going to go with the highest offer. So, in that situation, you want to give yourself the best offer while still being able to support the team with other aspects. But, yeah, it’s a hard balance if you want to give everything. Right.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, that makes total sense, especially for the orgs. They’ve got their budget and all of it’s coming from the same place. So if the players are getting paid more, that’s less money for a boot camp or for a sports psychologist.

How do sports psychologists help?

And that’s actually another interesting thing I want to ask you about is sports psychologists and, you know, how impactful, you know, is it to have one on your team and, is it something that, where, you know, it’s almost like a routine, like weekly thing where we’re gonna have a session with them or do they just come in, you know, kind of just once a season? How do they work with you?

Metsanauris: I’ve had a couple that I’ve worked with. Some of them were just, okay, they pop in, in and out. Everyone’s. If you want a blue moon or something, where they ask you how you’re feeling and you say, yeah, I’m fine. Okay, they move on. Or, with Endpoint, we have this great sports psychologist., I, had a great time and I’ve learned a lot from myself and, I improved as a person and as an individual a lot throughout that time that I was in Endpoint. And yeah, full praise to him. If you really have a good sports psychologist and you work with him every week and he knows you and knows what you want to improve and, tries to find things to improve upon, it can be really beneficial. And I very much enjoyed all the time that I worked with him, for sure.

Mr. Pirate: Do the sports psychologist typically work with you one-on-one or do they work with the whole team together at once?

Metsanauris: We did both. But I found the most beneficial and what we had the most was the individual sessions, because then you can talk about your problems and how you’re feeling. And when you’re in that team environment, people are a lot more reserved and they’re not as open when they’re talking about the problem stuff. So, I think the individual stuff is more, useful for how I felt, at least.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah. That I can see the benefit of that.

How important do you think diet, exercise, and sleep are to improving performance?

I asked this question to Coach Nick as well. And I’ll ask this to you as well. How important do you think it is to have, you know, let’s just say general health as a person to improve your performance? So I’m talking exercise, diet, sleep. Do you think that these are things that players should prioritize more or does it just kind of depend on the person?

Metsanauris: I think for their own sake they should do it because it becomes very healthy and you realize that some things in your life need to be improved upon if you want to just live a healthy life and you have a, want to have good mental health and stuff like that. I don’t think it’s strictly related to the performance by any chance, but I definitely felt the improvements when I, started exercising. It improves your confidence and sleep, especially when it’s really hard when you’re not exercising and stuff like that. And sleep is a big factor if you’re doing well or doing badly. And it’s hard to kind of change that except for if you’re doing other stuff than just being on your PC.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, I think, it’s kind of a weird balance probably as a player where you want to put in a ton of hours, you want to grind, but that means sitting at your computer all day and that’s not really conducive to a healthy lifestyle. And if you want peak performance, you kind of need that healthy lifestyle as well. So, do you think that’s something that, orgs or coaches should, try to influence their players with and you know, kind of set routines for them? Or do you think that it should just be up to the players because, you know, a lot of them probably wouldn’t take, well to having something forced on them like that?

Metsanauris: Yeah, I think it needs to come from within. And I feel like a lot of esports players do come to that realization at some point. But I think you can really force people to get into those habits because they don’t really care about it. You want them to realize it themselves. And once they do get to that point, then it’s much more impactful. Then you can try to support them in any way you can.

Mr. Pirate: Gotcha.

What do you think about import players?

You know, if we’re talking about like, you know, pro players and we’ve been talking about how younger players keep coming in, one of the other things that we’ve kind of seen lately is, import players have become a lot, lot more common. Early on RLCS, it wasn’t really a thing except ah, for once in a blue moon you’d see something like that happen. I think Turbopulsa was the biggest, you know, example of that. But nowadays lots of players go from EU to North America. We’ve seen players go to South America like CRR. What do you think about import players? Do you think it’s healthy for the scene or do you think that there should be some restrictions on it?

Metsanauris: I think it’s great. I feel like it’s expensive for the orgs that do it. But if that’s the way they get the best possible roster, then I think it’s great for the players, it’s great for the teams, great for the environment. I think I love being able to exchange regions freely and getting to experience other parts of the world for the players as well. So yeah, I have nothing against it except that it’s probably expensive for the orgs I can imagine.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, probably. I don’t actually know the cost of all that.

If you could have competed in a different region, would you have done it?

You know, you had mentioned earlier that you liked NA’s, you know, mentality a bit this very early on in this interview. If you could have competed in a different region, would you have wanted to compete in North America or a different region?

Metsanauris: Yeah, I think North America would have been good for me. I think the way they work and their kind of vision is a lot more like mine compared to the Europeans. But obviously, it worked well in Europe for me because I wasn’t kind of the same as everyone else. So maybe it would have been worse for me. But yeah, I would have loved to try that out probably at some point.

NA vs EU, Predictions for FIFAe World Cup and RLCS, and Metsa’s Mount Rushmore

How is NA different from EU?

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, I want to kind of move the topic into kind of RLCS predictions a bit, but I definitely want to hear a bit more about, you know, you’re saying that NA’s vision aligned with yours more. What specifically do you mean by that?

Metsanauris: I think they’re very structured well and they practice intentionally. They just have this sports mindset. But I feel like Europeans are very much, they just compete against each other, compete against the other nations. They have all these people that just want to be better than the other one. But you’re not doing, doing it very purposefully, but you’re just trying to be better than your, the guy next to you. So, yeah, it’s. I don’t really know how to explain it, but it felt like when I was talking to NA players, it sounded more like me when I was talking to them.

Does EU take the game more seriously than NA?

Mr. Pirate: Interesting. That’s actually really, really, strange to hear because, you know, we’ve heard a lot of people talk about NA versus EU, like the regional differences in terms of play style and all this stuff. But almost always it’s painting Europe in a positive light and kind of saying that North America maybe doesn’t take the game as seriously, but from your perspective, you liked their approach, their structure, and how they played. Do you think, that that stereotype of North America not taking it as seriously is true or, you know, it’s kind of the same for both regions. What do you, what do you think?

Metsanauris: I think it’s pretty similar for both. I wouldn’t say that North America doesn’t take it as seriously as Europe. I’ve seen how unseriously people in Europe do stuff. So, I wouldn’t put it any worse than that. I think it’s just in Europe there are a lot of people that drive each other forwards. There’s a bigger competition and I think that like one of the big factors where Europe’s been at the top more than NA. But I wouldn’t say it’s their work, morale, or anything in NA that they don’t take it seriously.

Mr. Pirate: Okay. Yeah, that’s definitely, ah, I would say not the prevalent opinion online. So it’s good to hear your perspective on that.

Who will win the FIFAe World Cup?

Speaking of regional, rivalries, we have the FIFAe World Cup coming up and they’ve just announced all the rosters. It was posted on the RLE esports subreddit today. And I’m really excited for this tournament because I’m a football fan and I love watching the World Cup and the Euros and national teams are just. It’s really exciting to watch and I’ve long wanted to see this in Rocket League and we’re finally getting it. Looking at the rosters, I don’t know if you’ve seen them yet. Which nations kind of stand out to you? Do you have a prediction on a winner or a dark, ah, horse kind of surprise team? What do you think?

Metsanauris: I can give you a top three. The French. You cannot predict against the French. It’s just a dynasty at this point. I think that’s the number one favorite for me as well as everyone else. Then probably the next two would be the teams that are actually teams from before already and they have a lot of synergies. So, definitely Saudi Arabia, and then, I think the Brazilians have Furia’s team. Right? So I think those two could be a really big factor in who actually comes out on top. But I think I’ll put the dark horse of Morocco in there as well.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, I think a lot of people are excited to see this Morocco team because, you know, all three players have had, amazing success, separately. Nass, especially in 1v1 lately, looks like maybe the best player in the world in that game mode. Drali is a world champion, and Itachi has won majors on two different teams. So, it’d be really interesting to see how they, you know, synergize together.

What about team USA (Atomic, Daniel, Firstkiller)?

What about, the USA team? What do you think about them?

Metsanauris: I don’t know what to think about them. They’re good on paper, right? But I just haven’t seen the Firstkiller teams click so far, so maybe this is the one. So, I mean, on paper, they’re incredible, right? But, I just haven’t seen it click with any Firstkiller team yet. Maybe this is the one.

Mr. Pirate: That’s a totally fair criticism.

What do you think about Finland not being in the FIFAe World Cup?

You know, are you disappointed to see Finland not involved in this? Obviously, it’s not the biggest RLCS or biggest Rocket League country, but, would you have liked the opportunity to participate?

Metsanauris: I shouldn’t participate in this. I’m too worse at this point. But I would have loved to see some young people at this time come up and be competitive to put Finland in the conversation. But at this point in time, there are not really players that are at the level where they’re competing against the French and Morocco and us and anything like that. So, yeah, I would love to be able to root for the Finnish team, but I shouldn’t be playing, that’s for sure.

Does Finland have a good Rocket League community?

Mr. Pirate: That’s fair. Yeah, I mean, do all of these countries in Europe, I mean, we hear about the French scene a ton, the Rocket baguette and all that, but do all these countries kind of have their own smaller communities, their own discourse? Does Finland have their own little Rocket League community that’s, just part of Europe as well? Or is it just they’re all just kind of mixed together?

Metsanauris: I can’t say for every community, but Finland definitely has its own community. It’s not massive or anything, but, it’s quite big for thinking how small it feels like where no one really plays Rocket League in Finland, it feels like. But the community is big compared to that, and we have our own discourse and stuff like that. So I can imagine it’s similar for a lot of European countries for sure.

Mr. Pirate: That’s really cool. I don’t think. Well, at least I don’t know that America is like that. It just seems that it’s too big of a country, too spread out. But I think this is one of the things that makes Europe really strong. You know, we talked about EU versus NA a little bit already.

Who do you think will win a LAN first, SAM or MENA?

But I want to talk about some of the minor regions. Who do you think will win a LAN first? South America or MENA?

Metsanauris: I would love for South America to win LAN first of all. But MENA is like so close. They’re just this close to being the next step. So they’re definitely going to win one very soon. So you cannot root really against them at this point.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, I think both regions, Falcons and Furia, they’ve put up really strong performances and everyone’s just waiting to see if they can finally bring home a trophy.

How far away are SSA and APAC from challenging the other regions?

There are also a couple of regions below them that are not quite as successful. Specifically, I would say SSA and APAC are probably the two weakest regions in RLCS. How many years away are those two regions from being legit challengers to the rest of the world?

Metsanauris: I don’t know if they’ll ever be close to the rest of the world. If they’re so separated and they only play a couple of tournaments a year. That’s just not imaginable for those regions to catch up. You would have to compete against the best all the time. And that’s just not happening at this time. So unless the structure changes, I cannot see them catching up anytime soon for sure.

What do you think about OCE? Can they break through into the top 8?

Mr. Pirate: What about OCE, do you think that they can finally break through, you know, top eight or it’ll be more the same?

Metsanauris: I think they’re going to stay in a similar situation. They have been like they’re in a very bad spot as well because they don’t get to play against the best as much. They would, they definitely have the talent. Like if they played against Europeans, for example, for six months in a year, they would definitely break it up top eight. There’s no question about it. But it’s just because they don’t really get to play against the best of the best. Then it’s hard to play catch-up when you’re a stick length away.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah. I think it’s one of the reasons that you know, the Middle East has been so successful is that they can play on the European Servers and, were able to catch up, even though they joined RLCS quite late compared to some of the other regions.

Who will be the next breakout star in RLCS?

You know, just a prediction I’d like you to make for this upcoming season of RLCS. Who do you think is going to be the next breakout, player, the next, you know, big star? I would like you to name someone that has not qualified for a LAN yet.

Metsanauris: I think it’s just a matter of time when Nass becomes, like, a world star. It just hasn’t happened yet in threes. But he will be a future star, and there’s no question about it, and everyone knows it. This is not, like a dark horse prediction. I think everyone knows that it’s going to happen soon.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah. I’m a huge fan. I love that answer. I think I agree with you. He’s looked amazing in 1v1, and, has steadily been, you know, progressing in threes as well, I think.

Who will win the RLCS World Championship next season?

How about a prediction for the RLCS world champion next year for 3v3?

Metsanauris: I love watching Monkey Moon. I love watching Zen. I cannot root against them. That’s. That’s just how it is. Vitality I cannot say that they’re not gonna win. I cannot think of anyone that deserves my prediction more.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, I mean, it’s quite a boring prediction, but, it’s hard to argue against. I was hoping to get a hot take. You know, maybe you were gonna say, like, you know, falcons or someone like that, but, yeah, Vitality on paper just looks crazy strong.

Who will be the first RLCS 1v1 champion?

I’m also really excited for RLCS this next year because it’s the first time we’re gonna have a 1v1 champion in, RLCS. And, I’m a huge fan of the 1v1 game mode. I watch it even more than threes, and I’ve long wanted to, you know, see an international LAN and find out who really is the best player in the world definitively. And so we’re going to get to see that. Who do you think is going to be the first-ever RLCS 1v1 champion?

Metsanauris: Okay, I’m not going to say something. Okay, I’ll go RW9. I love his playstyle, and I think it would translate pretty well for LAN as well.

Mr. Pirate: Yeah, I think that’s a solid pick. He’s definitely been up there with the best. Do you think it’s because of his, play style being a little bit more defensive? Or do you think it’s the LAN experience? What do you think makes him the favorite?

Metsanauris: I think it’s the playstyle because he knows how to play defensive already and on LAN it’s hard to stay aggressive at all times. So, maybe it could become that he plays too passive, but I can’t think of a way that would happen. So yeah, I think he has a great play style and a great mind for 1v1.

Mr. Pirate: All right, you heard it here first. Metsa’s, pick is RW9 for the 1v1 world champion. Okay, just a couple more questions left and I’ll let you go. This has been a very long interview. I don’t want to keep you too long.

Who would make it onto your “Mount Rushmore”?

This is kind of a strange question, but I don’t know if you’re familiar with Mount Rushmore in America. It’s a cliffside with four of our founding fathers and presidents engraved into it. Just people who are really influential to our country. So if you were to make Metsanauris’ Mount Rushmore for Rocket League, what four people would you put on it? You know, basically, who had the biggest influence on you? And you can pick anyone. Players, teammates, coaches, casters, YouTubers, anyone. Four people.

Metsanauris: I could name 100 people who have been my teammates or coaches or… anyone who’s helped me become a better human. But I’ll start like early on because that’s when it was most impactful. I feel like I wouldn’t have made it the further steps if I didn’t happen. The things that happened at the start didn’t happen. So I’ll say Kronovi because I watched his YouTube video first about Rocket League and I got inspired by him later on. Being a fan of his, in the first RLCS seasons, luckily being able to meet him and have great conversations every time we talk, and truly idol for anyone and model professional. Then second would be Kuxir Just because I watched his gameplay, in the early days you tried to copy everything he did. You didn’t have to listen to a voice, you didn’t have to do anything. You just watch his gameplay and it’s like magic at the start. And it truly influenced my drive to become a better player. And something that I always looked up to. And then I’ll name two of the first teammates that I made it to RLCS with, which was Mognus and alot. We had great years together and we truly made it to the top, which is hard to imagine at some point. But, I didn’t make it to the top by getting picked up by a crazy team or anything. We made it to the top together and we worked hard and deserved all of it. So that’s my four.

Mr. Pirate: Awesome. That’s a great answer. I love hearing that you put two of your iconic teammates on there with you. I’m sure it was quite a journey to come up with them together. All right, so let’s wrap this up.

What is next for Metsanauris and where can people find you?

Kind of basically the final question. What is next for Metsanauris and where can people find you?

Metsanauris: Yeah, so what’s next is I’m striving to become a coach in as many ways as I can. I’m involved with Rocket League Data coach. I’m involved in Metafy coaching starting next year again. It’s been a break for me during civil service, but it’s going to open back up again soon. Then hopefully try to find a team that I could coach, in some way, and try to earn some money from this coaching. Ah, that would be ideal. So yeah, I’m coach first now so I want to strive towards getting those kind of opportunities.

Mr. Pirate: Awesome. Wonderful. And yeah, we’ll definitely you know, include links to your to your metafy and your you know, all your social media. Are you planning to also do some streaming or content creation? Maybe some you know, analysis videos or maybe just even gameplay or just focusing on coaching right now.

Metsanauris: I’d love to be able to do other stuff as well. It’s all going to depend on when my civil service ends and what kind of opportunities I have. If all of my time is consumed on coaching then it’s going to be mainly coaching. But if I have a lot of extra time I’ll try to get as many avenues. I’m doing some coaching sessions together, that are getting to a live audience on Discord with Rocket League Data Coach already. And I’m going to probably keep doing those. So if you want to catch me, you can find me on those Discord sessions. But obviously, I’ll try to do as much as I can starting next year probably at, at January. So we’ll see. Maybe.

Mr. Pirate: Okay, I will take that. Yeah, so to anyone watching, if you’re looking to rank up and improve, reach out to Metsanauris, you know, for coaching on Metafy we’ll include all the links of course down in the description, and thank you so much Metsanauris for your time. This was a really long and in-depth interview. So I’m hoping that the community will, get a lot out of it. I, know it was, a pleasure to hear you tell some of these stories, and, best of luck with your coaching journey. I really hope that we see you at one of these LANs supporting, you know, behind one of your teams, and, you know, hopefully, you have a bright future as a coach.

Metsanauris: Thank you a lot. It was a great interview.

Mr. Pirate: Thank you.