Martin “Anderzz” Schelasin joined Version1 as VersionX VALORANT’s Head Coach in February of 2022. This is his third coaching role in VALORANT, and since the game was released, Anderzz has casted numerous tournaments and produced a large body of analytical video content.
Anderzz is an internationally published systems dynamicist, and prior to his work in the esports industry, he co-founded an energy drink startup and worked as a data analyst for a private equity firm.
Coaching Methodology
For Anderzz, esports coaching is a complex responsibility that requires a disciplined and thoughtful understanding of not only success as a concept, but the various factors that both influence and determine competitive outcomes.
“My methodology as a coach — primarily because of my background in data analysis — is to approach delivering critical feedback from the position of a logician.
I bring players metrics, numbers, and statistics that quantifiably demonstrate an area of underperformance, and start a conversation about solutions from there.”
“Both of these aspects of how I do my job are always fact-based,” says Anderzz.
“It’s important to me as a coach to make sure that if I’m bringing something up, I’m also able to provide a solution to my players.”
Bringing Data-Driven Feedback To VALORANT
This player feedback process, Anderzz notes, starts with investigating complex in-game scenarios, identifying the relevant variables, and then using those findings to begin collecting data sets.
If I thought there was appetite for it and it wasn’t actively against my best interests as a competitor I’d do a long form breakdown of how I craft player KPI’s using sysdyn/complex systems simulation (a skillset that I have international publications using). This is 1 KPI. https://t.co/diZyi84RiQ pic.twitter.com/hcEcrRLXYC
— Martin ”Anderzz” Schelasin (@AnderzzTV) May 22, 2022
“A great example of [how I apply data-driven insights] would be a hypothetical scenario about clearing a particular spot during or after an execute,” says Anderzz.
“Let’s say a player doesn’t check a certain position, but there wasn’t an enemy player there and we win the round. My job as a coach is to recognize that even though the round was a success, there’s still an issue that needs to be addressed.
If I’m discussing this with the team, I’ll present a data heatmap of, say, the last 500 games in our region, and note that there’s a player in that spot 70% of the time, and that’s why it’s important for that angle to be cleared during the execute.
Routing issues [like this hypothetical situation] are just one of the almost infinite variables I might investigate for our team when we’re starting to develop and refine our protocols and decision-making trees.”
Anderzz believes this approach helps limit interpersonal conflict and promotes healthy team communication habits.
“Esports coaches run into issues by starting conversations about in-game issues from a position of subjectivity,” says Anderzz.
“When data-driven insights and analysis — the closest thing you have to inarguable facts in esports — drive your approach, you’re making sure that players will trust the solutions you bring to the table.”
What’s Next For VersionX VALORANT
“We dove right into the first [North American VALORANT Champions Game Changers] event of the season less than two weeks after Katarina and Starlight joined the roster,” says Anderzz.
“We’re now at a point where we’re able to look back at our performances in the first two Game Changers events, as well as scrims, and use the data and insights there to build a robust roadmap of where we are, where we want to go, and how to get there.”
Version1 has submitted a VALORANT partnership bid for the Americas region to Riot Games.
Follow @AnderzzTV on Twitter, and check out his VALORANT content on YouTube.
