TLNP Djoko: "My goal is to change the way coaching is done and revolutionize modern League of Legends"

He is one of the best-known names in the French League of Legends scene. After a ten-year career, including a stint in the EU LCS and an outstanding 2019 season in the LFL with LDLC OL, has traded his player jersey for a coach’s jacket. For his first steps in his new role, the former jungler took the reins of one of the French circuit’s newest arrivals, TLN Pirates.

Although the project had originally been built to compete in the Nexus League, France’s second division, TLN took advantage of the various twists and turns of the season to remain in the LFL throughout the year. Better still, after securing two top-four finishes at the LFL Invitational and then in the Spring Split, the Toulon-based team secured a place on the Summer Split podium, qualifying for its first-ever EMEA Masters in the process. In an interview with Sheep Esports, Djoko takes an in-depth look at his transition and TLN Pirates’ first year in the League of Legends ecosystem.

Charly "Djoko" Guillard: ”I feel really good. It was a new challenge that I needed to take on, because I felt that, as a player, I was no longer finding teams that suited me. I also felt that I was finally ready to fully take on this responsibility. My goal is to pass on my knowledge to the new generation, which is something I’ve always done throughout my career, with Eika (Jérémy Valdenaire), Comp (Markos Stamkopoulos), Hans Stama (Steven Liv), Targamas (Raphaël Crabbé)… A lot of people have come through this school. Now, we can do it properly. For now, with every split, I’m trying to improve as much as possible and add more strings to my bow.

Djoko: In LoL, we haven’t really seen any incredible coaches yet. I think coaches, in general, do the bare minimum and could do a lot more by taking inspiration from traditional sports. As far as I’m concerned, the gameplay side is already there. I know the League of Legends ecosystem inside out. But knowing all of that is one thing; knowing how to pass it on is another. That’s what I’m working on the most at the moment.

I draw a parallel with traditional sports: I’m putting more advanced personal development practices in place, with more specific exercises. I want human development and group management to be at the heart of it. I work more like a sports coach than an esports coach. I have principles that are based on football, boxing, chess, and poker. My goal is to change the way coaching is done and revolutionize modern League of Legends.

I draw a lot of inspiration from books and films that revolve around sports. For example, Moneyball, the film with Brad Pitt that is based on baseball. Anime as well, such as Blue Lock or Ippo, as well as sports interviews. My strength is that I can identify strengths and patterns in life and translate them for my players in a very simple and effective way. That’s my approach. It’s personal; I’m not like the others.

Djoko: Ippo is an anime about boxing. What I took from it is the way it motivates its protagonist. It’s a shonen: they develop a guy from the ground up and challenge him in a way that makes him take ownership of the process. They find the right challenge for each situation so that there is a reward at every stage of their development. An anime like Blue Lock, on the other hand, is much more focused on ego, personal development, ambition, being selfish, and becoming the best at your position. The idea is to understand that it’s a team sport but that there is also an individual aspect and to know how to separate the two.

Then there are other elements borrowed from sports, such as the way you communicate with players so that an idea can be conveyed as quickly as possible using as few words as possible. I’ll use boxing as an example again, but to me, a BO5 is like a boxing match. Between games, my players will be stunned; they’ll be thinking about the punches they’ve taken and landed, and they won’t listen to me 100% the way they would in a scrim. So it’s up to me to find the right words, as if I were in their corner, and tell them exactly what they need to do for the next round.

Then you have chess, because chess is about different ways of playing, just like in League of Legends, with drafts and different approaches to the game. There’s also poker, where you have to bluff, deceive, and take risks. Sometimes it doesn’t work, but that’s fine; you still try again in the next hand. You can also look at Formula 1, where you have to build automatisms. In League of Legends, it’s through repeatedly practicing a movement that you develop those automatisms. And once you have them, you can start developing high-quality reflexes.

Djoko: Yes. Most people from the new generation of League of Legends are already somewhat familiar with anime. And then sport is something that resonates with pretty much everyone. In esports, sport is the first thing that comes to mind, and competition is the keyword. We made sure to bring in profiles that would align with what I was going to put in place, because I didn’t want to work with players who wouldn’t be receptive to it. So there was a filtering process beforehand.

But yes, in general, people are receptive. And, anyway, they don’t really have a choice, because they’re the ones who have to listen, not the other way around. I’ve been around for 15 years, compared with two years for some of them. If I’m not the person with the most knowledge or the most to bring to the table in this regard, then there’s a problem. In traditional sports, nobody is going to tell the head coach how things should work. And I’m not saying that I won’t listen to my players, because that’s precisely one of my strengths. Having been a player myself, I know what I need to listen to, and I know how to listen. But, generally speaking, the coach has to lead the way.

Djoko: I look at the results. For a Division 2 project that was put together at the very last second, where we didn’t sign a single well-known player, the results speak for themselves. On top of that, I’m someone who thinks a lot and constantly questions his own decisions. I have safety nets with Glopo (Frédéric Sialelli) as Assistant Coach and through other meetings. So I feed off the feedback I can gather from the people involved, and I reflect on my own actions. But it’s up to us to raise our own standards. I’m lucky to be with TLN Pirates, who gave me the opportunity to show what I was capable of. And so far, it’s paying off.

Djoko: Yes. I now have a role that matches my ambitions and abilities. Being a coach isn’t easy. When your team wins, it’s because of the players, and when it loses, it’s the coach’s fault. You have to accept that. The transition from player to coach requires precisely that kind of mental adjustment. To me, you need to have been a player to be a coach. In traditional sports, most great coaches are former players. We’re seeing more and more of that in the LEC now, with Perkz (Luka Perković), Nukeduck (Erlen Holm), Cabochard (Lucas Simon-Meslet)… Quite a few people are making that transition, and I think that’s a positive thing for the ecosystem.

Djoko: Yes, a lot, because I’ve always liked working as part of a duo. I had Kaze (Quentin Gourbeix), whom I played with a lot back in the Millenium days, when we dominated France and Europe for years. There were plenty of others after that. Now it’s Axelent. Contrary to what people might think, he’s a great guy and he’s easy to work with.

Djoko: It’s a very positive trajectory. We were in a fairly difficult situation at the beginning of the project, since the application was accepted late by the League. We handled the transfer window well; we were methodical. After that, there were two LFL spots up for grabs for the Winter. We were confident we could secure one, and we did. And once we had achieved what we had set out to do, namely securing an LFL spot, we thought, “Why not aim higher?” So the objective became to make it to the EMEA Masters. In the second split, I think we should have been there, but things happened the way they did. At that point, we told ourselves, “It doesn’t matter; we’re going to make it anyway.” It was the final item on the bucket list this year with this roster.

Djoko: We’re a team that scales. The more time we have, the better we get. We’ve earned ourselves two extra months on the calendar, so we’re very happy about that. We have two additional months to fine-tune what we’ve put in place. We’re not going to revolutionize the way we play, but there are still details we need to improve, particularly in our mental and strategic preparation. We know we’ll be at the EMEA Masters, and we’re going to use the end of the championship to gain more BO5 experience. Our identity is built around theorycrafting the meta and expanding our arsenal. We brought out Olaf bot against Solary; you’ll see more of that at the EMEA Masters. Our goal is to win the final game of the season.

Djoko: Absolutely. The goal is to play up the South-versus-North angle. In the LFL, nobody comes from the South. Joblife, you can’t seriously tell me they come from the South… [JL are based in Occitanie, in the south-western part of France, but further north than Toulon, editor’s note] We’re the only representatives, as far as I’m concerned. Before us, the teams from the area hadn’t really managed to succeed in the LFL. What we’re doing has never been done before. And not just for a team from the South, either, but in terms of our journey as well. There has never been a team built for Division 2 that kept its players after moving up to the LFL and managed to reach the top three or qualify for the EMEA Masters.

Djoko: That’s not for me to decide. But if I were the head coach of an LEC team today, I’d be looking very closely at Axelent and Toffe (Tautvydas Gegeckas). Because of their mechanics, but above all because of their mindset, their ability to quickly absorb concepts and apply what is expected of them. Everyone is talking about Toffe at the moment, and we’re very happy for him. Axelent is a different kind of player. I give him a lot of responsibility. I’ve worked with great names like Comp and Hans Sama, and Axelent is a player of that caliber. He’s my little Padawan [Laughs]. I’ve worked with them a lot, and today, we can see where they are. I’m very proud of that, and I like to think I managed to give them what they needed to take the next steps in their development. In any case, we’ve scrimmed against a lot of LEC teams since the Spring, and all of my players are capable of playing at a higher level. A few mid-table teams have learned how we play. Everyone can improve, of course, but none of my players would look out of place in the LEC.

Djoko: Everyone dreams of the LEC, whether as a player or a coach. My calling card today is what we’ve achieved this year and the experience I’ve accumulated. I’ve already had one or two informal approaches. But I’m relaxed about it: hard work always pays off in the end. Today, I’m mostly fortunate to have a talented group that listens, as well as an organization that does everything it can to allow us to perform. I really like that family atmosphere: we speak openly, we tell each other what needs to be said, and we all move forward together. So, to answer your question, why not aim for the best of both worlds? Bringing Toulon to Berlin would be quite something, wouldn’t it?

Djoko: My goal is to evolve the way League of Legends is coached by drawing from other disciplines. I think we’re quite far behind other regions in that regard, and I have ideas that I’ve had the opportunity to put into practice, and so far, they seem to be working fairly well. The dream is to do what Zizou (Zinédine Zidane) or DD (Didier Deschamps) did: win as a player and then win as a coach.”