MSF Hiiva: “Shlatan has always been the strongest voice in any of our teams and that was one of the biggest reasons why we promoted him”

Hiiva is a veteran name in the European scene and he retired relatively recently to become a coach. For 2022, he joined Misfits as their Strategic Coach, moving up from their academy team Misfits Premier. They have been in good form recently as the LEC draws closer to playoffs.

Talk to me about Misfits’ progress so far from week to week and how do you see it at the moment?

Hiiva: I think we are making good progress. For the first weeks we played, obviously we have rookies in Shlatan and Mersa, and I think we did a good job of integrating them in the team. It’s a lot of work in progress, Shlatan played in the ERLs for a while, so he is already a very structured player. He’s very familiar with pro play. It was just getting those games under Mersa and really really helping him with how it means to play these high level games.

I guess still our biggest struggle is communication and we are kind of a… hectic team . In some games, our communication is really, really clean which for example was the game against Rogue. The players were really happy with the communication, but that’s still a work in progress to get the guys to calm down.

In the earlier weeks, we were trying out more drafts and we were a bit more free in what we played, but I think we’ve kinda settled down on how we want our comps to look from week to week.

You mentioned communication is very hectic and of course Misfits change three pieces coming into 2022. Who are the leading shotcallers in the team? Who are the ones that direct the calls and try to get everyone on the same page?

Hiiva: Oh, Shlatan, for sure. He’s always been the strongest voice in any of our teams and that was one of the biggest reasons why we actually promoted him. Obviously, he is insanely mechanically talented as well but for a young guy like him, a rookie, he’s leading the team in calls and in comms. It’s very impressive for a player of his age to have that specific role already.

When you mentioned Mersa I recall he gave you a shoutout on broadcast before. He mentioned that you are helping him a lot. Do you have any response to that?

Hiiva: I’m extremely happy with the progress he is making. My bot lane really stepped it up against Rogue as well, with Mersa having a great game. He’s progressing insanely fast and I’m just super, super happy working with him.

I’m sure he’d be glad to hear that too! And as a former support yourself, what is your role specifically within the team? Do you work more closely with the bot lane or do you prepare strategies for all the players? Talk to me a little bit more about it.

Hiiva: I’m kind of all over the place. Some weeks and helping to help the team with, like you said, general strategy or reviews, and preparing for our opponents what we want to play, what we want to improve on, whether it’s some setups or whatever we are looking for to improve as a team for that week.

For other weeks, I might take the bot lane and just do individual reviews like with Mersa about the scrims and competitive games we play, and then give more individual and personalized feedback to him. And sometimes, it’s not Mersa and it might be the other players. We have a large coaching staff so we can afford to do that where, like one coach focuses on an individual player, and just really helps them to get the most out of their practice.

You are known to be a very aggressive player, so when you coach or have personalized coaching sessions with Mersa, do you always tell him to Flash in order to look for fights and kills?

Hiiva: I guess that was a strength and a weakness of me as a player. I wasn’t a very disciplined player, and maybe that’s why I’m coaching right now, who knows (laughs)? With Mersa, yes, sometimes I’m telling him that maybe you missed an opportunity here and there. But, I don’t really care about the missed opportunities and I’m really just trying to help him understand what his role is in the game, depending on the champion he’s playing, what’s the draft he’s playing into.

I’m also helping him understand map situations and how vision works in certain situations, what he should be thinking about and just really helping him think on his own. Because especially with someone like Shlatan in the team who talks a lot, it’s sometimes easy to stop thinking for yourself.

Of course, you mentioned yourself becoming a coach and I’d just like to ask you quickly then, how have you been settling in the LEC so far? Are you fully retired or is there a chance you come back to play?

Hiiva: I’ve given up being a player completely now, I’m fully retired. When I first moved into coaching in 2017 I really enjoyed it. I think even when I was playing, I always enjoyed talking about the game and having a big role in reviews. I guess the biggest thing that led me back to playing after having quite a successful start to my coaching career with Misfits in 2017, was that I really didn’t want to end my playing career never having won in LCS or LEC. Obviously, I played in Origen and that was a disaster! After that I really just wanted to get a win in LEC and in the end, that’s what made me like, push to become a player again.

So yeah, I’m settling in very well as a coach so far. The rest of the staff and the organization are being really supportive and helpful. I think they’re doing a really great job so far, and it can only get better.

Do you miss playing official games?

Hiiva: Yeah, especially when I look at, for example, the LFL or games with crowds. It really does bring back some happy memories of playing in front of big crowds. It’s like happy memories and nostalgia. I understand that I won’t be sitting there playing, but I’m happy being in the back lines helping my players achieve their dream and to get them in front of the crowd. I do miss it sometimes.

We’ve come to the end of the interview. Anything else you’d like to say? And shoutouts you’d like to give?

Hiiva: Just a big shoutout to the rest of my staff. To my wonderful head coach, Mr. Carter, to our wonderful assistant coach, Mr. Xani, to our sports performance coach, Owen Blake, and then to our sports director, Hatchy, who are all very wonderful people and really making this thing work as a group effort.

Thank you Hiiva and good luck.

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