Oasis Gaming’s head coach Chelceed “Maark” Viernes said farewell to the team as he opted not to re-sign with the Filipino esports organization in order to pursue his personal endeavors.
As revealed in a Twitlonger, Maark is considering retirement but hasn’t decided yet.
“For those wondering, I AM considering retirement BUT it’s not fully set on it yet (about 80-20 right now). I’m still very much in love with and enthralled by VALORANT, I still have (at least imo) one of the best views and outlooks on the game — I just don’t have the energy for it right now,” Maark stated in the TwitLonger.
When asked why he opted not to re-sign instead of taking a break just like what he has done before, Maark felt like he never really did take a break as he was still fixated on Valorant despite being on a supposed hiatus.
“I always felt like I never really did take a break. I’m not sure if that made sense but, during my ‘breaks’, I’d still be watching local VALORANT tourneys for scouting enemy teams and some young talent within the scene, I’d still be doing VOD reviews of international tourneys to catch up on potential meta reads, new setup variations, or combo plays, and I’d still be, in essence, devoted to playing + watching VALORANT,” Maark stated.
“Maybe I’m just bad at taking breaks,” he joked. “But it never felt like I actually just didn’t think about VALORANT during my breaks. I always did my breaks thinking I’d prepare some stuff that we’ll start using once we all get back to work.”
Now that he has no obligations with any coaching responsibilities, Maark felt a bit freer this time around and is excited to play other games besides VALORANT.
“I can use the time I normally spend on work (which amounts to around 10-12 hours/day) to new hobbies, which I’m very excited about. I remember playing New World after release and I haven’t gotten back to it since the first 4 days that I played it so I’m excited to play it again and reach the level cap.”
Despite being considered as one of the more notable coaches in the PH VALORANT scene, Maark remains humble and expressed his admiration towards the coaches of other VALORANT teams. He also stated that the PH scene has a long way to go in terms of coaching.
“Maybe it’s just because I’m more interactive with the fans but I have high respect for all the VALORANT coaches out there. When I first started coaching, I thought about how weak the PH scene was in terms of coaching and how we only had a few notable coaches. This is still true today for the PH scene in general. However, that’s not the case for the tier 1 international scene, especially in SEA. From Coach Malix (CES), meow (BME), alecks (PRX), Sleepy (Alter Ego), and even our very own Coach Gibo (TS), there are a lot of other coaches out there who deserve that kind of respect and recognition more than me. I’m flattered by all the praises and respect but trust me when I say that, from an international standpoint, I’m still a rookie at coaching and probably just average.”
With that said, he then revealed his advice to aspiring coaches.
“The first thing that any aspiring coach has to think about and work on is how to positively influence the team in order to get them to buy into your system. Learn to be a good salesman and sell yourself to your team.”
With him gone, Oasis Gaming is left with assistant coach Flufee02, who also streams and creates content for the org.
