Fraqzy Returns To Pro Play After Coaching Season 38 Of ESEA Advanced
The 20-year-old will IGL for Yikes Gaming heading into the 39th season of ESEA IM.
After coaching the 38th season of ESEA Advanced, Ian “Fraqzy” Burr will return to being a player at the starting five of ESEA Intermediate team Yikes Gaming for Season 39.
Why did Frazy step down from coaching?
Don’t fret, coach Fraq enjoyers. While he prefers playing, Ian had an amazing time as a coach, so don’t completely rule out the chances of him coaching in the coming seasons. When I asked him why he opted to look for a team (LFT) as a player rather than as a coach for this season, he gave me no more information than what was already public: “I want to see if I can get a player offer for Main. If not, I’m gonna be coaching again.” And well, even though he got an offer, Fraqzy still preferred his former team despite being in a lower league.
Fraqzy has previously played as an IGL for Yikes Gaming. He has only played at Horny Homies, Kaoz Clan, and some others. He has shown immense improvement as he has been jumping up the ESEA leagues. In season 37, he competed with Yikes Gaming at the Intermediate (IM) level, averaging 16 kills and 3 assists a match. The youngster was also the only one on his team to score an Ace throughout the entire season, which he impressively got with a Glock pistol and no utility help.
Featured clip: Fraqzy’s Pistol Ace
Despite having mainly competed in Intermediate or a lower league, Fraqzy has continuously shown that he has the skills of a Premier IGL. Not only did he play the In-Game Leader position with fellow ESEA IM/Open teammates, but also for doppelgängers of pro players at the top level. In the clip below, he can be seen strat-calling for Jake “Stewie2K” Yip lookalike; Jake is a professional CS:GO player for Team Liquid and former Major and Intel Grand Slam winner with Cloud9 and Team Liquid, respectively.
Featured Clip: Fraqzy strat-calling for Stewie2k lookalike and team
Fun fact: Stewie2K joined Cloud9 back in 2016 as an In-Game Leader. A lot of Fraqzy’s finest plays directly reflect Stewie’s playstyle. Fraq’s flashy and costly aggressive style is heavily inspired by Stewie, as they both hone the IGL/Entry role for their teams.
Fragadelphia 15: St. Louis
Fraqzy attended “Fragadelphia 15: St. Louis” back in August of this year. Although the team was eliminated in the group stages, his individual performance was impressive and stood out to other competitors at the LAN event. As a result, he was scouted by CarbonX Esports as the team’s coach for the following season. Despite it being his first time playing such a role on a team and his first time competing in Advanced, he led his squad to a 8–6 finish in the season, placing them 19th (equal to their Season 37 placement in Main) and preventing them from getting relegated in their Advanced debut season. Since he announced his departure on Tuesday, Fraq took it to Twitter to publicly express his gratitude for the team.
“I’m hella proud of the team for the record we achieved this season. It was an honor working with you guys. Huge thank yous to the team for this amazing experience”
While CarbonX plans to keep their roster unchanged, they have yet to announce a new coach.
I spoke to a couple of Ian’s former teammates, Jersey and Tribute, both starting riflers on CarbonX, and got their insight on Fraqzy as a coach and as a player:
“What was it like having Fraqzy as a coach?”
Jersey: “I honestly loved having him as a coach, he was really good at keeping our mental in check as well as reviewing the others teams’ demos.” He also mentioned a trait of coach Fraqzy that is very akin to Danny “Zonic” Sørensen, Astralis’ CS:GO coach. Throughout the Danes’ dominance in 2018 and 2019, it wasn’t only the effectiveness of Zonic’s strats that allowed them to stomp on all of their opponents. No, it was also IGL Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander’s brilliance and incredible understanding of the game and the trust that his teammates put in him that made them (arguably) the most decorated team in all of Counter-Strike history. Likewise, coach Fraqzy didn’t overstep during matches and gave his players freedom, allowing them to harmonize together. “We didn’t really need him (Fraqzy) to be a crazy tactical coach as our IGL really didn’t want him for that,” said Jersey. Not only was Fraqzy doing a coach’s job, but also the job of an analyst’s! Tribute added onto his teammate’s statement: “Fraq was an awesome coach! He was always super helpful during practices and matches and was never scared to voice his opinion. I genuinely don’t think I ever disagreed with him.”
“How do you think Fraq will perform as a returning player?
“I think he is definitely qualified, it might just take him a bit to get adjusted again after not playing for a whole season but I can’t really recommend him enough,” said Jersey, and I couldn’t agree more. Of course, after taking an entire season off of competitive play, it is only logical that it takes some time for him to readjust, but he’s someone to keep an eye on, especially if you’re going up against him. As much individual firepower he hones, Fraq is also as good of a teammate one can ask for. During season 36 of ESEA Open with Yikes Gaming, Fraqzy led his team in Assists (62) and Clutches (11), and was the 2nd highest in Average Damage per Round (ADR), at 81 hit points worth of damage. Such numbers put up from Fraqzy were crucial for the team as he aided them into their first ever playoffs appearance. Season 37 was a complicated one for Fraq, as he had to deal with roster changes and other life obligations, most remarkably moving. As a result, he was unable to perform up to par and was forced to miss the post-season. However, this should not be a concern for the upcoming season as we have previously seen the young star quickly adapt to constantly changing environments and regardless of the situation, putting in maximum effort. “As a player, from what I have seen I would expect him to be able to hang aim-wise in top of Main and game sense/IGLing, I would say he is easily at an Advanced level,” Tribute finished off.
“Game sense/IGLing-wise, I would say he is easily at an Advanced level.”
Fraqzy’s performance on the server isn’t the only thing outstanding about him. Both teammates went on to praise his mentality and work ethic: “He’s a super chill dude and an awesome teammate,” emphasized Jersey. Tribute agreed, adding on: “He would call tac’s to allow us to breathe and calm down before an important round and had really good ideas that helped us improve a lot faster than we would have without him.”
Fraqzy will now compete alongside Kyle (former teammate on Yikes Gaming), Stubs, Droptrickzz, and RelliK. And although he may not be the top fragging player on his team, he will without a doubt be the most impactful and a crucial part of their success, just as he has for other teams in the past.
Pop off and Fraq on.