Team Falcons assistant coach Aymeinstein on m0NESY: “To me, he’s the best player.”
Team Falcons assistant coach Aymeinstein Benchayeh explained in a video on the ESL Counter-Strike Extra YouTube channel how the coaching staff works with Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov and other stars, and recalled how G2 Esports devised a strategy against Danil “donk” Kryshkovets.
On working with stars
m0NESY isn’t the best example because he’s a once-in-a-generation talent. To me, he’s the best player. <...> At least these three [ZywOo, donk, and m0NESY. — Ed.] are so talented that there’s something special about them. If you tell them too often, “You’re doing it wrong,” you might suddenly make them feel uncomfortable and lose their confidence. Maybe not, but maybe so—you never know in advance. I think the principles are more important here: for example, buy time, don’t repeat that, and so on. This isn’t micromanaging his decisions, but rather small details he can improve or do differently so we have a better chance of winning. At least, that’s how it is with m0NESY. With other players, you can take a more direct approach. For example, I can approach TeSeS, put together a highlight reel of his plays, and break them down with him one-on-one: “Here on Mirage, you did this—I don’t think that’s the best move; let’s try something else.”
On the strategy against donk
I remember one game on Ancient very well—you can look it up; back then, huNter and NiKo were still on the team. We came up with a whole plan to bombard donk with grenades: he was playing as a SWAT, and whenever he tried to push down to mid, we’d throw grenades at him. He took all the grenades head-on. I don’t remember if we killed him, but he was down to about 10 HP for the entire round, and it was really funny to see that it actually worked. So sometimes we come up with plans like that. Sure, it’s crazy, but for him on Ancient, that risk is worth it: even if he starts the round with 20 HP, he can take out two players. ...> I think he’s just taking a risk: “With a flashbang from a teammate, I’ll take out two—I’ll take damage, but I’ll get the kills.”
Aymeinstein joined Team Falcons in January 2026; prior to that, he had been an assistant coach at G2 Esports for a year and a half. On October 12, the Falcons’ management extended m0NESY’s contract through 2030. According to the organization’s owner, Mossad “Msdossary” Al-Dossary, the Russian player means more to the club than just a player.
Photo: Esports Foundation.
