EX6TENZ retires as a pro player and turns to coach

February 6, 2020 Jenard

Kévin “Ex6TenZ” Droolans has announced the end of his playing career and expressed his intent to become a coach.

In a Twitlonger post announcing his retirement, the Belgian veteran cited a lack of motivation and energy to continue playing after his unsuccessful stints with G2 and GamerLegion in 2018-2019, each of which lasted less than six months before Ex6TenZ was removed from the active rosters.

He stressed that while he is no longer motivated to spend time on individual training, he wishes to transfer the values he gained as a long-time in-game leader and put his focus into coaching, a role he and many from the community envisioned as the next step in Ex6TenZ’s career.

The 29-year-old had been inactive since mid-2019, when he was benched in GamerLegion and replaced by Dennis “dennis” Edman in the team’s first move towards an all-Swedish roster, which they achieved at the beginning of November.

His career dates back to the early days of Counter-Strike: Source, where he most notably helped VeryGames become the best team in the world for nearly three consecutive years in 2009-2012 before transitioning to CS:GO. In the new version, VeryGames were largely considered the second-best team up until 2014, when a move to Titan saw them start dropping off.

After the French scene restructured twice, Ex6TenZ fell out of the top tier in 2016 after he was removed from G2 for the first time and joined up with LDLC, returning to the Spanish organization in mid-2018 only to be removed again at the end of the year following a series of mixed results. He then played a part in creating GamerLegion alongside Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom, Kevin “HS” Tarn, Hampus “hampus” Poser, and Tim “nawwk” Jonasson, which marks his last organization as an active player.

The 29-year-old now follows in the footsteps of his former VeryGames, Titan, and G2 teammate Edouard “SmithZz” Dubourdeaux, who formally announced his retirement and full transition to streaming earlier this week.

“Now is the time to change direction and role. I may no longer have the motivation to practice 10 hours per day individually in addition to the strategic work but I still love the game, the teamplay, the tactic, the job well done, the desire to get the best out of my players as a group and as individuals. I want to transmit these values and immerse myself more in the analysis, observation and the management of a group,” Ex6TenZ said in a Twitlonger post.

“For these reasons I want to become a coach. I’ve known for a long time that it would be the next logical step for me because my vision was more and more global and not enough focused on myself.”

Some of Ex6TenZ’s international achievements in CS:GO include:

1. France ESWC 2017 (LDLC)

1. Sweden DreamHack Stockholm Invitational 2014 (Titan)
1. Sweden DreamHack Stockholm SteelSeries Invitational (Titan)
1. China MSI Beat it! 2013 Grand Finals (VeryGames)
1. Germany RaidCall EMS One Fall 2013 Finals (VeryGames)
1. Ukraine SLTV StarSeries VII Finals (VeryGames)
1. Germany RaidCall EMS One Summer 2013 Finals (VeryGames)
1. United Kingdom Mad Catz Birmingham (VeryGames)