Toad-ally viral Jab Jabich receives HLTV profile

Spirit have enjoyed a perfect start to their run at the IEM Cologne Major 2026, despite toad mascot-turned-stand-in coach Jab "Jab Jabich" Jabich being at the helm in place of head coach Sergey "hally" Shavaev. Thanks to the toad's stellar performance and massive popularity on social media, HLTV decided to give him his own HLTV profile.

Now, this hasn't been out of the ordinary of late, as Spirit have played with Spirit Academy coach Dmitry "S0tF1k" Forostyanko at the recent IEM Rio and PGL Astana tournaments due to visa issues that affected hally. In those two events, Spirit placed 2nd and 1st, respectively.

However, due to the rules for the Major, hally can be the only one to stand behind the team, as he was registered as Spirit's coach. Spirit have found a workaround for this. Their mascot Jab Jabich, which translates from Russian to English as "Toad Toadson", is seated in the chair behind in-game leader Boris "magixx" Vorobiev with two simple strategies: 1. RUSH B and 2. DONK GO KILL.

Jab Jabich's troops are yet to give up double-digit rounds in a single map at IEM Cologne, winning their first three matches by a round differential 52-10. The toad coach's first real test will likely come in their opening match of Stage Three, which comes v. master tactician Andrey "B1ad3" Gorodenskiy's NAVI side.

It is not yet known when hally will return to the team, as he was rushed to the hospital shortly before Spirit's IEM Cologne debut.

Spirit will begin Stage Three v. NAVI tomorrow at 12:30PM.