apEX: "I used to be the second caller, now there are too many voices in the team sometimes"

Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire talked about the leadership situation in Vitality and how it impacted his role in the team in an interview at the StarLadder Major.

The talk took place after Vitality secured a strong victory over North, looking improved after struggling in the New Legends Stage where they finished with a 3-2 record after losses to Syman and DreamEaters.

apEX explained how his role changed and his impact was limited after Alex "⁠ALEX⁠" McMeekin joined Vitality, and compared his current team to the Titan lineup of 2015.

Let's jump right into it, what are the first impressions after going to the New Legends Stage and getting a win over North?

It feels good because we finally played well, which is a result of everything we did yesterday and everything behind the game. Yesterday, we had a big talk, mainly between ALEX and me because I felt like I was struggling with the team right now, mainly on the T side. I didn't feel good at all, I didn't feel like I was in my role, kind of. We talked about it, I asked ALEX for a bit of help on these things and it went pretty good.

Also, the organization, to help us, did a video with a lot of fans, known people — like a French gold Olympic medalist athlete who is really close to Vitality —, and also our girlfriends, family, etc., to just empower us, to let us know they are behind us and they just want us to perform. I think that helped the mood of the team a lot, that was a good idea by the staff of the team and I'm really happy because we finally showed ourselves in a game and I hope it is going to continue.

I want to touch on the situation you have now with ALEX calling on one side and NBK- calling on the other side, and there maybe being a clash of who is leading the team at certain points. So from your perspective, also as someone that used to be the secondary caller in a team, how does that feel for you?

Once again, that is not easy to me. I used to be the second caller, now there are too many voices in the team sometimes. We can not be three calling something. So I'm a bit behind everything and that is why, lately, I'm not performing well since I like to do things from my POV, I'm not a typical soldier. RpK is the best soldier you can have, for sure, but I'm not like that. It is the style of players, you know?

Mainly, that is how it feels for me, but it worked for a long time so I didn't want to say anything. The team worked really well during the last four months so I didn't speak about it because I didn't want to bother anyone in the team. Now, I spoke about it because I didn't feel good and I thought that if I felt a bit better we could've been better [as a team]. That is what I did yesterday.

Are you now getting a bigger say in the team?

On the CT side I was getting too much direction on myself, the team was giving me too much direction, and I didn't get to feel what I wanted to do. When you are a rotator, I think you need to feel the game and when it is not the case, it is really hard. That is what I felt, the same as T side, I didn't do as I used to do but now it is better so I hope it is going to continue that way.

Maybe some parallels can be drawn between ZywOo right now and kennyS in Titan, looking at the frag distribution, most of it is on them. With you being in both of those teams, are there similarities between playing in them?

Our team now is very different, we have a way more tactical team than we had in Titan, that is for sure. Even if ZywOo is really good, he is mechanically one of the best players in the world and in the team, he is fragging a lot, I think he is put in the best position to do that, even if he is really talented. But I think that most of the time, there is always someone that is following him in terms of fragging. It is not always the same, unfortunately, but we can all step up at some moment, like NBK- did against Grayhound, he had a sick BO3, RpK played well against HellRaisers, etc. We don't have specific roles in the team and we are trying to put each other in great positions, except ZywOo who is in the best positions he could have.

But yeah, talking about both players, the big difference, for me, is that kennyS was better with the AWP, he was more flashy, more aggressive, ZywOo is more passive and I would say he is missing less shots than kennyS, but kennyS was way more flashy, the peeks he did, the quick-scopes, etc., that is the big difference. And also, kennyS was really good with rifles, but ZywOo is the best rifler in the team as well. He is like s1mple, for me ZywOo and s1mple are the same, they are sick with the AWP, with the AK, they can entry. I think ZywOo can entry more than s1mple, but ZywOo can do everything for the team, that feels so good. Sometimes we put him in first, sometimes last, something third. He knows how to do everything. The only thing he lacks is a bit of how to use his nades for the team, but the rest he is excelling.