apEX: "The level of CS at the end of the season is never the best, but everyone is fighting"

Vitality head into a rematch with HEROIC from the IEM Rio grand final looking to go three for three at the end of the season.

Vitality have reached their third consecutive grand final at the BLAST Premier Spring Final and now look to finish the season with a third consecutive trophy, facing off against HEROIC in the title decider on Sunday.

The team around Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire made it through to the final after edging out G2 in a three-map series that came down to a close finish on Nuke, where some key stacks on the CT side won Vitality the match despite Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut having an off game.

apEX gave an interview to HLTV following the semi-final, discussing the Nuke finish and his difficulties dealing with an on-fire Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač, and the upcoming title decider.

This Nuke was one of those maps where ZywOo was missing, but you made up for it with what looked like amazing reads towards the end. There was the forcebuy you won with an upper stack, then the 14-12 stack on ramp. You just seemed to know what was happening there - can you tell me about the reads you made towards the end of the game and what made it go in your favor?

I think we had some information, like when we saw huNter killing Spinx under, we were like, okay, we have to overrotate and go ramp because we had to make a gamble at some point. That's why we overrotated ramp. Thank god we had the good read and that's what matters.

Yeah, that was a really tough Nuke, not gonna lie. ZywOo, dupreeh, and me had a really bad T side, but what's important is that ZywOo and me stepped up on the second side to help the team to win and I think that's really important for us, to not rely only on ZywOo. I think he has had his worst tournament this year, probably, but we are still in the final, so that's what is really important for us to have these equal players that can step up at any moment. Spinx and Magisk were really insane on the T side, and maybe tomorrow it's gonna be the other way, so that's what is really good for the team right now.

You seemed to be having a tough time dealing with NiKo in yard, how was it, trying to deal with that?

He did a lot of Juan Deags, classic NiKo. It's the end of the season, I'm kinda tired today and we did a lot of mistakes on the CT side, I got caught lot outside, like three or four times, ZywOo as well. I think the level of CS at the end of the season is never the best, but everyone is fighting, and that's what is really beautiful, it goes to crazy rounds. That's what spectators love. Obviously, NiKo was pretty insane today, but it's good that we countered him.

Losing the Anubis streak is maybe not gonna matter in this upcoming final, because Heroic don't play the map, but is that something that played on your mind?

Not really, I think we played pretty bad this Anubis. We were not calm and the communication was a bit off and we made pretty bad decisions. I think we were a bit lost, but what is important is that the last time we lost a playoff map was against Cloud9 in Rio, and when we went outside we were a bit lost because it's been a while since we lost a playoff game. So we just talked together that now we just need to show character from the team, that we need to bounce back from that. We had a pretty good idea of how they play on Inferno, so we were really prepared for that, I think it showed.

We knew they had a plan if they want to play against us on Nuke, the last map, when we had a 10-0 streak. We expected a plan, we countered it a little bit, but we lost some shit rounds, clutch situations, but it's CS. I think overall that was a really nice best-of-three.

Tell me about Heroic, it's a rematch from the Rio final, where it was pretty close, and it's been pretty back and forth between you in terms of series this year. What are you expecting from this final?

Without a doubt the two best teams of 2023, even though Heroic haven't won a tournament yet they have been really consistent in the game. They had really good mental fortitude today, because after almost choking a big lead they came back, and that's really important for them. I expect a good game, it's always really nice to mindgame each other, and I really want us to finish on a high note and win this tournament. Winning three tournaments in a row would make us without a doubt the best team in the world, no argument. I think we already are anyway, even if we lose the final, because we made three finals in a row, winning two at least, so I think we are the best team, but now let's see how it goes.

What have you been making of Heroic's jokes and the mindset they've set for themselves, saying they're going to lose in the semi-finals, the final... What do you make of that?

I think they're trying to find a way to win a tournament this year, I think. I think they are just trying this to put some pressure off of their shoulders. It's never easy when a team is waiting for you, they said it, they've been playing amazingly sometimes and in some other tough moments they've been playing worse. So I think it's just a joke and you just want to see that, I think they just want to put some pressure off their shoulders, as I said, and nothing much else.