Stat check: How will flameZ fit into Vitality?

The Israeli entry fragger comes into a Major-winning side with big shoes to fill.

Winning the Major is no longer something that secures your spot in a team — that's what David "⁠n0rb3r7⁠" Danielyan and Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen have found out, anyway. In the wake of Vitality's finest hour they have refused to be complacent, moving aggressively in the transfer market to secure the signature of Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan in place of dupreeh.

It's an interesting change and perhaps harsh on the five-time Major winner, who finally looked like he had adapted to what Vitality's system required in the last few tournaments before the break. IGL Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire started to use him as more of a brute-force entry fragger on T side, and he was even moved to spots like B Anchor on Mirage.

It is also no coincidence that this change arrived after Audric "⁠JACKZ⁠" Jug stood in for Vitality at ESL Pro League — "When we played with JACKZ, I think it helped dupreeh to see what was needed in the team," apEX told BLAST.tv's Overtime show. "The fun part is that even though he did this salty job, dupreeh got much better!"

Still, dupreeh's improvement was not enough. The five-time Major champion is now 30-years-old, ten years older than flameZ, so there is an element of future-proofing to this move. flameZ has also got more of that unbridled aggression apEX loves in JACKZ, a natural inclination to risk-taking that dupreeh had to manually unlock. And so we move onto a new era of Vitality, with flameZ taking up the entry fragging mantle.

The Israeli actually has a lower overall rating than dupreeh over our sample size of MVP events in 2023, coming in at 1.02 compared to dupreeh's 1.03. His overall output, too, is nothing crazy. 72% KAST is impressive, but is inflated by how much flameZ would get assists or traded deaths as a bombsite entry for OG. Similarly, 75 ADR is solid but only slightly above average for aggressive riflers this year.

It is more in the eye test that flameZ stands out. He has impeccable entry pathing, and the aim to pull off 4Ks like the one above. There is an argument to be had over whether he deserved more space in OG; when we manually counted bombsite entry attempts at BLAST World Final last year flameZ was going in first more than anyone except Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen and Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen.

It must be something that he enjoys, and that can only have made him an appealing prospect for Vitality to pick up. A lot of aggressive players in the current meta are solo space takers, using their timings to find kills for themselves rather than for their teammates. flameZ wields his aggression differently, without ego and with a teammate nearly always ready to trade. Whether that is personal preference or OG's style doesn't really matter; either prove that he is willing to sacrifice himself for the win.

Despite our talk of flameZ as an entry fragger so far, there is not much overlap between he and dupreeh on his default positions on T side. On CT side too, there is room for concern in how many players will be in new positions.

Some of that concern can be allayed by the fact that, despite nominally being a lurker in passive defaults, he was OG's dedicated entry fragger. In OG, Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković, Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen, and Adam "⁠NEOFRAG⁠" Zouhar were on map control in 3-1-1 defaults but because those spread out defaults were so rare, it is unlikely flameZ will be too uncomfortable slotting into Vitality's pack with apEX and Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut.

On CT side the situation should not be as bad as the positions may suggest, too. apEX plays a lot of rotator positions to help his calling, but he has shown a willingness to lose them if the timing is right. dupreeh has left behind a few rotator spots like A Short on Inferno, and apEX may well move back to B on Mirage to give flameZ Connector. There may be teething issues, but flameZ should be more than comfortable in his role even if his exact spots might change.

Where we truly see why flameZ is an able replacement for dupreeh is in his trading and opening stats. Despite his lurker roles he is all the way to the right in both charts: He had 28.5% opening duel attempts on T side at MVP events this year, putting him close to JACKZ's figures at ESL Pro League. He is also traded and baited (where a teammate kills an enemy that is dealing damage to him) fairly often thanks to his quasi-pack role.

These last few charts show flameZ's profile far better than his positions in defaults do. He is an aggressive player, more than willing to be a soldier and die for space, information, or a trade. The move is still a gamble — changing a winning team always is — but it is a calculated one.

flameZ is young, still ready to be moulded by apEX and Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen into the type of entry fragger they want him to be. He is no superstar statistically speaking, but he has a selflessness that rarely comes with his type of talent. Now, that selflessness has been rewarded with a move to the big leagues.