apEX on mezii: "I always believed in him"

Vitality's captain was highly critical of the team's performance in the last two finals they played in.

Looking to claim their first trophy of the 2024 season, when Vitality emerged the victors in their semi-final series against Spirit, the European side seemed poised to claim the IEM Dallas title ahead of a matchup against G2 utilizing Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip as a stand-in.

In a shocking turn of events, Vitality ultimately faltered in a hotly-contested grand final, seeing Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire and co. fall short in their second-consecutive grand final.

Ahead of Vitality run in the BLAST Premier Spring Finals, apEX spoke to HLTV regarding the team's build-up in form over the year, falling short in the ESL Pro League Season 19 and IEM Dallas finals, and what the team needs to regain the form they displayed late last year.

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Back-to-back grand finals for you guys. Does it feel like you're getting back to peak Vitality slowly?

Yes. I think what mattered the most before was the playoff games we played before the finals, they were pretty clean in both tournaments. That is what is the good thing for us. Unfortunately against MOUZ we just didn't show up at all. It was one of the worst finals I have played in my entire career. Against G2, we threw that one away. We had four map points on Inferno, and we just really fucked up. That's just the way it is.

We just want to remember that we've been to two grand finals in a row, and that we had really good playoff games as well. So for us, it's just getting better after a disaster Katowice, okay semi-final in Copenhagen, two finals now. Now it's maybe time to get a title.

About that grand final against G2, was it especially disappointing because they had a stand-in?

Not really. I think that he also removed a lot of pressure from their shoulders. Having Stewie on home soil, I think that helped them so much. I think just the way we lost it, as I said, with the four map points on Inferno, almost getting back on Anubis, and just falling down on Nuke where we just didn't show up in some sense.

The stand-in part is not the thing, they just beat MOUZ, they beat FaZe, so it's not about that. We could see that NiKo played probably one of his best tournaments in CS2 while IGLing. m0NESY was obviously the MVP of the tournament. I think it removed a lot of pressure from their shoulders in general, and they just played really well, with the help of Stewie's crowd, I would say.

What do you think was the shortfall in these games?

I think what fucked us obviously is that Inferno when we have the map point, 5v4, we lose the round, and then we have lost three T rounds in a row on overtime. Then losing three CT rounds on Inferno is almost unacceptable. The way we lost it, with miscommunication, it was a mess of shit.

I think [G2] played well overall, and they did what they could do with a stand-in, and we just had good reads but couldn't convert the rounds at all, we just lost stupid rounds because of communication. But yeah, that's CS; that's always what teams will say when they lose in front of crowds, but that's where you have to get better at communicating and having a better understanding and making better choices overall in those big games.

Somebody who has been getting a little bit of flak is mezii. It feels like he is individually starting to pick things up on the server. What are your reflections on how he has developed with the team?

I think mezii's biggest problem is that sometimes he is not just thinking enough for himself. I would say also a bit, maybe doesn't get enough balls at some point. We try to help him towards that. I think that if he was in fnatic he would have done the moves, but here with Vitality he's a bit more scared with the players he's with and with everything around. We just ask him to be himself for a long time. Of course, it's not easy for him.

I have a good example with the Danes back in 2022, where they were not at their level, and when you play with a new team and you have different things, it takes time to produce your real level. That's what happened for him, sometimes it clicks, sometimes it doesn't, and for him it's just slow.

I think we also did a really good World Finals, a good Dallas now. I just hope that it's gonna continue. I always believed in him, I always knew about his talent and how much he could produce numbers as well for the team. It was just about himself, and how he would reach to everything.

In Dallas, he just did a fantastic second map against Spirit, and then he was the highest-rated on the team in the final, so I think he is in the right role. I'm not to going ask him to have those kinds of performances all the time, because we also have other players that can do it, but it just feels good that we can see that he is also able to do that for the team and for himself.

Compared to peak Vitality last year, how far away do you think you are from that level?

I think it's just a small thing about confidence. Just with a click, it can come. Obviously, we need it next then in ZywOo. That's just how it is when you have one of the best players in the world. If you want to win tournaments, you need him, that's the truth.

We need also a bit better from Spinx as an individual, as well. But I can see that it's not a big margin, because sometimes we had a final where Spinx wasn't the best, where ZywOo, wasn't the best, or whatever, and we just ping-ponged between each other when sometimes I had a good game or flameZ had a good game.

We just need to be more consistent as individuals overall. I think as a team we get much better each day. We've improved a lot since the beginning of the year, so I think it's just about improving on individuals, and I think if it clicks at the same time it's going to be pretty rough for the opponents.

Looking at this tournament, the last of the season, will you look at it as a disappointment if you don't win it? Will you look at the first half of the year as disappointing if you don't get a trophy?

I don't know if I will be really disappointed. Of course, you will always expect trophies when you have such a good year and when you are Vitality. But I don't know if I will be that disappointed, it just depends on the result here. Obviously losing a third final in a row would hurt a lot, but that's the way it is. I think we're just gonna give our best.

When you look back at our season, except Katowice, the rest is pretty good. Even though we didn't win a Major, we still got the semi-final, close game against FaZe. It's crazy that I thought it was a pretty long season but we had only five tournaments, with all the groups, RMRs, etc, it's only five. I expect to try to win this one, and I would be a bit disappointed but I don't think the whole road would be disappointing.