ropz: "When I joined FaZe I felt we could win everything from that moment on; joining Vitality I share the same feeling"

"Sometimes you just need to step out of your comfort zone and try something new," ropz says of leaving FaZe after three successful years.

After three years in FaZe, Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool decided to look for new pastures and embark on a new adventure with Vitality after his contract with the American organization expired.

"It's definitely hard to leave FaZe because of the history between me and the organization and also the amount of success we had," ropz admits, but adds that he is excited to join Vitality and win tournaments with his new team.

The Estonian also spoke about the differences between FaZe and Vitality, the tough decisions over the winter break, and playing under a new IGL in Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire.

---

A new chapter in your career, starting with Vitality. First of all, how does it feel to hear 'Vitality ropz'?

Unexpected for sure. If you asked me some years ago, I definitely would not imagine it, because back in the day it used to be all French. But yeah, as teams go more international I guess it's also expected at one point that it could be possible. It will definitely take some time to get used to for everyone, me as well.

For you, there was this whole dream for a long time to join FaZe. Closing that chapter of your career and leaving it behind, how difficult was that, and what did it mean to you to take that step?

It was a hard decision for sure. I was dragging things out for as long as I could. It was hard for me; the last six months in FaZe I didn't really know what I wanted to do, if I wanted to stay or move to a new team. When it came to the Christmas break, I had to make a decision because my contract was running out.

It's definitely hard to leave FaZe because of the history between me and the organization and also the amount of success we had, the memories we created, and the friends along the way. It's very hard to leave behind, that goes without saying.

You said you were dragging out your decision, can you expand on that?

It was the Christmas break, staying at home, and it was very stressful days because it was hard to leave FaZe, and it was also hard to say yes to a new chapter. It was a lot of days of thinking and stress because it's a big decision; it's not every day you do these sorts of things.

What prompted the move for you? What made it a decision you thought you had to take now?

I think the main thing was that I did a bit of reflection on where I am right now, and what I've done throughout my career. One thing was my contract running out, and with the reflection thing I feel like I've been through a lot of stuff, had experience losing, winning trophies, and being in international teams, and it's obviously the way to go for me. It just made sense timing-wise if I ever wanted to try something new, now was the time with my contract running out, and with teams like Vitality on the lookout for a player.

Vitality is the perfect candidate for what I would look for in a new team if it was to be. I would always have loved to end things on good terms with FaZe If I were to go to a new team, and I feel like it sorta happened with that Major run in Shanghai. It's hard to give an exact reason, because I guess the main reason is just to step out of my comfort zone and use that opportunity I've been given to look out for a new team, and Vitality for me was the perfect candidate.

If you won the Major, would that have influenced you one way or another, or were you leaning one way before you made that run?

Honestly, I don't know. It's hard to say because I'm not sure what would be different if we won the Major. Maybe something would be different, but I can't say for sure exact things. Maybe not, maybe yes, we'll never know.

One thing is for sure is that for a long time I wasn't sure what I wanted to do; I wanted to make my decision with the conclusion of 2024, and that was what I also told FaZe because obviously they were trying to re-sign me for a long time.

They respected my answer of being unsure of what I wanted to do, and they gave me freedom in that sense, there was a lot of mutual respect. It's not something that just happens, it's something that I've been thinking about for a long, long time.

With that decision you leave karrigan behind. Can you tell me about that?

First of all, there are no hard feelings. We're amazing friends inside the server and outside the server. We have a lot of mutual respect for each other's work, on what we've achieved together and not together. I think we'll always be good friends, and of course, it's very hard to leave him behind. I kind of grew up with him in terms of playing CS in top teams, winning tournaments, many of them with him. He's one of the greatest IGLs ever.

Sometimes you just need to step out of your comfort zone and try something new, and I think he also understood that I was taking this new challenge. It's sad to leave him, that's for sure.

Stepping out of that comfort zone, what are some of the differences that you have seen so far in Vitality? How has the change been for you?

The comfort zone thing is mainly about going to a new environment. Throughout my career what I've learned to do is to be flexible, to adapt, because that's what you need to do in the end to win tournaments, and I think me adapting to this team is definitely what I wanted to do.

Maybe it's going to improve me, maybe it's going to improve Vitality, we'll see. There are a lot of similarities between this team and FaZe in the first two days together. When you have an international team that is competing for trophies, you'll have a lot of the same ideas and the vision is very similar in that sense.

It's been really great to meet them now at the first few days in bootcamp here in Serbia. The chemistry is actually amazing; I told the team that when I joined FaZe in 2022 I had the feeling that this is the right team that could win everything from this moment on, and joining this team in 2025, I think I absolutely share the same feeling, and I think this is one of the best decisions I probably could have made. The future is going to be great.

apEX discussed your role on the team and the freedom that you have in your plays. How have you felt about that in terms of what you've been able to do on the server so far?

I joined MOUZ in 2017, and I kinda grew up with some of the old-school CS that I see in apEX when he is playing and calling. Nowadays, you have a lot more structure, and the vision is a bit different from those days, but I think you have a balance of both.

That's what I grew up with in MOUZ, that's how I used to play with karrigan in FaZe as well, so I think that he's capable of doing whatever the team needs, and I think the same goes for me. He can give freedom, but he can also be very strict, because sometimes you need to be strict to win the right rounds, but sometimes you want to give freedom for players to create whatever they want. That balance is always going to be there.

Read more

apEX: "ropz will have a bigger voice and more plays than what Spinx had" *

We understand how we work as well; obviously we didn't speak as much before I joined, but seeing how we play on the server and against each other, when you get to speak more about it you just understand each other very well. I think the chemistry is amazing in this team. The ideas I provide are really welcome, and the stuff they had in Vitality is more or less very similar to what we had in FaZe. It's going to be a mix of a lot of stuff, but the balance we have is already very great.

Linking up with ZywOo and being able to play alongside him, what has that experience been like so far, and how do you see that proceeding in the future?

The first three days of playing I've been mind-blown multiple times by how many highlights one guy can have, it's actually insane. I've never seen a person with that amount of talent in CS. I've seen hard work in some players, but the talent he has is just mind-blowing.

I was very excited to get to play with him, and now that I know him a bit and will get to know him more along the way, I think he is an amazing person as well outside the server. Just very happy to be his teammate, and once we get to the tournaments I think we can have a lot of success and create some history together, so I'm excited for that. The chemistry between me and him is amazing as well I think; everyone on the team feels so similar, you have a lot of good things going on already.

You touched on it a little bit earlier having the same feeling joining this team as you did when joining FaZe. How do you see your future going with Vitality? Where do you see your career going with this move?

With how my contract was running out and I was looking for a new project, I wanted to commit long-term. I don't want to just think about the next year, but I want to think about where I want to be in three years and then what I want to achieve.

For me, this is definitely a long-term thing, and I think we have a great foundation for that. The plan is to win tournaments; the joke is that I haven't won a BLAST tournament, Vitality will help me with that. They haven't won a Katowice, so maybe I'll help them with that. It's mutual help in that sense (laughs). We'll have to see.