ZywOo: "You can see why ropz f**ked us in Shanghai; finally we got this player on our side"

Vitality's off-season change is paying off already and ZywOo could not be happier to have his new teammate beside him.

Vitality dominated Spirit in the grand final of IEM Katowice to add the one trophy to their cabinet they were missing.

Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut was named the HLTV MVP of the tournament, tying Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev's record for most all-time medals, 21, as well as for most Big Event medals, 14.

HLTV spoke to the MVP following the grand final affair and got his thoughts on completing the trifecta of Major, Cologne and Katowice wins, having a big-match player like Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool beside him, and tying s1mple's record.

"You cannot imagine something else from ropz, he can pop off at any time in playoffs, in group stages," ZywOo said about his new teammate. "You can see why he fucked us at the Major in Shanghai, so finally we got this player on our side."

The 24-year-old stressed this is no time to slow down as the team sets its sights on the Intel Grand Slam after clinching the second of four notches. "I will not stop. I still want to win even more, more Katowices, more Colognes, more Majors. The fire is still there, I just want to keep fucking everyone."

ZywOo also spoke about how the team managed to limit Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets, who had an unusually quiet series.

"If you leave him too much space, when you give him too many 1v1s, he will kill you, that's why he's one of the best for now," he said. "But if you play together as a team and you don't leave him any space, you trade, he cannot do what he's doing, so that's our gameplay."

You can watch the interview in full or read the transcript below:

Congratulations, ZywOo, an IEM Katowice champion - how does that sound?

Amazing, sounds amazing. We never reached this part of the competition, we always lost in the quarter-finals, so this time we wanted to do it for Vitality and for us, the team.

We wanted to start the year great and I think we did it. The addition of ropz gave us so much freedom, I would say, in terms of experience he brings to the team, he's bringing so many things. So feeling really good in terms of Katowice.

Did you expect it to be so one-sided? It looked like you were so well prepared and from the beginning it was so convincing, what was it down to?

I think obviously we have our preparation, but I don't think we were expecting to smash them that much. It was mostly on the first two maps. I would say Mirage was a bit the same, but I think the pressure of winning, we wanted to finish too fast.

We just had our preparation, we countered them with what we saw with the coach, but I just felt like we played good CS in terms of the team, in terms of individually, everything was on point. It was really good.

ropz got off to a great start in the grand final. How much of a confidence booster was that, that you have this guy who can hit these amazing peaks for you in big matches?

It's amazing. You can see he's one of the greatest players of all time. You cannot imagine something else from him, he can pop off at any time in playoffs, in group stages. It's so amazing to have him inside of the team. You can see why he fucked us at the Major in Shanghai, so finally we got this player on our side.

You seem to have exploited donk a lot, and even in series before, even when they won, he didn't have the same level. Is there something you figured out about him or the way Spirit are using him?

I think we are just using nades. If you leave him too much space, when you give him too many 1v1s, he will kill you, that's why he's one of the best for now. But if you play together as a team and you don't leave him any space, you trade, he cannot do what he's doing, so that's our gameplay.

Also, in terms of ecos, you don't give him anything so that you don't give him confidence. And we are doing that with almost all star players, do not give them confidence, and we just did that today.

You're a Major winner, a Cologne winner, now a Katowice winner. You have the trifecta. What's missing, just Intel Grand Slam?

Yeah, I think Intel Grand Slam, but I will not stop. I still want to win even more, more Katowices, more Colognes, more Majors. The fire is still there, I just want to keep fucking everyone.

What about individually? You matched s1mple's record for MVPs, 21, also Big Event MVPs, one away from breaking the record - how does that feel?

I didn't know before you told me, but it's an amazing feeling to be at the same as s1mple. But now I just need to focus on the next one to beat him. It's gonna be amazing to have it.