ropz: "The potential for an era is definitely there, but it's never a thing you really talk about"

"It's definitely a bit surprising that you can have this sort of dominance in the age we are in," the Estonian star said ahead of the semi-finals.

Vitality booked a spot in the semi-final stage of IEM Melbourne 2025 after cruising through their group, where they beat FlyQuest, Liquid and Falcons without dropping a map to take their win streak to 19 matches.

The toughest test so far came in the final group match against the new Falcons roster, which let a 12-7 lead slip on Mirage. "The fact they gave us a good fight speaks a lot to how good they are," Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool told HLTV ahead of the playoffs. "And I think in the future they can get as good as we are. You never know. They have the players, I think."

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Infographic: Vitality's triple win in numbers

Vitality flew to Melbourne looking to make it four trophies in a row and complete the ESL Grand Slam before the Austin Major. Talk of a Vitality era will certainly intensify if they manage to do so, but the team is taking it "one step at a time."

"The potential for an era is definitely there," he said. "But it's never a thing you really talk about. I think you make jokes, like, 'It's going to be an era,' or whatever, but in reality, it's a professional environment."

He added: "We're going to lose a match eventually, and we're going to reset our win streak, and then we'll see how we bounce back. And I think that's when we can see how it goes."

Read more in the interview below, or listen to it on Spotify.

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You are straight through to the semi-finals here in Melbourne. It's 19 wins in a row for Vitality already, the third-longest win streak in CS history when it comes to LAN. How does it feel to do something like this in such a competitive era in Counter-Strike?

It's definitely a bit surprising that you can have this sort of dominance in the age we are in. The level has risen a lot, and teams have gotten much better than in previous years. So, yeah, it's a bit surprising. Doing that obviously gives you a lot of confidence. As long as we have the streak going, we will want more, and we will try to keep it alive.

You took a week off after Lisbon, and sometimes it might take teams a while to get back into the rhythm after taking a break, but it seems like you have not missed a beat. You came here, you won all three group matches, you didn't lose a single map. Are you happy with the way that the team has been playing here so far?

We are super happy with the way we've been playing here. The truth is, yes, we took a week off after Lisbon and then we went to practice. And truthfully, practice was actually quite bad in the weeks between Lisbon and now. So we were just looking forward to getting back on LAN, getting out of the online rhythm, because the way some teams play online and then coming to LAN, it's completely different.

 You won your group by defeating Falcons. It was a very close match, especially the first map, the closest match you've played here so far. When Falcons announced m0NESY, a lot of people said, 'Maybe this team can finally stop Vitality.' Can you give me your thoughts on the match? And did you expect it to be so competitive, especially considering that they had announced m0NESY just a few days earlier?

I definitely expect every match to be competitive. Right now, we have this sort of good run, and we're living off of it a lot. In each match, we get a pretty good start or we have a lot of confidence. And we do a lot of prep as well. So I think, going into the match, we definitely knew that they had the G2 duo back and they were going to be firing on all cylinders. And they've had some players stepping up as well. TeSeS has been playing fantastically, I think, the past few months.

You don't really think about it, but I think every match against them is going to be competitive. And it's still early days for them. So the fact that they gave us a good fight speaks a lot to how good they are. And I think in the future they can get as good as we are. You never know. They have the players for that, I think.

You are in the semi-finals, but a lot of the public discourse is whether you're going to face MOUZ or Falcons in the final, which shows how good you have been lately. There's obviously still one match to win, but I wanted to ask you: when you've been so dominant as you have these couple of months, how much mental work are you doing to ensure you're focused all the time, that you do not take your eyes off the prize, even when it seems like you might have an easy task?

I think it comes down to having open talks and tough talks. Even now, for example, in the time between Melbourne and Lisbon, as I said, we had bad practices and we talked about it, like, 'Why is it going bad? Why are we not doing as well as we do in tournaments'? We talk about it a lot, and I think that makes us realize that not everything is always going to work, and we cannot take it for granted. Yes, we do have a good dominance going right now, but we still have to single out every match, put all our energy into that, not take any steps ahead and just pour all our energy into a specific match we're playing. So it's going to be the same now with the semi-final, against Liquid or MongolZ. And we'll take it from there.

And what are your expectations for this match? Do you have any preference in terms of opponent?

 Actually, I have no preference. I checked the previous matches, and I think we've played them both twice so far and I think it's going to be the third match, whether it's Liquid or MongolZ. It's a very similar matchup that we've already had and experienced. It's about reminding ourselves of what worked. And I think for either team we'll do the prep accordingly.

Looking at the other side of the bracket, there are two obvious big names in MOUZ and Falcons. How would you compare them right now? And which do you think would be the tougher challenge in a BO5 final, especially considering you've just played two in a row against MOUZ?

I think it would be MOUZ just because I think they're getting their stuff together. Obviously, I think Falcons have a lot of potential with the individuals they have. But I think MOUZ are connecting really well. I think it's a surprise to everyone how well they are clicking, with Brollan being the IGL. I think not many people expected that, and they've been getting better and better. They've won a tournament, one of the PGL ones. I feel like, since then, they've got even better. So it wasn't a fluke. Definitely not. And I feel like they've also given us a tough time in practice. They were one of the practice partners we had. I think MOUZ are definitely up there in terms of teams that can take us down, but we're going to take it very carefully, and I think it's going to be an exciting match in that case.

I wanted to get your thoughts on FaZe. It's been a rough start to the year for them, with lots of ups and downs. They didn't make it out of the groups in this tournament. How do you look at their current situation? Do you think that maybe some of the teams you faced with the team last year, they're still dealing with them?

It's rough to look at FaZe, definitely. It's sad knowing the players in there, in and out. I know what they will be saying right now. I know what they will be feeling. And, you know, I just wish them the best. But I think everyone realizes it's not easy right now, especially when you have these kinds of results it's back-to-back, you're not getting what you're expecting and you're going lower and lower in terms of morale and stuff like that. It's tough, you know? And it was like that at some point in 2024 and even before, where we had similar results, I think, and we didn't get the results we expected for months and months. I think we didn't beat a top-five team for half a year, maybe.

It's like you're hitting a wall constantly. I can definitely imagine what it feels like. I think back then I said that it just takes one good tournament to bounce back. One good moment to bounce back. I wish them the best and I hope they get that one.

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One of the main talking points about your team is whether you can establish an era. And I guess winning the Grand Slam, here or wherever, will really go a long way towards helping you achieve that. Is that something on your mind? And do you think that the team can establish itself as one of the best of all time?

The potential for an era is definitely there. But it's never a thing you really talk about. I think you make jokes, like, 'It's going to be an era,' or whatever, but in reality, it's a professional environment. We take everything, as I said, like, one step at a time, one match at a time. As long as we win, like, I don't know, 70% of those matches, maybe we can talk about an era.

We looked at the win streaks and we have 19 now, I believe. And then we compare: 'Okay, where was Astralis'? They had 18, but they also had, like, three other runs in the top 10 during two years. That shows how dominant they were, having four of the top 10 runs, I don't know, win streaks in history. If you can get that sort of dominance, it's going to be an era. We're going to lose a match eventually, and we're going to reset our win streak, and then we'll see how we bounce back. And I think that's when we can see how it goes.