apEX: "I feel we're a bit fried right now"

Despite feeling the effects of their hectic schedule, Vitality are still building upon their historic run.

With their win over MOUZ, Vitality extended their current run of victories to 23 games in a row, slotting themselves into second place on the all-time win streak list alongside Liquid's 2019 lineup. The team are making history, and it's something Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire admits they are well aware of.

"The goal was to win Melbourne for the Grand Slam, and now it's to beat Liquid's win streak, so one more," apEX told HLTV. "If we beat it, we'll be in the final, so it will mean that we might have a chance to win the fifth trophy in a row."

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Vitality extend streak to 23 in a row after beating MOUZ at BLAST Rivals

In putting together their epic streak, Vitality have had to deal with plenty of pressure, never more so than in their epic five-game series with Falcons in Melbourne that sealed Vitality's ESL Grand Slam win. apEX reckons the tiredness that final engendered played a part in their close battle with MOUZ today.

"I don't think it's about the pressure about today or even yesterday, it's more about the tiredness," apEX opines. "What we lived through in Melbourne was special, when you live through really high emotions in this kind of game with the pressure you had, you get really tired."

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Vitality outlast Falcons in IEM Melbourne final thriller to clinch Grand Slam

Read on to see what apEX has to say about his team's current historic run, why they are so good on Inferno and Train, and which team will provide the stiffest challenge to Vitality's current dominance.

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apEX, the streak continues. I know that's what everyone talks about, but you guys also have it in the back of your mind from what XTQZZZ said, and watching you guys from behind it looked like it wasn't the typical seeding game. Was there extra pressure on you?

Yeah, there is. But I don't think it's about the pressure about today or even yesterday, it's more about the tiredness. I know some teams are the same, but what we lived through in Melbourne was special, when you live through really high emotions in this kind of game with the pressure you had, you get really tired.

I feel we're a bit fried right now and we showed it on the first map, on our T side, the way we communicated etc. I was feeling it wasn't great. But after that I just tried to tell the guys, "Let's give our best, if we lose it's on our terms, let's not play like that, let's just step up," and we did for the last two maps.

Does it help that you also have some time off after this tournament, to just say, this is the last tournament?

Yes, exactly. That's what I told the guys as well. The goal was to win Melbourne for the Grand Slam, and now it's to beat Liquid's win streak, so one more, but if we beat it, we'll be in the final, so it will mean that we might have a chance to win the fifth trophy in a row. We have a week off next week, that's needed, no CS at all, and then the last road for the Major. It wasn't easy today, but we were fighting and I love the mentality we have.

It looks like you can always rely on your Inferno, what makes you so good on the map?

Usually when teams have a win streak on the map, it also means that the players really feel comfortable. We have people that feel really comfortable, the way we have Banana with ZywOo being the entry fragger, he loves this Banana with mezii. On CT side as well, Shahar and me have a really good duo on Banana now. I remember people were throwing shit to us last year about Inferno CT, but today we're also showing we are better. It's just about loving the map and feeling comfortable on it, having a good read and good structure overall.

Are you also getting comfortable on Train? You don't play it much, but you haven't lost it so far in this lineup yet.

Yeah, I love Train, to be honest. I'm just scared a bit that you can get read pretty fast, not many teams have a lot of stuff on Train, so you need to balance it a bit. If we played it as much as much as Inferno I think we would lose quicker because it's time to reinvent on a new map and we don't have any officials, no one plays the map for now. That's a bit sad because I think the map is really cool, but people play on their strengths right now.

I think there was a stat like that most of the team that picked it before, when it got released, they lost it, so that's why now everyone is really scared of that. I think we're really comfortable on it, it's one of our best maps. I kinda knew it would be a good map for us because the way Robin and me are with a new map coming, we just worked on everything, new nades, and trying to be a step ahead. I think we are right now, but for how long, I don't know.

You've gone through a lot of things in your career, Major finals and all that. How would you compare that Melbourne final, the pressure you were facing on that final map where you were down so badly and in a situation that was there at 12-6? Tell me about the emotions in that moment and how difficult it was to handle that pressure?

For myself it was really tough because I was playing really bad. I think it's been a while since I threw a game like that. I was dying with nades, the typical old apEX I would say, taking really bad duels, not being aware. I was a bit sick - it's not something I wanna take into consideration too much because I don't like it when people take it as an excuse, but it is a bit of an excuse, I was sick for two, three days. The first map it was fine, but my brain was cooked on the fifth map, it was really tough.

The best example was the 12-10 round, I made a huge mistake, TeSeS kills me, takes the M4, kills Robin, and I'm like... GG. And we win the retake 3v5 on B site. I'm like, "What the hell is going on?" I think my teammates lost 0 HP. I think Falcons lost their mind as well. We took one round at a time, we had three game points, we lost three rounds in a row on CT... Yeah, that was a crazy game. Losing newbie rounds back and forth on the left and right, but we knew at some point Falcons had a bit less pressure than us, it was the first tournament together, they had one day of practice... I think they were really proud of themselves being there, but for us it was really important to close it out fast because we saw FaZe in 2023, it took time for them to close it out, and for us leaving this chapter and moving onto the Major is the most important thing. So I'm really happy we came back from hell.

I asked XTQZZZ the same thing, but I'm curious whether you agree about who you see as your biggest challenger? These three teams seem quite close to you guys and it looks like you have your work cut out for you now.

Yeah, I think we have a huge target on our back. I don't know who is the best between those three. It was always the same, MOUZ beats Spirit, Falcons beat MOUZ quite easily in Melbourne, and Spirit never played against Falcons, so I don't know yet. Maybe there's gonna be a triangle between those three. I think all three can be really good. We don't have to say anything about donk, he showed us again yesterday what he's capable of, and also the duo of m0NESY and NiKo, and MOUZ are a bit different, they don't have big, big stars, but they function well together, and Spinx is probably the biggest star with xertioN. I don't know who's gonna be the biggest threat, but all three of them are able to beat us, I'm pretty sure.