apEX: "It's exciting to see that everyone made a change to beat us"

apEX is aware of the threat new teams may pose to Vitality's dominance.

At IEM Cologne, Vitality have continued right where they left off last season, grabbing four straight map wins to book themselves a playoff berth and a chance at heading straight into the semi-finals.

"It feels good because you never know," Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire said of his teams continued good form. "We saw so many teams drop down after a player break, and for us it was really the light on about focusing on that and giving our best for this tournament."

Despite Vitality's dominance last season apEX was hard at work ahead of their return, and is well aware of the changes other teams have made in the effort to dethrone Vitality. "The MongolZ and MOUZ could be a big threat... I think G2 picked up the right guys... Falcons as well, without a doubt."

With a playoff campaign on the horizon, as well as a matchup against The MongolZ with a semi-final spot on the line, apEX spoke to HLTV about staying ahead of the game and the biggest threats to Vitality heading into the new season.

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Congratulations apEX, straight to the playoffs here at IEM Cologne, the streak lives on and all that. A couple of close maps you guys have played here so far, one against Astralis and one against G2. Is this the closest that we can see Vitality getting to looking rusty, or what's going on?

I think it's the beginning of the season for us, and for them as well. It was tough because they don't have much data for now, so then we don't know what to expect and they are new teams, so it was kind of rough. Even though it was close on Train [against G2], I think we always had the upper hand, we were confident to be honest.

Yesterday against Astralis was a bit different, they had the upper hand on Nuke and that was a bit scarier, but the other two maps we won, our map picks, were pretty decent, so that's what matters for us. So yeah, another win, I'm happy, playoffs in Cologne again, another streak for playoffs as well. It feels good because you never know, we saw so many teams drop down after a player break, and for us it was really the light on about focusing on that and giving our best for this tournament.

Was there any particular way you guys approached that? Because usually we don't have such a big tournament being the first one heading into the new season, you always have the Bounty or maybe an online match, whatever it is. This time it was different.

I remember back then what was good is that we could take a bit more break, because then we had BLAST groups. We would spend 10 days there and it was like a bootcamp for us, because then we had either Katowice or Cologne. Today we didn't have it, so it was a shorter break for us.

After such a season sometimes it's not easy to drop down, it's not easy to mentally see how you can improve, what you can do better, because when you won seven trophies in a row, it's rough in that sense. So for us we did a small bootcamp, tried to play as much as possible. I tried to invent new things even though the others work, it's always the same if you want to stay one step ahead and you want to still win trophies. People watch you even more than the others, so one of the key things is to also be able to change at some point.

So far things maybe haven't changed so much from last season, as you are going to head into the rematch against The MongolZ from the Austin Major final. What did you think about how the group unfolded? I'm sure a lot of people are looking forward to seeing whether potentially Falcons can match up against you guys, but that didn't happen.

Well yeah of course. Falcons are a new team as well, they have a new player. In our first tournament we didn't win, we lost at Bounty, so it's never easy. kyousuke is an insane player and I'm sure he's going to show up and be such a wonderful kid, but for now they need a bit more time. But they will be tough for sure.

I think also the new G2 are better than the last one, the last one was a bit shaky, not many playoffs etc. And yeah The MongolZ, The MongolZ again, I don't know what to say anymore. We played them four times already in the first part of the year. They look sharp, I watched the game today, they are one step ahead of Falcons, so let's see how it goes. Hopefully we are going to be good, and I hope we win this one again.

Lastly, we had a fairly busy off-season, not many teams changed that much but almost everybody did change something. Everybody is looking at you guys, everybody is obviously making changes to finally get one out of your hands, so who do you think could be the big threat heading into this new season?

Well I don't know, because I need to see more. Obviously the two teams that didn't change, The MongolZ and MOUZ could be a big threat, because we always had close games against them last season. I think G2 with huNter- as IGL, I think they picked up the right guys with MATYS and SunPayus, they just need time. But if they work well together, I think they can also be dangerous. Falcons as well, without a doubt.

Now I need to see about NAVI, because I don't know, from what we know they wanted to change more than they did and it was not possible. So let's see how makazze can be a bigger difference for them than jL. I think they have a bit of a role clash, no real lurker etc. I know the feeling and it's never easy to work with that, when you don't have a player in this role, I think it's much better to even have a lower player, but one in his role. Let's see, maybe they can prove me wrong, they beat FaZe yesterday so maybe they are going to play really well and win some trophies again. I think it's exciting to see that everyone wants to beat us in a way, that everyone made a change for that. I hope there will be some close games, but that we are still going to win.