ropz: "The games here are definitely a red flag"

Although ropz has concerns after BLAST Bounty, he still believes that Vitality has what it takes to win trophies.

After a record-breaking start to 2025, with seven trophies and an IEM Grand Slam to their name, Vitality have struggled to stick the landing in their first events of the second half of the season. Following a semi-final departure at IEM Cologne, Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire's men have now found another 3-4th placing at the BLAST Bounty Season 2 Finals.

"The games here are definitely a red flag," Estonian rifler Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool shared in an interview with HLTV following his team's elimination at the hands of The MongolZ. "We have to go back and review this game as we definitely took a look at the Liquid game."

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Vitality make Bounty semi-final after close win against Liquid

In addition to touching on different aspect of his team's loss to The MongolZ, ropz also reflected on his team's start to the second half of the season, the impact of repeatedly facing the same teams, and his hopes for a resurgence as the Esports World Cup looms.

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After so many wins and trophies, it has now been two early exits. What's it like now having back-to-back eliminations?

It definitely hurts a bit. I think we're a bit frustrated today with how the game went. We definitely didn't play our best, and that's the difference with how it was the previous season; even if we were at our B game or C game, we could still beat everyone, but right now that's not the case.

We just need to step up in terms of everything; that's how it always is. The form is maybe going a bit down, you're not hitting the shots, you're not getting the trades, and everything is a bit less than it was, so we just need to step up and make sure that we're good even when we have an off day and we're not playing our A game because when we play our A game we'll definitely destroy people, there's no doubt, but I think that's the biggest question now. If we make mistakes, we still need to find a way to bounce back.

The MongolZ are one of those teams you've played a lot, as was the case with MOUZ in the last match. What do you make of these teams that have played you a lot and seen you a lot and have that hunger to beat you? Is it becoming harder and harder to keep them at bay?

For sure they have more hunger than us, I think there's no doubt, obviously when you beat a team seven times in a row, as it was with MOUZ and now with The MongolZ — it's kind of funny, I think both ended up 7-1 so far this year —, so yes, they obviously have more to fight for because they want to beat us.

At the same time, we treat every match as its own, and it has always been like that. We've always said that. There's no letting the foot off the gas; we always make the maximum effort and don't underestimate anyone.

In terms of the matchups, there aren't many surprises with how the teams play, like with MOUZ, The MongolZ, we know how they play, and they know how we play. But yeah, it's just messing up some rounds.

The Mirage was very costly for us. We messed up some rounds there, and then they started Inferno with a bang. They were really good individually. It was hard to even get trades. Obviously, there were some mistakes in not trading properly, but they were feeling it, definitely. We were close to coming back, but unfortunately not.

There were some struggles against Liquid, and you pulled through and got out of it, but it seemed like a tough match at times. Today was the opposite; you guys were fighting back and faltered eventually. Do you think there's a bit of a red flag or some alarm bells starting to ring, or not yet?

It depends on how you look at it. The games here are definitely a red flag. We're not playing like we used to. As you mentioned, the Liquid game was close. We were ahead on both maps, and we could have closed it out smoothly. Just key rounds, not reacting properly, not reacting fast enough, just making some bad decisions... You know, a bunch of things that are going wrong, and it's life sometimes.

We're working on it, but right now, it's definitely something to look at. We have to go back and review this game as we definitely took a look at the Liquid game. We had a good talk on what went wrong in that game, even though we won. We were still happy with the win, in that case, but there's still stuff to improve, as well.

There is something to be said about the attempt on Inferno. You were down 2-10 at the half. Was there a moment when you believed you could turn this around?

Yes, definitely. Even on the T side, when we were losing. I can't remember what the score was, but the half was 10-2. We obviously kept believing. You have no other option — you have to give it a chance —, it's your only shot to progress in the tournament. That was good. Not enough in the end, but (it was) worse in the beginning. But yeah, it just wasn't enough.

Did you see the AWP shot from ZywOo that bLitz crouched (under), even though he didn't even know ZywOo was flanking? What do you make of that stroke of (bad) luck?

The only thing I can say is that he reset instantly. It's a very tilting moment. It was 11-11 or something like that, and it could have been a really key moment for us to just win the comeback right there. But one thing for sure is that everyone lifted him up. It's a tough moment for ZywOo if he missed the shot, but you could see that he instantly bounced back and wasn't emotionally feeling down, and I think that was key to playing the next round. But yeah, it still wasn't enough.

How do you reset, refocus, and get ready for the next one?

It's nice going to EWC, that's the next tournament, and it's definitely a more important one than this one if we're speaking realistically. I think that the season is not starting out the best for us, but we still want to win tournaments and make the most of it. We still have good form, and we still have what it takes. It's just two tournaments, and it could be a flash in the pan. We could bounce back at EWC or in the next one. But yeah, we'll review the games, make decisions, make good reactions in terms of the game we lost, and I think we'll bounce back.