flameZ: "Great teams win ugly sometimes"

2025-04-20 18:28:15 [case opening] 来源：keydrop cs

"We're probably going to suffer some losses at some point against teams we should beat," the Israeli player warned.

Vitality will take to the server again only on Saturday

Vitality punched their ticket to the semi-final stage of BLAST Open Lisbon with a 2-0 victory against MOUZ, their third in less than a month agaist Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin's troops.

The scoreline doesn't quite reflect what happened in the game as Vitality were pushed to their limit on both maps. On Dust2, it looked like MOUZ were running away with the lead before a Tec-9 round turned the game on its head.

"We didn't play our CS at all," Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan told HLTV after the match, echoing Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire's comments that the level Vitality displayed was a far cry from their usual standards.

It was the 14th victory in a row for Vitality, who are looking to add the BLAST Open Lisbon title to the IEM Katowice and ESL Pro League 21 trophies. The team's dominant form since the arrival of Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool in the off-season has not come as a surprise to flameZ.

"We sort of had the feeling that we just needed to be grinding and everything would get good," flameZ said. "And then we started seeing Robin's work ethic and everybody started playing in the pracc room until so late."

flameZ is excited to be returning to the MEO Arena, where he played his first stage match three years ago, at the BLAST Premier Spring Final. He says everyone is gunning for Vitality, but he notes: "I feel that, in our A-game, we're probably the best team in the world right now."

If you can't see the embed above, you can listen to the audio recording of this interview on Spotify.

A 2-0 victory over MOUZ and you're top of your group. Give me your thoughts on this series. Did you expect such a close match?

To be honest, we thought we lacked a bit of energy, due to a few reasons. I think we played really bad by our standards. We were joking after the game, like, 'We played our D-game'. Maybe a different alphabet game. But we didn't play our CS at all. And I think they had some key rounds, like the Spinx eco where he goes long and they win this round. Like, really important rounds and we made some mistakes. But I'm glad we won it. To be honest, I think MOUZ are right now the second-best team in the world. I think it's always going to be a possibility that we will have a close match against them. Against most of the teams right now. I think it's something you always anticipate and expect that it might happen, but I'm glad we came out on top.

You got the win in the end, but these were two close maps that could have gone either way. Was this a reminder that you guys need to be focused all the time, that you can never take your foot off the gas or an upset might happen?

I think it's always a reminder in CS. Like, you watch other teams play and they suffer many losses and we're probably going to suffer some losses at some point against teams that we should beat. But I don't think it's a slap in the face. What we can be happy with is that we won and we could have played some situations way better, and we usually do. So in some sense, we didn't play our best game and communication wasn't so good and all this kind of stuff. We were not so sharp on them, but I think they also played some rounds well and it won them key rounds. They won a lot of key rounds.

But in the end, I think we, as a team, stepped up in the important rounds, on Mirage, for example. In the last five rounds, we played really good CS. And on Dust2, when it was 11-10, we had a good eco plan and I think we got things rolling and we got them really late. That's why the game was ping-ponging, back and forth. I don't mind that much because now we have a few days off. We can study the game. I think the next time we play them or we play another team, it's going to be a very different Vitality. But it's still something we can be proud of. Because great teams win ugly sometimes.

You've now won 14 matches in a row, dropping only three maps in the process. Did you think, when you made that roster change, that you would be able to reach this level so quickly?

I think so. Not before the roster move, because I was very curious to see how ropz is outside of the game, but when ropz came in, we saw how much confidence he has and how much social skills he has. That fits us. We sort of had the feeling that we just needed to be grinding and everything would get good. And then we started seeing Robin's work ethic and everybody started playing in the pracc room until so late.

Right now, we're in a situation that we've talked a lot about, that, 'Guys, we just need to put the foot on the gas and we'll be really good.' We're keeping our foot on the gas. You know, we might have sometimes a sloppy match, a sloppy map here. You might throw some key rounds and you look like a bot. But in the end, if you win, that's what matters. And obviously we don't want to rely on wins in games that, as you said, can go either way. We want to be more dominant and play more to our DNA. And I think this game was something that was crucial for us.

But, to your question, I think that everybody in the team believes that once we solved some issues and we started grinding and getting back into the game, we could be very competitive. Unlike in 2024, when we were also competitive, but not the same.

I would say that one of the most impressive aspects about your team right now is that you don't have any big weaknesses in your map pool outside of Ancient, which is the only map you don't play. Even Anubis, which wasn't a very good map for you, you've now won three in a row. What can you say about the work that the team has been putting in, when it comes to just making sure that you are as good as possible on all the maps?

I think the main thing is that, for a lot of the other maps, things clicked well, like Inferno, Mirage, Nuke. We got things rolling really quickly and we were very competitive on them. But as you saw in Katowice, Anubis was a really big weakness. We were talking about the progress and it was, like, 'Okay we have some shit on a map.' For a long time, we had not been so good on Anubis, so we were looking for plays or trying an aggressive approach, tried more of a mid-round approach, and we just couldn't find the rhythm and we just kept losing rounds where we were in good situations and it just didn't fit. And I was shit horrible on B and I was, like, 'Guys, this map is my nemesis.'

And I think the coach proposed, like, 'Well, if nothing has worked, let's try a position change.' And we started feeling more comfortable and everybody has his own kind of space. In the past, we used to have a good T side but a bad CT side. Nowadays, I think we have a solid T side and a very active CT side. Once we changed some positions, we instantly went on the server, talked some rounds, whatever we needed to know about strats that we wanted to keep, how I want to approach middle, how apEX wants to approach cave. And I think, to some extent, it also fits apEX a lot that he plays cave. It's a position with so much utility going on and the guy just loves having utility in his hand. And he's really good at navigating the smokes, the flash and the molly, and it has really fit us so far.

The way we want to play and the way we want the game to go is we're very active in communication in the beginning and then we sort of balance it out Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan

I think everyone would agree that Anubis isn't the best map for pros, we don't fancy it as much. And you never know, something might change and we won't be so comfortable on it. But right now, we're very comfortable on 90 percent of the maps. I would say 100 percent because we obviously we don't play Ancient so we don't mess with it. But yeah, I think we have got a really strong sense of most of the maps and we're working really hard to add new stuff so we don't fall behind.

I talked to zont1x yesterday, and he told me that, sometimes, his team is not connected to the server right away. He said that this happens to all the teams and it will happen to Vitality at some point. Do you think maybe that's what happened a little bit today? Because you said you were not playing with your full energy. And do you think the team is prepared to deal with it when it happens?

I think everybody loves those kinds of matches, but in Vitality, and apEX says this a lot, we always want to start the game with loads of energy. Like, really high energy. And even sometimes, you don't care if five people are talking too much and it's too much talking, and then you slowly balance it out. That's sort of our approach. So we're always trying to come out strongly.

I'll be honest, today I woke up with like a headache. So I felt a bit out of the game at the beginning and also in the middle of the game. But as a team, you know, I come to my teammates and I'll say, 'Guys, I'm not feeling at my best.' And everybody knows they need to step up. So I feel like zont1x is right in the sense that sometimes, it might be tough at the beginning for the five to be in sync, but the way we want to play and the way we want the game to go is we're very active in communication in the beginning and then we sort of balance it out. And sometimes, activeness is not initiative. It's just like, 'I'm going long, I'm doing this, I'm doing this.' And this is where I think zont1x was right.

Today against MOUZ, it's not like we started badly, I think we started also well on Dust2, but we didn't initiate the right way in some sense. Sometimes, a mistake can work out, but today it didn't work out today as much. I think he's right. You might have days where you wake up and it's not the best day for your IGL. He fought with his girlfriend or his sister fell down the stairs. I don't know. And then he might have a more quiet map. But that's why, as a teammate, as entry-fragger, as AWPer, you need to come and step up and be, like, 'You know, guys, let's fucking go.'

And sometimes it's not about being positive. Like, if you're losing 0-6 you can't be smiling and saying, Let's go, boys'. But sometimes, it's just about getting to a neutral state that, 'Okay, we're still playing the game. We still rely on what we have. Don't get away from our DNA.' And I think this is something that we have been doing really well so far.

You're now going to Lisbon, back to a very special venue for you, where you played with OG. What are your expectations for the playoffs?

We have a comfortable situation with starting semis. I think that's always been good for us. In Cologne and Katowice we won like that. I'm a big fan of Portugal. The OG house was in Portugal, in Lisbon, so I would always go there and fucking enjoy. For me, it means a bit more because it was my first stage game. What was it? BLAST Spring Finals 2022. It was a stage that was amazing. It was so loud, but I was very anxious, very in myself and very scared. And I think it's a good closure in some sense. Because now I'm coming again to be on that stage, to live that moment again. And I'll be honest, of all the countries I've travelled to in CS, I think Portugal is probably my favorite. It's a shame it's only three days, but you cannot be that greedy.

flameZ will return to the MEO Arena, three years later

I think we have high expectations because we're working very hard and it's been a long while. Katowice, EPL, now Copenhagen and Lisbon. We've been together for so long but I don't think we will take our foot off the gas. We just keep going and we're telling ourselves, 'In one week, we will have a week off. Just give your best now. Be tired, be burned out. Fuck it, it doesn't matter. And let's just give our best because right now, we're in good form and we have the opportunity to win trophies.' We don't want to regret [not winning] trophies because last year we did it in many tournaments and this year we've come to redeem it.

We already know three of the teams that will join you in Lisbon. Looking at those teams and also the ones that are still here in the running for spots in the playoffs, who do you think are your biggest threats?

To be fair, I think everybody is a huge threat nowadays. The last match we played against The MongolZ was quite competitive. They played better. I think it was in EPL. We haven't faced NAVI since Cologne. I feel like we've only played them once in the last two years. They're a good team so you never know how it's going to be on the server. And I think that, when people consider you top one, they are coming for you. So when you play NAVI, it's not like an average NAVI day. They want to come strong and prove themselves.

Date	Matches
BLAST Open Lisbon 2025
29/03/2025	Vitality19:30 Spirit/NAVI winner	Match

Spirit could come and be a very… I feel like every team is competitive nowadays, so I cannot really pinpoint who is a bigger threat or not a threat. But I feel that, in our A-game, we're probably the best team in the world right now. As long as we don't lose to ourselves, I think there are low chances that we fuck a game up. And I don't mean fuck up as in lose, just that we're not competitive in a match. And sometimes, games might go against us. You know, NAVI, Spirit, they might play really well and might play better than us. We obviously want to win, but the focus is not on the winning. It's just, be competitive, be consistent, be persistent, show resilience in the game. And I think this is something that we stick to in our level right now.