Vitality player William mezii Merriman gave an interview to Players correspondent Sofiia Pikhalo after the victory over MOUZ at the IEM Kraków 2026.
Congratulations on having the semi-finals on fire. How did it went for you?
Yeah, it was good. It's nice to have a bit more of a comfortable and clean game. I think the way we played was very confident and we stuck to the game plan. We had really good plans overall and how we want to play against MOUZ.So, yeah, I'm happy to go 2-0.
But first map, on first half, it was scary a little bit that MOUZ will win whole map because how they finished first half. What did you think happened there?
Yeah, I mean, I think on Nuke, I think overall we had good plans. But in the end, as well, we also got a bit lucky on some of the low buys. We won a couple eco rounds, which of course always helps. But overall, I think we had good plans on our CT sides of Nuke.
We had a good start, but then they kind of got some rounds back and kind of won some rounds. We probably shouldn't have lost. We had some advantages, but that's the way sometimes you can... We make some mistakes and we just need to make sure that we come back and stay mentally strong, which I think today, even though there were some frustrations and we made some mistakes, everyone made sure to stay confident. It's fine. We go on to the next round. Don't think too much about mistakes and just keep playing confident.
You said you made mistakes and how can you support each other after each mistake to still keep focus?
Yeah, I mean, I think it's all about also the experience we've had over the last year as a team. I think once you go through so much experiences as a team, you kind of find out and also learn about each other as individuals. And we also just know that everyone in this team, it doesn't matter if we lose a bad round, we know to make sure that we reset fast and we say to each other, it's fine guys, let's focus on the next round. And it's something that's really important in CS because it goes so quick, the round, that we need to make sure that we focus really quick on the next round, even if we make mistakes. But all the experiences in the past, we kind of know no matter what happens, even if we're six, seven, eight...
Six, seven? [smiles]
Six, seven [smiles] rounds down, it doesn't matter.We can always come back, even if the team has match point on 12. Who cares? We can always come back and make a strong comeback as well.
Do you have some get-go phrase to keep focused? So like, “we will win” or something that you always say to each other and it's like the main one phrase.
To be honest, it's not really one phrase, but I think when you have a captain like Apex, Apex loves to shout, loves to scream. And whether that's at the opponent or also to hype us up and make sure that we have good energy and we communicate better as a team.
I think there's never one thing, but when you have Apex, like I say, he's the best captain in Counter-Strike. And I think he does a great job at making sure that we refocus on the next round. We try not to make as many mistakes. And yeah, I think that's what he's one of the best at.
Do you think you already caught his attitude against everyone, like against haters to show middle fingers, or you still have a lot to learn from him?
I mean, to be honest, I think we all get a bit of confidence around him. I think that's what he helps us do is make sure that we stay calm as a team. But I think as well, I'll probably keep the middle fingers to Apex. I'll let him do that. I'll let him shit talk a bit. But I think as well, when you have that, it kind of spreads to the whole team and gives the whole team confidence, which is good.
Probably you've seen that Molodoy makes like this after his shots and Apex throws his middle fingers. What do you think your crown pose might be?
I don't know. I'm a bit of a football fan and I'm from England. So I've had a few people ask me if I can do the Cole Palmer celebration. But we'll see. I don't know.
Maybe falling on your knees?
Yeah, I'll get on stage and slide across the stage. But no, I think for me, I'll keep the celebration to them. But we'll see. If I have a good round, you never know how the adrenaline goes. You never know. It could be a big celebration.
Did you already felt that this match was like finals because you had a lot of games against MOUZ or you still save some rounds for tomorrow?
No, I think to be honest, even though we had a big game plan against MOUZ today, there were still a lot of rounds that we didn't actually show or didn't actually use. So I think kind of when you prepare for a game, you have these ideas in mind that you might want to do this round. But sometimes in the game you have to adapt. And today we didn't have to use everything. I think against FURIA, it's also going to be a great matchup. I think it's always been a good game against them. I think they've always been a strong opponent.
It's been tough to go up against them. So I'm excited to see what we can do. And I think today it's nice to get the revenge over MOUZ after they beat us a couple of times in the recent games. But yeah, again, the job's not done yet. We still have the final. We still want to get up there and lift that trophy. So that's the plan for tomorrow.
It's the plan for tomorrow. I hope you will have your win tomorrow. And I had my memory that the lowest point that you were this year was fourth place. How does it feel to become more and more in your era?
Yeah, I mean, I think as we've shown throughout, like you said, over the last year, it's been very deep playoff runs. And it's the thing that we try to make sure we build on is not to be too happy or too complacent about our finishes. And I think a lot of people, journalists or other people on social media, kind of said, oh, we had some low points. We weren't winning as many trophies. But like you say, we're still making top four at all these tournaments.
And the main thing for us is that we can still show that we can win tournaments. And of course we want to start the season strong and get the first trophy. And especially in Krakow, it's a new arena for us, It's a new atmosphere. But it's one of the biggest tournaments of the year. And that's the main focus now that we're out of the top four. We're now in contention for top two. And we want to make sure we're that top one to win the trophy.
Did you already hear the sound of the arena booing the MOUZ and supporting you?
Yeah.
Did it help you?
I mean, always the support. We always feel it and I think even last year we showed even if the crowd wants to boo us, I think we also don't mind it at all. I think we're a team that can kind of feed off just the overall energy in the arena. Whether it's good or bad, we enjoy everything. But it's really nice to have the support here and to have the crowd on our side. We'll see how it is tomorrow. But like I say, cheers or boos, we'll take anything.
You heard probably FURIA sector. Do you think who will out-cheer who? Your fans or FURIA fans?
I mean, I'm confident in our fans and our support. But I always know that the Brazilian guys in FURIA always have a lot of support and always have a lot of noise in their section. So I think it'll be a fair match. But I'm looking forward to it either way. We've had it at many times where we've been kind of not as much support in the arena, but it's fine. But like I say, I'm confident in our support, confident that they'll be there and cheering us on. So that's the main thing.
I hope you will enjoy tomorrow and enjoy today's evening. So thank you very much.
Thank you.
