Team Vitality captain Dan "apEX" Madesclaire commented on his team making it to the playoffs at BLAST Open Porto. Following an unexpected opening match loss to Inner Circle, the squad successfully navigated the lower bracket, taking down 9z, Legacy, and FUT. At this event, Vitality is playing with Justin "jL" as a stand-in, replacing William "mezii" Merriman (who is on paternity leave).
According to apEX, jL has done a great job in his role, and playing for a team of this caliber will help him showcase his skills for future opportunities. At the same time, the captain admitted that without mezii, the team lost an important calm voice and a top-tier support player, while jL has added a bit of chaos to the game. Madesclaire noted that he has high expectations for the tournament and wants to win, but he feels sad for mezii, who had to miss the event just as he was starting to regain his best form at the EWC.
apEX explained the opening loss to Inner Circle as a team-wide individual slump — the squad threw away Cache and lost Anubis (13-8), despite having good tactical reads on the game. In particular, the team's star Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut had one of his worst series in a long time. However, victories in the lower bracket over higher-ranked teams allowed Vitality to regain their confidence. Three consecutive wins brought the team around 150 VRS points, helping them recover their standings after a recent drop to top-4/5 in the world.
The captain himself was a key factor in the team's success over the last two series, finishing them with an average 1.07 rating. apEX noted that he is currently putting more hours into the game than he has in a long time. Although this preparation didn't bring the expected results at their main event, the EWC, he is now feeling a significant boost in confidence. According to him, when he displays this level of aim as an entry fragger against much younger opponents, Vitality turns into an incredibly dangerous team.
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