Now two tournaments into his time with Vitality, mezii already has two tournament victories under his belt. One of the stars of World Final, mezii has taken to the top like a fish to water.
At the event, we sat down with mezii to discuss the feeling of lifting a trophy, the differences between apEX and dexter, and what having BLAST Premier Spring Final 2024 in London means for the UK scene.
You told HLTV that there was a joke within the team about you not having won a trophy yet, what was it like to lift your first trophy?
It felt good. Obviously, when it first happens there's a lot of adrenaline and it feels great, but it takes a few days to really sink in. Winning my first one in a new team, it's something I've worked towards for a while and when you join a new team you always think it's the one that will take you to the next level, and obviously it's taken me a while to get here, but now that I have it feels great and it fills me with confidence to know that even if I don't play the best individually, there's so much more to come with this team.
How does winning that first trophy affect things like motivation and hunger? Does it make you want it more or did you notice a slight dip afterwards?
I think it makes you want it more. Even after the tournament, just going straight back home and just grinding and getting back to practice. I think for me, because it was my first one, it's still fresh and I still want to make more memories, get more achievements, and being that it's the new game as well, I didn't achieve much in CS:GO at all so I think that CS2 is the game where I want to put my footprint on it and make sure I can get as much as I can with this team.
In terms of roles, we spoke before Fall Final and you said that it wouldn't be a 1:1 switch with Magisk, but in terms of positions on maps it seems like you are, is that different to what you expected?
No, I think spots are of course 1:1, but what I meant was in terms of the style and what we both bring to a team. I think I've played a lot of different positions in different lineups and I can bring that experience over but the way Magisk plays certain spots, especially as an anchor, is different to how I play them and coming into this team, everyone has been welcoming and very open towards me bringing my own ideas and how I view the positions. It's never going to be a 1:1 in terms of how we play the positions, it's always going to be different, everyone has their own style and that's what I'm trying to bring to this team.
Looking back at fnatic, obviously there were roster difficulties, is there anything you miss about the team or organisation?
I think all the players, throughout the whole time, I always had great memories with them. Even now speaking to KRIMZ, he's a really good friend that I've made in CS. Not so much the roster changes and all the different positional changes, I don't miss that so much and IGLs were always a bit rough but the good thing now is that there's so many similarities between the group of players here and the one in fnatic that it's one thing I said to my friends and family, getting on with people in both teams has been so easy and it's a really good atmosphere so it's been really easy for me.
You mentioned the IGLs being rough, does that include yourself?
[laughs] That was definitely more for myself. I think coming into being an IGL it was great at the start, but after that it was pretty hard and I was definitely thankful for dexter coming in and taking over the role so that I could focus on me. Now in Vitality there's a lot of new positions, so it's good on I can focus on those and specialise in the new role for me.
There's always been a narrative about players not ever being able to get back to themselves after being an IGL, do you think there's any truth to it?
No, I think especially for myself and players like electroNic, the period we were IGL for wasn't long enough. I think it can have an effect on confidence and how you feel the game individually, because you're so focussed on everyone else that when you go to an individual play, you'll still think about everyone else even when all you have to think about is yourself. That being said, I didn't do it for long enough that I can't switch out of it. It took me a little while with fnatic but after a few tournaments you get back into it, and with players like electroNic or NiKo, they're the top level and they've been doing it for so long that they'll always be confident and know they have the skill to bring it at the highest level.
What's the difference between dexter and apEX as leaders?
I think the overall atmosphere is different. dexter has done it for a while, but apEX has got the experience where you can tell he's been doing it for years and has the experience of being an actual leader in the team outside of the game as well. I think dexter did a great job inside the game in terms of controlling the team, but outside of the game we had a lot of big voices, but here apEX does a really good job of controlling that and making sure that we're focussed on the game and the set goal. apEX is just a really good whole package in terms of in and outside of the game, he's a true leader.
Now that you're on Vitality which is that step up from fnatic, are your expectations different now?
I'll always have high expectations for myself individually, for sure. The first tournament was great to win, but I'm always going to be hard on myself individually and I know it's never going to be sustainable for me to perform how I did at Fall Final for us to keep winning tournaments, it's not going to happen. Individually I'm going to have to step up, and I know that I can, it's just about time and get confident in the spots, and I feel like that's coming. I think expectations as an individual are always going up for me, especially coming into a team like this. Obviously I had the confidence that we were going the first tournament, but you never go into it expecting to win it because we had such a small amount of time to practice. Now it just shows that motivation, expectations, they're always going to step up but it's something you always have to think about and measure correctly, expectations can ruin teams and individuals because everyone wants to win, but if you constantly put it up there and do anything less then it's a hit on the motivation and atmosphere within the team.
Looking ahead, Spring Final is set to take place in London, does that automatically make it your most anticipated event for next year?
Yeah, coming into this team I instantly said it. This is the first set of BLAST events I've ever played in, and seeing that get announced it would be really good to go and play there. I've never played there apart from local LANs, so it would be really great to play a tier one LAN within the UK. Even on social media, the support is really great, so having that at a LAN event would be real step up.
Outside of yourself and the team, how big is it for UKCS to finally have a big event in the UK again?
I think it's great. Of course, it's always great to have grassroots and local LANS, but having these big events that bring in supporters and viewers that have never come to these events before, it's always nice to have esports and CS grow within the UK. I think it's still at it's early stages, but even having my family be able to go and experience that for the first time, and some other people that will probably take their parents, it's great and really important for it to grow.
How do you think UKCS can grow in CS2? What will be the most important factors?
I think having these events is one thing, but the players need to make sure they're grinding too. I think having these local LANs, recently there was one that Endpoint put on for the UKIC, they're always going to help the scene grow and players have that added extra motivation knowing that there's something to play for. I think when you're just playing for the local LANs it's fun but it's maybe not where they want to be, so having the events to come and play for and watch and say "this is where I want to be", you never know where it can take them.
How do you think you can grow individually in CS2?
I think obviously it's a fresh start for everyone. I think jL said it, quite a few players are coming through and for me, I've been playing with fnatic for a couple of years and now I've come into this team, it's been a couple of years in the tier one scene but now it's a fresh start for us to achieve what we wanted in CS:GO and now it's something new and hopefully we can achieve what we want to in CS2.
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