XTQZZZ: "I expect a bit more from ZywOo"
Vitality were one of the biggest movers of the recent rostermania. Magisk and zonic departed for Falcons and in their place has arrived mezii and a returning XTQZZZ.
Here at BLAST Premier Fall Final 2023, Banks spoke to XTQZZZ about what has changed in Vitality since he last stood behind the team and the growth of apEX as a character and leader.
Photo: Stephanie LindgrenA few words from Vitality's new coach
You were coaching Vitality before, you've now come back to a lot of changes, right? I want to know, how does it feel for you in terms of apex being in-game leader and his development.
Actually, except the language it's almost the same for me because after one month, I can say easily, that I understand everything that he wants to do about anti-stratting, preparation for the game, or just creating some strategy.
So of course, maybe there are two or three different things, maybe about about code, about mid-round maybe, but overall it's almost the same.
Does he feel different as a leader in any way? Can you sense a change in him?
He's more calm than before for sure, but I think it's pretty easy [laughs]. No, I think he improved a lot on this part.
I was really impressed yesterday because he was really calm even though we had two or three rounds that were really bad that we misunderstood.
Overall he's improved a lot about this, definitely.
XTQZZZ spoke highly of Vitality's leader, apEX. Photo: Michal KonkolAnd for you, in terms of how you work together, has that gone back to being exactly the same or are you trying to implement something different? Is there any inspiration taken from Zonic when he had his time with him How is this looking for vitality?
I try to observe a lot to see if it's different. You know, the system is not only in-game leader and coach because in the past with the French roster, I had to do a lot of things, a lot of jobs, now, I think players are different. We have star players in the team, they do a lot of things.
So I just try to figure out what is the best thing to do, especially to get a good balance between players, IGL, and me, and of course, I have MaT the assistant coach, so it's pretty easy for me to work right now.
I can already give some advice on new things, but it's not like a big change because as you know, there are four players already on the team. Sometimes it's not easy because you can feel, you know, the chemistry and know you're still the new guy, you know, but it's still ok at the moment.
You were talking about star players, Spinx had an incredible performance yesterday and he seems to be one of the players even when we're talking about FACEIT and stuff like that, he's dominating. Are you surprised or impressed with what he's able to offer here in CS2 already? Is this maybe where you give him more space naturally?
Not really, because he is grinding a lot as you can see on FACEIT, and last week, especially in practice and at our boot camp, he was impressive. So I expected to see him and I hope he can keep playing like that, that's it.
But I expect a bit more from ZywOo as well because last week it was really good. It was Spinx and Zywoo basically. So I hope maybe today we will see the real ZywOo.