There may be teething issues, but flameZ should be more than comfortable in his role even if his exact spots might change. The Israeli actually has a lower overall rating than dupreeh over our sample size of MVP events in 2023, coming in at 1.02 compared to dupreeh’s 1.03. 72% KAST is impressive, but is inflated by how much flameZ would get assists or traded deaths as a bombsite entry for OG. Vitality’s newest arrival was ecstatic at the prospect of playing with one of the best payers in the world. “You get the chance to play with a guy that looks like one of the best teammates there is on the planet, the best player in the world statistics-wise, and he’s so good man.” ”I think it was pretty good and that we could improve on a lot of things here and we can still find for ourselves what works for us well.
apEX
- The 20-year-old appeared on HLTV Confirmed on Thursday and opened up about the issues with OG, his decision to leave, and why he chose Vitality.
- “At the start, it was tough because he was way older than me and sometimes things got personal in the game with common team issues,” he says.
- Losses to ENCE and HEROIC, the series against the latter featuring a win and two defeats, gave a brutal reality check to a Vitality that arrived in Poland hoping to coast off their late 2023 success.
- Whether that is personal preference or OG’s style doesn’t really matter; either prove that he is willing to sacrifice himself for the win.
- “I was really happy that it was my first team in the professional scene and super happy the organization didn’t take advantage of my inexperience. They treated me fairly and were super helpful during the whole period.”
- “On CT I am not sure how it will go, I’d like to say I fit the roles, but at this kind of level any player should know that he’s going to sacrifice something and try to do the very best and try to master the site he’s playing.”
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Vitality then reached back-to-back grand finals at ESL Pro League Season 19 and IEM Dallas, but were stopped short of lifting the silverware by MOUZ and G2. ZywOo was back to his best in Malta and helped his team romp through the group stage undefeated with a 1.71 rating over six maps, with flameZ’s own efforts good for a 1.19 rating ahead of the playoffs. Local LANs offered flameZ and other youngsters the opportunity to prove themselves, but the Israeli scene remained isolated, focused mostly on forming the best teams to win the few local LANs held each year.
- He had to step back any time the team wanted to compete in big qualifiers, which at one point caused him to quit playing CS for several months.
- By the time 2023 rolled around, flameZ was on the wishlist of many organizations and his contract with OG was running out.
- FlameZ found immediate success upon his move, making it to the semi-final of IEM Cologne in only his second event with the team and lifting a trophy at Gamers8 immediately afterward, where he was also named an EVP with a 1.12 rating.
- Dupreeh has left behind a few rotator spots like A Short on Inferno, and apEX may well move back to B on Mirage to give flameZ Connector.
- “Overall, in 2022, when degster came in and we had NEOFRAG and F1KU, I think we made the semi-finals in all the BLAST tournaments like the Spring Final and World Final.
- His worst event of the year followed at IEM Rio, where Vitality lost to HEROIC in the group stage upper bracket final and were eliminated in the quarter-finals by MOUZ.
Top 20 players of 2024: flameZ (
The Israeli rifler had two stand-out maps against the eventual champions — once in the group stage on Dust2 (1.82 rating) and another in an overtime victory on Anubis in the grand final (1.49) — but also suffered from a few lows in the group stage and on the decider in the final. He improved from a 1.06 rating in groups to 1.14 in playoffs, but it wasn’t enough to make up the difference and edge him past teammate mezii for the final EVP. It’s an interesting change and perhaps harsh on the five-time Major winner, who finally looked like he had adapted to what Vitality’s system required in the last few tournaments before the break. IGL Dan “apEX” Madesclaire started to use him as more of a brute-force entry fragger on T side, and he was even moved to spots like B Anchor on Mirage. It started with the Israeli spacetaker tallying his highest-rated map of 2024, a 2.47 rating in a 13-0 over Astralis, and was followed Flamez by five maps with a 1.23 rating or better (three above 1.40).
Team Vitality
“So it was a big boost to my motivation. He was a big voice in and outside the team, always down to talk about CS, life, or anything else and share his mindset and his view on things. I liked him a lot and still like him a lot, he is a player that I have always wanted to compete with at this high level.” Focus in Israel soon turned to international competition and on making a name for yourself in FPL, but flameZ was still under 16 and ineligible to compete in qualifiers for most big events. He had to step back any time the team wanted to compete in big qualifiers, which at one point caused him to quit playing CS for several months. “But to be honest, I loved sitting behind shushan and watching him play. And later on when I got a PC, it was my place to be social with people, to talk, share experiences, and have a common goal. Also to some extent, it was an escape route that made me feel really at peace.”
Stat check: How will flameZ fit into Vitality?
“Krabeni deserves a shoutout as well, I feel like they will be super good as a duo. But I was also very happy to play with both of them individually and was super impressed.” His 1.13 rating in arena matches is once again even better than his average and even on par with the next group of players above. FlameZ recovered to a 1.08 average (1.14 playoffs), which was good enough for another VP mention before the team traveled to Shanghai for the Europe RMR. FlameZ missed out on a VP or EVP mention for the second time this year with a 0.99 rating, but wasted no time in entering a renaissance at BLAST Fall Final where he had his best event of the year. “The Dallas one, well we obviously had this game against G2 and lost to a comeback, but this did not make me lose any belief in the team,” flameZ says.
flameZ on joining Vitality: “The motivation was to succeed with another Israeli guy”
Winning Cologne could have marked a new period of success for Vitality after a difficult start to the year, but any momentum they hoped to ride off of the victory was brought to a grinding halt after they were cast out in the quarter-finals of ESL Pro League Season 20 by Eternal Fire. A rejuvenated Vitality arrived at BLAST Fall Groups, a 1.19 average rating by flameZ and overall elevation by the team seeing them bounce past GamerLegion and Astralis (twice) to provide some much-needed confidence ahead of the next Super-Elite event of the year, IEM Cologne. “The Major was a big struggle with the ZywOo situation, but it showed me a lot of character in him,” flameZ says. “He was really sick and playing badly, but he kept giving energy, hyping us, and doing everything he could. For a player who expects and everybody expects him to do well, it was really nice to see him this way, and it made me believe more in the team.” Vitality started 2024 as the top-ranked team in the world, riding the wave of their Fall and World Final trophy lifts into the new year, but would soon find themselves washed ashore in a deflating start to their season. “Before the season started it felt really good, we came with confidence and I was already thinking ahead of time that this was our year as a team, but I’m not sure if it was the pressure or just that our effort didn’t match our expectations.”