The 2023 HLTV Award Show awarded Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut Player of the Year for a record third time earlier in 2024
The Blast Premier Spring Final 2024 is almost upon us, as the world’s best Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) teams take over Wembley Arena in London this week. Esports News UK’s Reece Barrett caught up with Team Vitality’s Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut and Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire for a five minute chat to talk about revenge from IEM Dallas and Vitality’s goals for their last tournament of the season.
Reece: ZywOo, in a previous interview we did, you said that it’s very important to relax after games. You took a month’s break before playing another official game after the major, so what areas in particular did you work on during that month?
ZywOo: Between Major and Pro League, the only thing I did was to grind the game [on Faceit] to keep my individual level.
It wasn’t meant to be at the PGL Copenhagen Major as you were eliminated by FaZe, but you had a solid month with no official games between the Major and Pro League, so what particular issues did you address during that time?
apEX: After the Major, we had a few weeks to consider what we wanted to improve because obviously we expected more of the Major as Vitality.
We took a week off for some rest and we had a plan to finish the last tournaments of the [season], but we never expected the Valve change [to bring back Dust 2 into the pool], but it was a good surprise to play again on Dust 2.
Now that we’ve had a major in CS2, do you think that the bugs have been ironed out? Are you happy with the state of the game?
ZywOo: CS2 actually is good, but it’s the same game for all, so we need to adapt, [because] even on Counter Strike: Global Offensive we had some bugs.
Vitality’s ZywOo and apEX on playing in front of a London crowd
Team Vitality will grace the Wembley Arena with home-country hero William ‘mezii’ Merriman, who will play his first ever English S-tier LAN at the Blast Premier Spring Final 2024.
The European team also have a fantastic record at Blast events, winning both the Fall Final and World Final in 2024 – they have won every Blast tournament that they have played with Mezii in the roster.
Eight of HLTV’s top ten ranked teams will be in attendance in London, but with mezii in tow, Vitality hope to have the crowd behind them throughout.
You’ve played in front of a London crowd before, playing events like the ECS Finals. How much do you enjoy playing in front of really loud crowds, like London always is?
apEX: The last time we played on UK was in 2019, I was 26 back then. It’s [going to] be a pleasure to play again there, especially with mezii.
During the last tournaments we didn’t [have] the crowd with us, so I expect them to be with us this time!
And finally, which team are you looking forward to playing at the Blast Spring Final?
ZywOo: G2 obviously, to take our revenge, but anyway to win a tournament, we need to [be able to beat] all the teams.
apEX: [It’s the] last tournament of the season for us and all the best teams are here, it’s [going to] be a good tournament.
We want to be the best so we need to be able to beat any teams, we will give everything.
Related article: Blast Premier Spring Final 2024 Preview: All you need to know about the format, teams and more
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Reece is a sports journalist who has previously worked with the likes of BBC Radio Solent, Southern Daily Echo, Salisbury Radio, VAVEL and many more. He is currently studying a degree in Sports Journalism at Solent University.
