Home News “It’s very reminiscent of the first part of the year.” – mezii on growing confidence in Budapest, victory over The MongolZ, and playing against donk

“It’s very reminiscent of the first part of the year.” – mezii on growing confidence in Budapest, victory over The MongolZ, and playing against donk

Esports news UK caught up with William ‘mezii’ Merriman, following Vitality’s 2-0 victory over The MongolZ in the quarter-finals of the StarLadder Budapest Major

The dominant victory evoked Vitality’s commanding best, but Vitality and mezii will now have to face the tough test of a Spirit roster that have themselves taken significant strides in Budapest.

The Brit discussed Vitality’s upcoming semi-final clash, as well as playing with ropz, growing into the tournament, and Vitality’s confidence in Train heading into a potential Best of 5 Grand Final.

Esports News UK interview with Vitality’s mezii at the StarLadder Budapest Major

That match felt very much like everything was under control. How did it feel on the server?

Yeah, pretty much the same, I think.

As we’ve kept on saying throughout this part of the season, if we can just stay a little bit more connected on the server and we know our plans and how we want to play, I know for a fact that we will be in a good position to win games.

I think today we had good plans, everyone was in a good mindset of listening to each other, great communication, a lot of ping-pong in the communication to make sure we were always talking

So, overall it felt very much like we were in control today.

Of course, sometimes it got a bit messy on these anti-ecos on both maps, but they’re also really hard to win against incredibly talented individuals, so I’m happy that we were so much in control.

“I think it’s very reminiscent of the first part of the year. I think even in the first part of the year, we had a lot of messy games like that as well, but we had that resilience.” – mezii on Vitality’s Stage 3 victory over NaVi

We heard a bit of the comms on the broadcast, with XTQZZZ saying, ‘Get stuck in, get in their faces.’ Is that a big thing going into this game that you wanted to do?

Yeah, I think sometimes, especially when it’s against The MongolZ or other teams.

Sometimes we can get a bit stuck on certain game plans, or we kind of let some teams play a bit too much, and it was important for us today, especially up against MongolZ that on Mirage, that we want to play a bit more aggressive.

We want to take the fight to them and not let them play around too much, use their play in their game.

I think we stuck to that plan and tried to make sure that we stay confident, just keep doing our plays. If we’re feeling something as individuals, we just need to trust it and do it.

Today, it was definitely working.

“Something that I realised as soon as ropz came in is he’s just making the most of every position he plays… I learned pretty fast with him, and I try to put it more into my game now.” – mezii on learning how to have impact in anchor positions from ropz

Overall, the tournament has had ups and downs. You lost to FaZe, but made it through Stage 3 after a win against NaVi. The NaVi game was a bit messy, but you won a lot of forcebuys. Did that give you confidence that you can win any round?

Yeah, I think it’s very reminiscent of the first part of the year.

I think even in the first part of the year, we had a lot of messy games like that as well, but we had that resilience and those kinds of rounds, like you said, where we just could win anything, even if we were on Glocks or we had one Deagle.

The individuals that we have are always so special that they can make something out of nothing.

I think against NaVi, it was kind of more of the same thing, where we have low buys, but we’re capable of being able to win these.

I’m just happy that we’re kind of getting rolling with this confidence and getting rolling with the overall communication within the team, and I just hope that we can continue against some of the better teams as well now going up against Spirit.

“Sometimes you cannot do anything; he’s going to peek, he’s going to headshot.” – mezii on playing against donk

As you say, you’re playing Spirit next. What is it like to play against donk when he’s on fire?

Pretty impossible to do anything sometimes.

I think overall we have a pretty good track record against him and against Spirit overall, but it’s one of those things.

It’s always tough going up against one of the best players in the world, the best rifler in the world.

Sometimes you cannot do anything; he’s going to peek, he’s going to headshot, and you’ve just got to make sure that your teamwork is top-notch.

I think he’s a player that likes to take these individual plays, he’s into your peeks, and if we’re there together to trade, then I think that’s our strength.

But yeah, sometimes it is tough when he’s just getting multi-kill after multi-kill, and you’ve just got to hope that you headshot first because if you don’t, then he’s going to headshot you.

As you say, you have amazing individuals, but you are part of that. You were originally a star player. Do you still feel like you can take on those duels and be the one to win the 1v3 to change the game?

Yeah, I think it’s definitely part of my game and something that I always think of, even though maybe in some of the anchor roles you don’t get as many opportunities.

I think something that I realised as soon as ropz came in is he’s just making the most of every position he plays, even though I think ropz is one of those players that plays a lot of these anchor roles or these bad positions on some maps.

But he really makes the most out of them, and he’s still aggressive and still takes his duels and that’s something I learned pretty fast with him, and I try to put it more into my game now.

Whenever I have the chance to step up individually, that’s something I try to do, and I know I have the capabilities to do that skill-wise, and it’s one of my strengths to take these duels.

Aim is one of my strengths, and what I try to focus on now is not to be too afraid of taking duels and don’t be afraid of dying first.

If it happens, it happens, and I can’t be too scared of taking fights because otherwise I’ll never take them.

Vitality lift Blast.tv Major Austin trophy
Vitality lift Blast.tv Major Austin trophy / Image Credit: BLAST/Stephanie Lindgren

“I wouldn’t say we’re scared of any team on it [Train].” – mezii on the potential of playing Train in a Best of 5 Grand Final

In terms of the map pool. When it comes to later in the tournament, looking at your Train, it’s something you avoided against Furia at IEM Chengdu. How are you feeling about the map pool in terms of a potential Best of 5 Grand Final, if you beat Spirit?

For us, we’re always confident in our map pool. I think, of course, overall our Train has been a bit one of our weaker maps, but it’s something that we’ve worked on a lot.

I think beating Na’Vi on Train is not something small. I think they’re a really strong Train team, so we’ve worked very hard on this map, and it’s something that we’re trying to improve all the time.

I wouldn’t say we’re scared of any team on it.

I think when watching a lot of the teams, I think it’s the same meta, and teams do a lot of the same stuff on Train so it’s about us just making sure that we’re a bit more connected on this map, we’re playing a bit better CS.

On the T side, especially, you can’t afford to give up a lot of entry kills; it’s really tough to come back from that.

So yeah, I think with the map pool we’re confident on all the maps, of course, Train is not our most comfortable map, but it’s something that I think on a good day we can beat any of the best teams on.

It’s not something we’re going to shy away from, so I think even in the Best of 5, we’re still one of the top teams in the world

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