Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut won his 34th career MVP after defeating MOUZ to win the grand final of EPL S24.
In an interview with Dust2 Brasil, the CSGOAT spoke about his newly earned medal, the competition for individual honors within the team, and how the team operated at PGL Masters Bucharest without Dan “apEX” Madesclaire.
Q: Undefeated throughout the entire tournament. Only dropped 3 maps, with a dominant victory in the final. How does it feel to win the championship again?
"It feels great, because before apEX leaves, we wanted to win at least one title like this. We did it, and very successfully. We're very happy. Like you said, we only dropped 3 maps, and we're proud of that, because it's very hard to stay consistent in this game. I think we did really well in that regard. I'm very happy about this victory. And it's also great to compete on stage again. It's been a while since StarLadder, and we're happy for the win."
Q: 34 MVPs, your sixth MVP this year. You've proven to everyone once again that you're the best in the world, possibly the best in history. Does today's medal feel different to you, or is it more like "Well, restocking again"?
“To be honest, it was like coming to stock up on goods, there was no pressure at all, because although it's at the Spodek Arena, it's still EPL. As a team we didn't feel any pressure, and neither did I personally.”
“We just played well because we want to win something together with the team. I think at the end of the day, as far as my MVP goes, I didn't think too much about it. Like, I already have a lot of them, so I'm not that focused on it anymore. I just play my game. Just enjoy it, and see what happens in the end. Honestly, that's my mindset before every tournament starts.”
Q: In this tournament, you and flameZ were amazing once again. Of course, the whole team was. But once again, you took the MVP home. When will you give your teammates a chance to win an MVP medal?
“It already happened once, ropz ‘stole’ my MVP, and I was not happy about that (laughs). I won’t give any more chances, I will try to take all the MVPs. If they play well, they play really well, they will get them. But if I’m there, I will always make it as difficult as possible for them to challenge me for this MVP. It’s always hard to find a gap to get past me for MVPs. So, yes, it’s always hard for them.”
Q: Now you will head to Bucharest without apEX. mezii talked about how important it was to win a trophy ahead of this event. How do you feel about playing another event with jL?
“It will feel a bit strange not playing with the captain, but I think with jL, it's more responsibility than pressure for us, but we'll see where we are in terms of communication and what we need to deliver as players.”
“This will be a good barometer to see where everyone stands individually, what each person needs to do, and what we need to do in terms of teamwork. I think this will be really good for mezii because he will try to be the in-game leader. But all of us will try to help him find the rhythm and chemistry. I think we can try more things, but we can't lose confidence either. We will give it our all at the tournament. Of course, we want to win. That will be the goal.”
Q: You won the last IEM Katowice. Today you won another championship at Spodek Arena. The crowd likes to cheer for you, and also likes to cheer against you. How did you feel about the crowd today?
“The audience has always been with us, and is always split into two camps. For example, we know people like us, but they also like to boo us because we've won too much. We're not surprised by that. In fact, in a way we like it, because we're like the villains.”
"Everyone wants us to fall, wants to see us start losing. For us, it doesn't matter either way. Like, we don't care about having these two sides, we sometimes even joke about it, especially apEX, he loves that. We're really happy about it. The crowd was amazing today, completely packed. They enjoyed the show. It feels so good to play in front of all of them again."