Early this morning, Vitality defeated Furia 2-0 to advance to the BLAST Premier Winners' Final. In a post-match interview, mezii shared his feelings about returning to competition, Vitality's ups and downs this season, and the team's expectations for the Major before apEX goes on paternity leave.
Reporter: This is the close of day two at StarSeries Fall. I'm here with mezii, who has rejoined the team. First of all, congratulations, of course.
mezii： Thanks.
Reporter: What does it feel like to come back and play again?
mezii：Feels good. Watching matches at home was never fun, and my experience is probably different from most. I have a nearly two-year-old kid, so while trying to watch my brothers compete, I've also got a little one running around with toys and screaming. I'm a bit rusty, and since having a kid, you somehow always end up sick, so I've been ill since I came back too. But I'm just really glad to be back.
I feel really happy to be back together with my brothers again. It felt weird when you weren't here; it's like all your friends were at a party, and you weren't invited, so it's great to be back. Yes, it feels good to be back in the game.
Journalist: Yes, especially having reached the winners' final in just two days... Is there a particular sense of satisfaction from delivering a strong performance against FURIA today?
mezii: Yes, of course. Especially in this format, it's really important to stay in the winner's bracket because once you drop into the loser's bracket, you have to play those double-elimination BO3s. Even on the final day, it's BO3s followed by a BO5, so no one wants to go there.
So winning is great, especially against FURIA. I believe they're also quite exhausted. I think they've been competing back-to-back, constantly traveling, doing the FURIA world tour, so it's definitely tough for them. But for us, they're obviously still a very strong team. They have a solid foundation and have always had strong individual skills.
So being able to show that we're still working hard to get back to our level is great. Of course, taking it one game at a time, as an individual, I'm also trying to get back to my own level. But I feel like we're finding our way back with every match, and it's good to be able to play a cleaner, more decisive game. Of course, we started a bit slow on Mirage, but we managed to turn it around, and after that, everything went smoothly.
Reporter: And you also mentioned Vitality is finding their form and getting back into the groove. They were playing with jL in the last event. He will be returning at some point. So, managing all of this—you just became a dad, and then there’s another new dad among you, all of this must be a bit hectic—how did you manage to get yourself back into that state?
mezii: Yes, I think for us, like I said, this is definitely a season that won't happen too often. It's been a bit chaotic, a bit of a mess, but from the start of the season, we knew what the plan was. What's important for us is to make the most of it, especially VRS, because we know how quickly things can change. Within a few events, you might drop in rankings or find yourself back at the top.
So for us, tournaments with substitutes can certainly be tough, especially without jL, but I think the brothers did exceptionally well to reach the semifinals. Of course, the same goes for Bucharest, where we also aim to go further.
But what matters is, in these events where all five of us are playing with a full roster... first and foremost, we want to win trophies again. That’s the main goal, but I think it’s equally important to secure good VRS points and to solidify our confidence, reminding ourselves that we can still win trophies. Because I believe that still exists—the winning mentality and the ability to close out tournaments. It doesn’t vanish after a few events. It’s still in our DNA, so we know what we need to do. We just need to get that one win, and hopefully, it’ll happen here. But yes, our main focus right now is to start winning trophies again, as long as we’re playing with a full roster.
Reporter: Yes, especially since you just mentioned the five-man core lineup—does that make it exceptionally important to perform well in this tournament?
mezii: Yes, of course. I think especially considering the trajectory of this season so far, it's not like in the past where we won trophies back-to-back. If we lose this one, well, we can start over. But I think for us, it's important, as a five-man lineup, to show everyone—because I don't think we as a team are doubting ourselves. Maybe there are some people on social media who are doubting us, saying things like, 'Oh, we're not sure if they can win again,' or something like that.
But for us, it's about proving to everyone that we can still win trophies, and as this five-person lineup, it's crucial to make the most of these events without being too complacent. Because even with all the success we've achieved, you never know when the next victory will come. As these five, we want to win as much as possible. We know how special these five individuals are, and with all the coaching staff, this is one of the greatest lineups in history. So we just want to ensure we win as much as we can, starting here, and hopefully lift the trophies.
Reporter: apEX will attend an event, but then you'll have some time to reintegrate and prepare for the Major. Is that the ultimate goal everyone has in mind?
mezii：Yes, of course. As I said, it would certainly be great to win a trophy before apEX goes on paternity leave, but at the same time, the main goal this season has always been the Major. Any trophy we can pick up along the way is obviously great, but the Major is the most important, especially since our performance in Cologne was quite disappointing.
We almost had Falcons, and they naturally... it's always frustrating to lose to that team that always wins tournaments because you feel that if we had gotten past that hump, maybe we could have kept the momentum going. But especially after Cologne, this was really important for us. That was the main goal: we needed to make sure we went into the Major fully prepared, and if we could pick up a trophy before then, that would be great. If not, then we knew our eyes would be fully locked on Singapore.
Reporter: You're already very experienced, this is your second time being a father to a daughter, but when apEX has to face these, what advice would you give him? Because this is his first child, right?
mezii: Yeah. I basically just wished him good luck. I also saw a lot of people on social media, maybe in photos taken by HLTV or you guys, where everyone was saying to me, "Oh, he looks so tired." I just thought, "Yeah, no shit, I have two kids, of course I'm tired." But I also told apEX, "You're going to be tired, and tired is the new normal. It's fine, that's just how it is."
I believe there's nothing better than being a dad and having a family. I think apEX is also looking forward to it. So I can give him some advice, but I'm sure he's the captain; he knows best, and I'm confident he doesn't need my input.