After defeating FURIA in the quarterfinals, Vitality broke an embarrassing record—they had previously failed to advance to the semifinals in four consecutive tournaments. Despite competing with a stand-in player, the downward trend in performance has been reversed, and the team is steadily improving match by match with the addition of Justinas "jL" Lekavicius.
In your opinion, how was the process of this series?
Well, we got crushed in the first map. They played very aggressively and figured out our playstyle and intentions. We tried to adjust, but made some mistakes in execution.
On Cache, we lost two pistol rounds, but I think our CT side performed reasonably well. On the attack side, we actually had good opportunities; honestly, both the pistol round and the second round were winnable. We also had a couple of hesitant rounds where the coordination wasn't synchronized, which was unfortunate. That’s the main reason why the score was so close.
When we got to Dust2, we finally found our rhythm on the attackers' side and played quite well. I don't know how to describe it—they were still playing very aggressively on the CT side, but we were more... let's just say we were more alert.
I want to ask about the nuclear crisis, because it seems like your attacking side has been having some trouble on this map recently. Where do you think the problem lies?
Are you saying the offensive side issues since Legacy? Because it was fine before. Yes.
I'm not entirely sure, I think we played too quickly both times. We didn't have time for real mid-game decision-making. The offense played fast, probably ending in about seven or eight rounds, so we need to discuss it tonight or tomorrow, check the schedule, but I'm not worried. I know we sometimes struggle on offense, we'll focus on solving it, and after that, we can bounce back.
I wanted to ask, from a coaching perspective, how much work did you put into integrating jL into the team? And how much freedom did you give him to let him play his own game?
Initially, we hoped he would bring some ideas and approaches, and he wanted to utilize his position primarily on the CT side. On the offensive side, we tried our best to help him memorize the tactics—truth be told, it was mainly about familiarizing himself with utility usage, since playing mezii's role involves a great many tasks. You can understand how difficult that is.
Of course, he might approach different situations in slightly different ways, but it's not easy for him. Sometimes he gets very frustrated by a mistake and finds it hard to adjust his mindset, so we help him as much as we can.
Overall, considering Vitality competed with substitute players, reaching this stage already counts as a deep advancement. How would you evaluate the achievement of making it this far with substitutes?
To be honest, this isn't really an achievement, because... if we had won, it would have been something. But we've been struggling recently, so we're more focused on maintaining a positive mindset, playing better as a team, finding solutions, and so on. Right now, we're concentrating on these aspects while also keeping an eye on the VRS rankings, as it's been a tough period for us. So, I don't consider this an achievement at the moment. If we make it to the finals, perhaps your perspective might differ.
As you mentioned, Vitality wasn't in great shape leading up to this tournament. I think many people on the outside would say it was poor timing to have substitute player changes, but did that give the team a sense of freshness? Did it allow you to momentarily set aside some of the issues that were troubling you before?
To be honest, I think it’s a good thing. I feel that it’s also good for the team to have new faces joining us. Right now, it’s not bad for us at all. We… even without jL, we have experienced players. We want to make it to the playoffs, we want to give it our all, and the BLAST schedule gives us some time to train, along with rest days. If it were a different tournament, perhaps my mindset would be different, but this time we’re quite happy about the new changes. So it’s fine.