flameZ: "We played really bad CS. We were playing probably an F game"

Dust2.us' Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore spoke with Vitality's Shahar "flameZ" Shushan after his team secured playoffs with a win over B8.

flameZ shared more about the team's latest vacation trips, their loss to BetBoom, and the potential of facing NAVI again in the playoffs.

Find the video interview below with a full transcription underneath. All questions and answers have been slightly edited for length and clarity.

How are you feeling about your run through the entirety of the group stage?

Well, we played really bad CS. We were playing probably an F game. It's really bad. The communication is not there. Many things are not there. On the other hand, the positive note is that because we lost to BetBoom, we had a lot more maps to play. We had one more best-of-three, and that's actually a big plus for us because down the line, as you play more games, you get into more form.

We didn't play that well, but I'm very excited about the playoffs. We're a different team. We're a different monster, and it's going to be really good coming to the playoffs with a different energy.

How was San Francisco? Did you enjoy going into the American wilderness?

America is so beautiful. The people are so nice. Me and my girlfriend were talking during this trip, we should move to America for a bit to enjoy it. It was a nice trip. It was really different because I had never hiked. I never went on a nature trip and stuff like that, but it was really beautiful. Many people were chill and helpful. The only thing that was tough was the travel. I took the responsibility to drive the way back four hours to the airport.

But it was beautiful. I went there, and I never gave a fuck about hiking. I never cared about climbing, and now my whole YouTube is climbing, and climbers and many nature spots and mountains, and it really clicked into me, and I love that. It was very fun to experience that.

Do you think that reflects the players' personalities that three of you went into nature, and the other three of you went into the big city?

It was three of us, me, ZywOo, and ropz at Yosemite, and then in New York was mezii and apEX. The coaching staff went to an NBA game in San Antonio, and then they came back to boot camp. It does reflect the personalities. Sometimes, there are teams where there are groups; there is one group that would do that because it's the people, it's not the activities. Some people would go together, the French would go here, and then the rest would go to a different place.

In this team, they went to New York to Michelin restaurants. Me and ropz are not Michelin type of people. The main thing was that even if we all went to Yosemite, it would be a really nice trip. Everybody was invited, we didn't care who came and who didn't come. Everybody picked these spots, but everybody could have gone anywhere.

Me and ropz planned it with the girlfriends, and then we asked Mathieu if he wants to go with us, and and he said yeah sure why not. He doesn't care and has nothing better to do, so then we went on that vacation. I am sure that if mezii and apEX didn't have a plan and they they didn't go on to New York, then it would have been with us maybe in a different location. If we didn't have these plans, I'm sure we would have gone.

This trip could have been with me, it could have been with anyone. The team is really close, and it's a cliche, but we really get along with everybody across the board. Even if it was a trip of two people alone, I'm sure everybody enjoyed it, and everybody went for the activity and not for the people necessarily.

Would you look forward to potentially taking down BetBoom after they beat you? Many people on Twitter were saying, "The Vitality era is over. They're ruined."

Yeah, yeah, the era is over. We took a lot of time off. We're washed up already. Let's say it's BetBoom. I'll give you a double answer: if it's BetBoom, then I'm excited to play against them. We had time to prep yesterday. We had another best-of-three and we won it. It means we got more on our playbook from playing and getting into form.

If it's NAVI in the semis, we're going to be more than happy to play against them. If NAVI lose to Legacy, we play them in the quarterfinals. And if they beat Legacy, we play Legacy. That's what I heard from Freya. In both ways, for us, it doesn't matter who we play. In Vitality, the goal is to win. You don't care who is going to be the opponent, who is going to be anything. If we play BetBoom, the goal is going to be to win. And they got to play really out of their brains again to beat us.