In a day full of 3-mappers and Overtime, the headline match ended up being a 2-0 blowout as Vitality spoiled npl’s debut game in NaVi. After a close Inferno, Vitality smashed through NaVi on Nuke, securing a victory thanks to solid performances from not only Zywoo but, crucially, Spinx and Magisk as well. We talked to Spinx following the match to get his thoughts on the team’s performance and recent results.
Arnav “xL” Shukla: The last time we saw Vitality was at the Major. How did you spend the last month?
Spinx: So we didn’t do a Bootcamp, but we took one week off to rest after the major. Then after that, we had 3 weeks of practice until now.
xL: Your switch to Vitality started off well with the EPL trophy. But at the major, we had a poor showing from the team overall. What was the reason behind that?
Spinx: I think we worked very hard for the major, maybe a bit too hard. We didn’t have time to chill and take some time off from the game. And yeah, every team has a bad tournament from time to time, and it’s fine.
xL: Any thoughts on your performance in Vitality so far? Is there anything you wanna change going forward?
Spinx: I don’t think there’s any major change. I will just keep doing what I usually do. and yeah, I haven’t been amazing lately, but we performed well today. I’m sure it’s just a bad period, and it’ll go away.
xL: Zywoo has obviously been performing as usual, but today we saw the team as a whole step up. Especially your top fragging across the whole series.
Spinx: Yeah, I think it is true. Zywoo is always performing. We needed to step up, and we did that today. We should do that more consistently, so yeah, we’ll just keep working, and that’s it.
xL: Starting off on Inferno, they brought in the 6th man into the server. Did It feel any different from what you had prepared?
Spinx: No, actually, no. We didn’t even think about the 6th man. We knew it was a possibility that they might change a player and might change position.
xL: On Nuke, NaVi started off very hot with 6 rounds in a row. 7-1 down, Vitality turns it around, and you go on a streak of 13 rounds. What changed to allow you to take control back?
Spinx: We didn’t make any big changes. We just thought that we’re giving them a lot of space, so let’s not do it and let’s take the fight to them and take some info we need. Let’s not be afraid, and that’s it.
xL: We saw most players in Vitality switch to the M4A4. How does the gun feel?
Spinx: For me, I switched to the M4A4 as soon as the update dropped. It just feels better. I loved the M4A1-S before the update, but I still think I’m very good with the M4A4, so it’s not a problem. Of course, it sucks a bit sometimes that you don’t have the money to buy an M4A4 when you could buy the M4A1, but it’s part of the game.
xL: You’re playing OG in the next game. Thoughts on that matchup?
Spinx: Well, I think we’ll just take it as any other game. Obviously, it’s a game between flameZ and me, but we’ve played that a lot, so we’ll just take it as a normal game.
xL: For this event, there are a lot of solid teams. How confident are you coming into the event that Vitality will be able to perform?
Spinx: I think we aren’t thinking about winning any event or whatever. There are a bunch of good teams that can give us a challenge in this tournament. Everyone is strong here. We just wanna take it one game at a time and show everyone that we’re a top team. And just enjoy.
xL: For Vitality, Paris Major will be a huge target. What is your personal goal for next year?
Spinx: For me, the Paris Major is just a normal major, but for the org and my teammates, it’s super important because it is in Paris. So we’ll work full hard for it and hope for the best.
